Leslie Eppler's List: Bipolar & spirituality

• David Lukoff explains:

  This tendency, representing a form of cultural insensitivity, can be traced back to the roots of psychoanalysis as well as behaviorism and cognitive therapy. Freud saw religion as ‘a universal obsessional neurosis,’ Skinner ignored religious experience, and Ellis viewed religion as equivalent to irrational thinking and emotional disturbance. Similarly, spiritual experiences have been viewed as evidence of psychopathology.
• We know that spirituality and religion can play a role in health and wellness for everyone. But the public mental health system has been hesitant to venture into this realm.
• otice that I said, “potential”; it’s not for everybody. This aspect of care should be client-driven, just like all of our services.
• We’re all about client choice. What we envision is a mental health system in which diverse forms of spirituality are respected and welcomed.

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• However, people in this situation will refuse to accept a referral to these resources because the person only wants to work with someone who is a pastor who will intercede on his/her behalf with God

• As a person whose bachelor's degree is in Religious Education (Christian) and a master of arts in theology, I can be pretty confident when I tell you their reasoning is, in short, BUNK.

   “There is NOTHING in the Bible to say that we shouldn't take medicines. And, the Bible sure doesn't seem to make any distinction between ‘bodily’ and ‘psychological’ illnesses. Actually, the idea of dividing the body from the mind is a Gnostic idea, which was very quickly deemed a heresy in the early Church.

• “As a person whose bachelor's degree is in Religious Education (Christian) and a master of arts in theology, I can be pretty confident when I tell you their reasoning is, in short, BUNK.

   “There is NOTHING in the Bible to say that we shouldn't take medicines. And, the Bible sure doesn't seem to make any distinction between ‘bodily’ and ‘psychological’ illnesses. Actually, the idea of dividing the body from the mind is a Gnostic idea, which was very quickly deemed a heresy in the early Church.
• “When Elijah was depressed, did God condemn him or tell him to be a better Christian? (Ummm, yes, calling Elijah a ‘Christian’ is an anachronism.) No, the angels ministered to him and he slept, got up and ate, and slept some more. His body was worn out and God provided the physical treatment he needed for his emotional and mental health.
• “If Christians are truly the Body of Christ and God has made it clear that no one is supposed to go it on their own then why in the world would we assume that we are supposed to be strong enough on our own with mental disorders?

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•     If I could manage to construct a place in society as a person with a psychiatric condition or "consumer" of mental health services to be politically correct, I had a much harder time within my church and in the context of my own personal faith. I have yet to entirely resolve the conflicts that I have encountered. Despite a parade of colorful candidates for a contemporary diagnosis of mental illness in the pages of the Old Testament in particular, Christian churches do not always offer refuge or support for those with psychological problems today. Historically in Western society, the madness of psychotic mental illness, the seizures of epilepsy or the delirium caused by a host of illnesses or infections were viewed as evidence of demonic possession or the practice of witchcraft. As a medical understanding came to replace a superstitious one, hospitals, workhouses and asylums were built to accommodate the more dramatically ill. Early psychological assessments of abnormal behavior then took a step back from the medical model and turned their focus to either internal and personal causes or learned and conditioned responses to the environment. Thus the roots of these conditions tended to be assigned to the individual's character or upbringing. Only recently have scientists and physicians made significant headway in unraveling the genetic and chemical factors underlying many mental illnesses and this biomedical approach is far from being widely accepted throughout the psychological discipline. In fairness, psychoanalytic and behavioral methodologies do have considerable treatment value, but our rapidly increasing understanding of the brain will no doubt continue to impact the way that psychopathology is addressed.   

    
• hey don't know how to respond to someone who has suffered a nervous breakdown, who battles depression or commits suicide and far too often they respond by ignoring or rejecting that person and even his or her family
• It has saddened me to sit through sermons where there has been the implication of shame or sin attached to either being ill or seeking treatment or, most painfully and tragically, to a life that has ended in suicide. It almost seems that mental illness challenges the comforting notion that the mind is somehow inseparable from the soul. If the mind is sick then surely the soul is too?
• own soul. The diagnosis of bipolar disorder with acute psychotic mania had been a blow to the very foundations of my spiritual faith. As a child I had had a profound vision or near death type experience that had convinced me beyond doubt and reason, that God existed. That conviction in its own unique context, stayed with me through my Catholic upbringing and on through studies in science and philosophy. Even when I had trouble with Jesus and the trappings of Christianity I knew God existed and that was enough to sustain me.
• I had the terrifying realization that my precious childhood experience was possibly nothing more than what was clinically described as a "pre-psychotic" experience. After all I had always been susceptible to weird sensations and experiences, even under the influence of aspirin for heaven's sake. The thought was devastating. Being in a post manic, anti-psychotic induced depression did nothing to help and suddenly I found myself alone in a universe without God.
• The faith I have reconstructed and continue to explore is, in large part, an intellectual one. But my sense of God and his presence in my life continues to be intuitive, to exist in a place without words. And although I always considered myself to be a Christian, and have worked for and been deeply involved with churches and Christian organizations, I am only just beginning to come to an understanding of Jesus. I can begin to see the spiritual trauma that not only my breakdown, but also the years of unregulated mood instability, created in my life. I want to put the pain behind me while preserving the visions to which I have been privileged. But that is not a straightforward task.
• But faith is an important component of recovery and survival in the aftermath of a serious bout of mental illness, as it seems to be with other physical illnesses. However the stigma and shame associated with these conditions, and the unique stress that living with mental illness can put not only the consumer, but also his or her friends and family, can leave considerable spiritual trauma that is rarely addressed.

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• Instead of going to his doctor he begins to drink or use drugs to nullify the emotions that he is fighting to get buried which may eventually turn into an addiction but in a way that is okay as society sees men who abuse substances in a lot nicer light then those with mental issues even though the two go hand in hand in a very high percentage
• I wonder how many self harm accidents were documented as suicides and I wonder when society is going to realize that a mentally sound human being does not purposely hurt themselves no matter of the reason behind it.

• Certainly, many of us   feel hypomania is our true identity,
• It’s   hard for people who are not hypomanic to appreciate how integral this is to   someone’s identity and how important it is to preserve that."

• Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier. 
• Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier. 
• Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier. 
• Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier. 
• Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier. 
• Specifically, the study shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships — both measures of spirituality, the researchers claim — are happier. 

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