Mental Illness

Anyone have family members or fridns who suffer from bipolar disorder? You'd know that it's a serious physical condition that can't just be prayed or talked away.

 

I think disease (of any kind) is primarily from natural causes. There may be certain instances where supernatural causes come into play, but I wouldn't assume supernatural causes to be the source of any given problem.

 

Saul seemed a little bi-polar to me, but the bible says it was an evil spirit from the Lord.

 

My wife was diagnosed with bipolar, the doctors tried five or six different meds with her, but the side effects were terrible, and they were only treating her depression, which was making her manic episodes worse. Three years ago we decided to quit the meds from the doctor and try the natural supplement approach to treatment, she has been taking 5-HTP for the depression and Lithium Orotate for the mania for about three years now and has been stable with no side effects. Praise the Lord!!

 

Sorry, I'll try to refrain from making clinical diagnoses. But the man was fine one minute, and hurling javelins the next.

 

We watched our 18 year-old son go from finishing a college semester with a 3.8 GPA to catatonic in 72 hours. His diagnosis was schizo-effective disorder. For a lack of a better description take all the worst of schizophrenia add all the worst of effective disorders and there you have it: auditory hallucinations, obtuse reasoning, delusional thought patterns, deep depression. He spent months in the hospital bankrupting us with medical bills and medications in the tens of thousands of dollars.

It was of little comfort to have our friends and pastoral colleagues tell us that he just needed to confess his sins and get back in the Word. If he had been diagnosed with a tumor they would have scrambled to get to the hospital so they could pray over him. Why, other than ignorance, do we hold those with mental illnesses at a distance? A little bit of education goes a long way. If you don't understand mental illnesses, you have a responsibility to learn about them.

 

If you count the "all of the above" votes that would make 6 that agreed to a different approach for the compassionate side of their care. I'm assuming (or perhaps wishfully thinking) that the difference would be a positive difference.

One of our son's therapists said in response to the often stated, "why don't they just pull themselves up by the boot straps and get on with it?" He said, "It is difficult to pull up your boots when you cannot comprehend that you have feet." Schizophrenics see things that don't exist and hear voices coming out of turned off TVs. While most people would flee to safety at an oncoming truck the motion of leaves in a near-by tree may captivate a mis-firing brain. In our son's case the mania and depressive states of the affective disorder were greatly amplified.

We learned to be patient. He didn't leave the refrigerator door open to be difficult. There were times he was unaware he was in the kitchen. He didn't lay on the couch because he was lazy. He was exhausted trying to sort through what was real and what wasn't.

We learned how to love him all over again. He is barely a visage of what he once was. Our son died that day 6 years ago. The one we got back looked an awful lot like him but everything else - his countenance, personality, likes and dislikes - were all different. Never once did he lose his sacred worth in God's eyes nor did he cease being a Heaven-sent gift in ours.

We learned to re-calibrate our priorities. Money meant little because there was none left. I'm sorry you can't come for dinner. He is uncomfortable with people he does not know even if he knew you before the onset. Yes, we watch cartoons a lot but there is a 5 year-old mind in that 25 year-old body.

We learned to learn. He is not an unrepentant sinner suffering the consequences. He did not take a drug nor did someone spike a drink. He is not suffering at the hand of bad parenting. He is a young man who has an illness. His mom and dad love him, God loves him and Jesus died for him. It's okay if you don't want to.

 

Possibly, because from what I have seen there is none. I was diagnosed last year with PMDD. Those letters stand for a REAL illness. At times a very debilitating illness. I was prescribed Zoloft. I can't tell you how many times I heard from friends and family members that instead of Zoloft I needed to confess a sin that I hadn't confessed yet, pray more, or read the Bible more. It was like they were thinking that I chose to have this illness interrupt my life. Or that I had done something truly evil to deserve this illness and they wanted no where near the evilness of me. There was no understanding, no compassion, and no admitting that a tiny blue pill fixed what was wrong.

I will post what PMDD is: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a diagnosis used to indicate serious premenstrual distress with associated deterioration in functioning. PMDD is characterized by depressed or labile mood, anxiety, irritability, anger, and other symptoms occurring exclusively during the 2 weeks preceding menses. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the symptoms must be severe enough to interfere with occupational and social functioning, as opposed to the more common premenstrual syndrome (PMS). PMDD is a severely distressing and disabling condition that requires treatment.

 

Having been beset with mental health illness, it is treated with fear by family and friends it is the leprosy of today. During the worse periods of my life I have lost years of income, friends and turned away from the Lord in my despair. Yes, real despair where I have tried to take my own life.

Thanks be to God I failed on that score although at the time I was very angry at my apparent failure. Also I am thankful I do not live in USA and I was able to access private psychiatric help as the public system is vile (or at least was), our insurance system does not have the same capping system as the states.

I am enjoying the best mental health in years but there is a fear of descending into the morass of illness.

I have been diagnosed with DID and depression. The former has been helped significantly by a specialist in the disease and thus the depression is managed with a simple tricyclic.

 

What is DID? I worked a number of years in a private mental hospital and they keep changing 'terms' on me.

I'm also glad you're doing well!

Diane

 

DID is disassociative identity disorder. Formerly known as "multiple personality disorder". DID is a much more accurate description, and came into favor as we learned more about the disorder.

 

Thanks Johnv.

 

I don't believe that mental illnesses should be treated differently from other illnesses in any area, because they are just as serious, life-threatening, and debilitating, but they ARE treated differently...

Some people who have never had a mental illness are not very tolerant or even understanding.

I suffer from Agoraphobia and used to have severe panic attacks. In fact, I didn't leave my house for a year, not even to go out in the yard.

I got so sick of hearing, "It's all in your head", basically, they're right, but not in the way THEY mean it.

I also got tired of hearing, "You could overcome this if you really wanted to".

And the worst phrase of all, "Where is your faith?".

We did not make ourselves sick and we cannot make ourselves well.

How can anyone think we would CHOOSE to live this way if we could do something about it?

 

Amen, i am blessed.

I myself sufferred for years from an irrational fear (Acrophobia). I wan only able to overcome it through committed counselling and physical therapy. I can still feel the fear come upon me sometimes, but have learned how to control it. It's a good thing, too, because one of my favorite activities is rock wall climbing. I hope to one day be able to go skydiving.

I had my share of friend who said I just need to "get over it" or "pray it away". They truly had no concept of what it was like living with such a condition. I concur with your sentiment: "How can anyone think we would CHOOSE to live this way if we could do something about it?"

 

DID= Dissociative Identity Disorder, used to be Multiple Personality Disorder. Despite popularisation of the concept by films such as Eve etc, this is a disorder stemming from severe torture/abuse. It is a coping mechanism that goes awry over time and the person becomes severely dysfunctional as the mind tries to cope with the world about it. often misdiagnosed it has controversy in acknowledging its existence by some.


I was lucky as I had access to a specialist in the disorder and to a specialty psych unit that helped immeasurably.

Cheers,