Is Mental Illness a Legit Affliction?

One cannot question this if they've done any amount if counseling. Not all psychological problems are spiritual problems. Many people struggle with legitimate mental illness, including some in our own families.

 

Yes and No.
There are some legit issues and there are some that are not.

I am currently reading Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams and I am finding it helpful and thought provoking.

 

That's it, in a nutshell.

FWIW, we provide a home for a challenged sibling. There are valid issues to address and there are excuses (for lack of a better term this morn).

 

I don't have any wisdom for the first 8 myths, but I do for this one...(from the 9 myths of mental illness):

By this definition, every person is an addict...to some sin...which I believe is true. Sin is addiction.

 

While it is foolish to ignore valid mental illness from a variety of sources it is also foolish to ignore the spiritual components of psychological problems. Some mental illness is no different than any other sickness and often has physical/chemical causes and solutions, but sometimes behavior is a manifestation of other spiritual problems.

Then there is another entire category of mentally challenged individuals who have a warped view of the world around them that is seated in poor biblical teaching and foundations. Some self or poorly trained biblical “counselors” con make these conditions worse. The idea of first doing no harm should apply to ministers as well as physicians.

 

In 1999 I had OH Surgery (5 by-passes) and experienced several periods of depression. Believe me It was not imagination but as real as a tooth ache. Thank God this did not last long. The only way I can describe it is that this happened shortly after returning home from the hospital, usually in the early evening. I remember it vividly as if it were yesterday. I would feel as if I wanted to get up and run or jump off the world unable to think or react at all to normal conversation. I remember saying to my wife we need to go for a drive and I remember putting my head out the car window and letting the wind blow in my face @ 40MPH. All this took place in a period of two weeks. Each occurrence lasted about 30 minutes. I can understand why people in this condition would want to take their own lives. I have since told several persons who were having Heart Surgery about this experience and one told me, "I don't believe I could have made it had you not described exactly what happened to me".

 

I had a friend who worked at a mental hospital. We use to tease him about it rubbing off on him but he always laughed it off. He seemed to love talking about some of the patients there. After working there for about 5 years He managed to get a higher paying job in the same type of position in another state. This is when his mother called me to tell me that he was found at a drive in theater and had shot him self in the head. It seems that he was there with a former patient and she had talked him into playing Russian Roulette. Which certainly is not sane. I really had a problem with this story for a long time because we teased him that it could rub off on him. The police said that he did shoot him self they knew this by the evidence they found and his lady friend was placed back in the mental hospital. They said that people who have this type of mental illness can talk people in to just about anything. They told us the name of it but this happened 40 years ago and I can't remember what they called it.

I believe there is a thing called mental illness. I also believe there are fakers and there are those who are possessed. They lump them altogether in the same wards in a hospital.

I do not believe in Psycho therapy. According to most Psychiatrist we are all in need of their services.
MB