“It is good to understand that Christ’s service never did secure a man from all the ills that flesh is heir to and never will. If you are a believer, you must reckon on having your share of sickness and pain, of sorrow and tears, of losses and crosses, of deaths and bereavements, of partings and separations, of vexations and disappointments, so long as you are in the body. Christ never undertakes that you shall get to heaven without these.” — J.C. Ryle
Chapter Two: Support Groups and “Cures”
Opinions are out there whether you look for them or not. Everyone has well-intentioned advice on how to cure your condition. Beware that you guard your heart from over-optimism in any direction. For every success story, there are ten failed stories. This book is meant to give you hope though, so consider all that is available, but come back repeatedly to the Bible and to a good church community that is supportive.
Various So-Called Cures
Among other things, even diet and exercise have been popularized by people like Jordan Peterson as potential cures to some cases of severe mental illness. Sometimes diet has been said to cure people of schizophrenia or MDD who seem to have celiac’s disease, or people say that a ketogenic diet makes others better. It seems like there is always some kind of treatment out there that claims to have evidence of real results. And on the list goes with regards to what you can ingest physically or spiritually or with regards to how you are counseled.
We have to remember that the human brain is like the body’s central hub. You just never know what kind of things might have some kind of effect. It would not at all surprise me that some people who suffer with severe mental illness could be suffering from a complex physical interrelation of issues. At least it is plausible that these things might help at the very least because these are healthy habits. I am not taking anything away from the possibility that some cases are helped by this.
As a matter of fact, dementia, which I pointed out above as a possible cause of psychosis, has actually been questioned as a diagnosis. Some say that it should be reclassified as diabetes type three due to the unhealthy ingredients we Americans in particular ingest over time.
Some say that dementia has to do with a type of interference of the insulin within or lack of signaling by the brain. So, even though I do say that for every single success story due to changes in diet, there might be ten failed stories, there is possibly a very real correlation in some instances for the impact of diet on certain people.
And yet I am told that dementia presents itself in five different types, one of which is vascular and is caused by untreated hypertension. So, this is possibly a different issue even if this new terminology is ever finally adopted to whatever extent that it is.
Again, take all this with a grain of salt because there can be conceptually many separate and distinct causes of severe mental illness, due to the utter complexity of the human brain and body, and most of them probably have little to do with diet. And clearly there is never a really clear answer to the very real problem, otherwise people would be cured at astonishing levels. It is always just a few stories that certain studies suggest help. In fact, there also seems to be very real medical conditions that can cause psychotic symptoms! Fahr’s Syndrome and Encephalitis and even syphilis does as well. Malaria vaccines can also cause related symptoms even for prolonged periods.
My goal is not in the least to bash these suggestions as if they entirely miss the point! Nor am I minimizing the real condition itself. A person can go too far in believing that their pet program or diet is the real cure for almost anything, just like the old-fashioned mercantilist and his tonic. Some people do this even with the Bible. But the real answers are always complex. The human brain and body are just as intricate.
That being said, I am a biblical studies major and a schizophrenic, and this book is primarily about how the Bible helps and how to address these issues biblically, but as I have said repeatedly, it does no one any good to treat schizophrenia, bipolar, or major depressive disorder as if they are less than real medical conditions. Nor would it be helpful for me to claim that biblical counseling cures this or that disease. But even non-religious counselors cite the real tangible benefits to mentally ill persons who practice “their faith.” So I am not entirely off-base by any means. It is that niche that I want to fill.
And for the purpose of this book, I am focused upon the symptoms and attitudes of a person who is suffering with this and other very much biological conditions. Each individual case is different. And this book can apply to more than just schizophrenia, even though that is my own condition and where I find the most appropriate point of contact with the symptoms like anxious thoughts, irrationality, delusions, selfishness, fear, or maybe even narcissistic tendencies.
There are so many varied symptoms and attitudes that a mentally ill person can suffer from, that I think – due to the Bible’s ancient context, it is appropriate that if a person is going to write a book about how to help hurting people in whatever such “category” they fit, that we narrow in on broader symptoms described in the Bible and what it says about those things as opposed to trying to speak about supposed causes and cures per se. But we do both! Yet, I believe the Bible itself really speaks just to symptoms, but more on this and the benefits of this later.
Those I Have Encountered in Support Groups
When I interact with other people like myself on social media, they struggle very openly with a great deal of voices. I think that is the most common. They tend to talk about the voices they hear as if those voices come and go. Some days are worse than others. They do any number of things to alleviate the stress of hearing these voices like listening to music, or playing video games, or usually withdrawing themselves from people in general.
But everyone who has a certain degree of self-awareness knows that our minds constantly give us feedback about ourselves. We imagine conversations sometimes, or we imagine ourselves talking with someone or the like. We just seem to reflect on ourselves pretty regularly. But it is simply the case that the extreme self-consciousness in some persons who are afflicted, by perhaps a “neurodevelopmental problem” (See my 2016 book) like schizophrenia, feel all the more deeply and emotionally intertwined with that revolving door of thoughts. And it gets worse all the time because people are quite naturally giving us negative feedback, the “weirder” we seem to be getting, or they actually give us positive vibes!
In many people, these basic anxieties can be addressed, but it seems as though many psychotics seem unable to flip the switch on their negative thoughts. Many times, their minds are darker than most. They are addicted to pornography and the like, which creates more guilt and suspicion, and those closet sins add fear and anxiety to their psyches. Oftentimes, if they don’t come to Christ early enough in their lives, they are soon hindered somewhat from doing so later. But God works miracles all the time, and biblical counseling has done what feels like miracles for me since writing my first book.
It is a common myth that schizophrenic people are more likely to die of almost anything. Oftentimes, they don’t receive the care that they need, neither do they want it as often as they should either. But add to this the fact that it is very common for schizophrenics to be smokers, and their lifespans don’t tend to be as long.
Usually, these people struggle very deeply with relationships. They generally say that they don’t care about what other people think. But I find that this is a reaction to the feeling that voices judge them, as well as their reaction to their own fears and anxieties. Also, there are the somewhat confrontational conversations they have with their family and friends who are desperately trying to intervene or on the other hand, their relatives are simply trying to tiptoe around their sensitivities. Honestly, these mentally ill people are quite unnecessarily guarding themselves from hurt, but they struggle so hard to see it.
It is common for tough love to take the form of confrontations, or probably, as I have said, the opposite occurs. Loved ones in particular bend over backwards trying to show the utmost respect and compassion. I have heard some absolutely heartbreaking scenarios where a mother practically allowed her son to almost sexually harass her and wonder whether calling the authorities was truly the compassionate thing to do. Trust me. It is.
Oftentimes, pastors first feel the heartbreak of torn families and broken hearts. But they are so often unprepared to address the need to speak the truth firmly, patiently, directly, simply and compassionately to those suffering with this illness. As someone who sometimes has dealt even recently with symptoms (I take meds daily and recently had to up my dosage), I have no problem in saying that you must be direct and simple and in somewhat soft tones with suffering people. You must have patience, but there comes a point when you absolutely have to set boundaries.
For example, either the one suffering gives so and so complete access to the doctors and psychiatrists etc., or there is a withdrawal of financial support or even shelter. Perhaps, there is a brother, sister or cousin that the schizophrenic person prefers instead to have those conversations with doctors. That is fine, but someone other than the mentally ill person needs to be at the wheel if they are not making progress by themselves. And I must add that every situation is different. Some people have ups and downs. Every person is different. Be patient and nurturing but firm about things as they come and/or when it is necessary. Never react angrily.
And at the same time, I acknowledge that in some of the severest cases, where real communication seems impossible, all a loved one can hope for is a good place to commit their loved one. That is not to say that we give up or quit, but it can feel like our situation is absolutely hopeless in certain severe cases. I cringe inside for those desperate situations and I pray for you if you are there with your son or daughter. The cost for some of these care facilities are high, and that makes sense because of the constant care required. It can feel hopeless, but God doesn’t allow evil without purpose.
In a sermon I preached at one point on Esther, I compared the providence of God to the reverse side of an ornate tapestry. You can look at these reverse sides, and it looks like chaos. But then when you see the intricate outworkings of the obverse side and you compare that to the reverse, and there is a stark contrast. Our lives are like that on this side of glory and then the other.
Notes about Violence
Many can attest to the fact that mental illness or physical issues related to everything from thyroid complications to Alzheimer’s Disease can have a serious effect on the patient’s character. Some people who experience a violent car accident and trauma to the brain wind up irritable and very difficult to get along with at the very least. Their moral judgment may even be impaired.
Schizophrenia is this type of thing, yet in cases of serious violence or threats, the perpetrator must still be held accountable. You must call the police. I personally believe with the utmost conviction that even a mentally ill person who commits acts of violence should be held to the same standards of accountability as any of us. I genuinely feel the deepest grief and heartfelt condolences to those caught up in the gut-wrenching pain of these harsh and difficult situations. Trust me, I feel deeply for both the mentally ill and the victims. But you do no favors to anyone by lowering the standards of justice.
And although there might have been abuses in past psychological institutions, I truly wish there was a better way to institutionalize those who have no capacity to choose for themselves what is best. It is true that mental illness is on the rise generally. It is hard to take a step in public without proverbially bumping into another human being who is not on anxiety medication for what our Bible calls suspicious thoughts, distrust, fear, hopelessness, severe jealousy, or false reasoning. These are not necessarily the harder cases as I mentioned. Perhaps a lot of these people can be corrected with a limited degree of medication and pastoral care or even talk therapy. But such are the basic but often more severe spiritual symptoms of the person who is schizophrenic, bipolar, or major depressive.
This series of five blog posts is meant to build anticipation for my upcoming book, “After Psychosis: How Biblical Counseling Can Help.” They are each almost completely cut and pasted from the book itself and placed in these blog posts as excerpts.
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