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My spirit, personality, and identity got messed up after this strange experience. What should I do?

Mar 23, 2025
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Around two years ago, I was in a bad place in life and I was trying to find ways to improve myself and I got into self improvement content. Ever since last year, I would have doubts that I would become the person that I was meant to be. I would be having these negative thoughts about people abusing me and messing with me in the worst ways possible and stopping me from becoming who I was meant to become. It felt so real. Later on, these thoughts manifested into vivid visions of me crying and I would feel like crying but not physically. It's like I cried but I didn't physically cry at all. I would have visions of abuse happening to me and it would feel like the abuse actually happened. I would feel as if my spirit/subconscious was acting out in the real world for me. These were fueled by feelings of fear and that my freedom and way of life that I loved would be taken away from me. The worst part is that I would put way too much energy into this stuff. I would feel like someone would come along and hurt me badly. It then got worse as later on in 2024, I would be having these weird and strange mental visualizations/visions in my head that show me being disrespected and humiliated. These visions was caused by intense anxiety and fears of something taking away my freedom and life from me. Over the upcoming months, I would start to believe that I had high ambitions, high purpose and life would seem so fun to me. This is not mania or psychosis because I was just having a confidence and a normal ambition in me that everything would work out great. I would believe that I had a higher calling and some kind of purpose. Over the following months leading up to November 14th, I would feel extreme fear and anxiety that something was going to take me over and take away my way of life and control me or something. It's crazy and strange. Then I started getting visions that I was being brutally tortured by someone. However, the people who were torturing me and abusing me in these visions included people that existed in real life. So these are visions of people that exist in real life that are torturing me in these visions. These were the same people who were abusing me and making me feel down in my other visions of abuse. It happened out of nowhere suddenly. I was just closing my eyes and I get these weird sensations and mental visualizations of me being tortured by someone and then it would be very vivid, more vivid than any other type of visualization or dream that I had in the past. When I think about these visions, they don't progress into anything anymore. It feels like I am dead. This all happened and then suddenly this is my ongoing issue in my life:


My mind feels weird and I feel like my personality, identity, and my character died. I feel like my mind isn't operating as a part of me anymore. My mind is not working right. I had some intense mental visualizations/imaginations/visions that included in me being tortured by someone or being abused and all of a sudden, I feel strange. I feel like I was really connected to those visions in some way. It was as if the damage that was done in the visions was connected in some way. I feel like major parts of my identity and personality have been diminished and weakened. It's like the traits and characteristics that made me myself get affected and weakened so severely that I can't even recognize them anymore. It's very subtle. It's as if it is not a part of me anymore. It is very, very similar to what people would describe as an ego death. These are my cognitive issues: Severe issues with learning, memories issues, severe lack with logical thinking skills, critical thinking lacking skills, struggling to think things through, struggles with thinking for myself, struggles with understanding and comprehending information immediately, not being sharp as I used to be, etc. Things that I was, things that I liked and hated now seem diminished to me in feelings. I feel as if my personality is not operating fully in me at all. I have strong brain fog that blocks me from thinking critically and logically as well. It's hard for me to think deeply, learn new things and to improve my life better. I was heavily into personal development in my life. When this happened to me, I lost all of the motivation and drive to improve my life in different areas. I was not sad when this happened. It's like I had the momentum taken away from me. When I try to think about the thoughts that I had about improving my life and to better myself and anything that happened in the past, I feel like it's so foreign and different to me, as if it happened in a different reality. I can't even seem to remember the past and it's like I have to fight back to get the feelings and sensations that I once had. There are times when I can't even discern the thoughts that I have in my mind, whether it's intrusive thoughts, impulsive or rational feelings. How do I get help from this? The key to understanding this is that I seemed to put way too much energy into all of this paranoia and negative thoughts here but it shouldn't have manifested into something like this. I need serious help here. I won't take going to a psychiatrist as an answer here because I need serious help for certain. I have a deep conviction and common sense to understand that this is definitely not mental health related issues. What exactly is this? I need a word here. I just want to get back to normal and I don't want to keep living like this. It's horrible.
 

linux.poet

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2 Corinthians 5:17 said:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

I guess you need to start over with a new identity baseline. Your identity is in Christ as a new creation.

Do you think you deserve to be humiliated, disrespected, and tortured/abused? If so, why do you think this?

I would also recommend laying off any content (self-help or otherwise) that may have led to these types of "visions". What you've described sounds like dabbling in occult practices for some reason, that can cause the symptoms you've described, or so I hear. Barring any demonic influences, it is possible to push the mind to such an extremity that it will produce hallucinations. In the latter case, answering the question above will help you pin down what is going wrong.

Then, return to baseline and try to act as you did before your "spirit, personality, and identity" got tore up. What did you enjoy doing before you let this content into your life? Go back to that. Human identities are formed by actions and your personality is how you present yourself to others. Pray for spiritual restoration.

I'm not a psychologist, but that's my best shot.
 
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Mar 23, 2025
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I guess you need to start over with a new identity baseline. Your identity is in Christ as a new creation.

Do you think you deserve to be humiliated, disrespected, and tortured/abused? If so, why do you think this?

I would also recommend laying off any content (self-help or otherwise) that may have led to these types of "visions". What you've described sounds like dabbling in occult practices for some reason, that can cause the symptoms you've described, or so I hear. Barring any demonic influences, it is possible to push the mind to such an extremity that it will produce hallucinations. In the latter case, answering the question above will help you pin down what is going wrong.

Then, return to baseline and try to act as you did before your "spirit, personality, and identity" got tore up. What did you enjoy doing before you let this content into your life? Go back to that. Human identities are formed by actions and your personality is how you present yourself to others. Pray for spiritual restoration.

I'm not a psychologist, but that's my best shot.
No, I don't believe that I deserve to be tortured or humiliated but that's what the visions were about. I don't believe at all that there was any content that I have consumed that led to these visions happening. These visions happened out of nowhere and it started getting bad. Also, there was an audiobook that also made everything worse. I just read and listened to the book for a while and suddenly, it messed up the way my brain processes things and operates. I think that it definitely did some weird impairment because of a spiritual source or something. I really don't know where the hell this is or where it came from. I am confused as hell. I try to act like I was before the visions happened but it's like my personality got weakened or something.
 
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Sabertooth

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I do attend church but I don't know anyone to speak to.
Does your church have a healing ministry or pastoral counseling?
Those would definitely be the next step after the issues expressed in your OP.
 
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Jermayn

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Around two years ago, I was in a bad place in life and I was trying to find ways to improve myself and I got into self improvement content. Ever since last year, I would have doubts that I would become the person that I was meant to be. I would be having these negative thoughts about people abusing me and messing with me in the worst ways possible and stopping me from becoming who I was meant to become. It felt so real. Later on, these thoughts manifested into vivid visions of me crying and I would feel like crying but not physically. It's like I cried but I didn't physically cry at all. I would have visions of abuse happening to me and it would feel like the abuse actually happened. I would feel as if my spirit/subconscious was acting out in the real world for me. These were fueled by feelings of fear and that my freedom and way of life that I loved would be taken away from me. The worst part is that I would put way too much energy into this stuff. I would feel like someone would come along and hurt me badly. It then got worse as later on in 2024, I would be having these weird and strange mental visualizations/visions in my head that show me being disrespected and humiliated. These visions was caused by intense anxiety and fears of something taking away my freedom and life from me. Over the upcoming months, I would start to believe that I had high ambitions, high purpose and life would seem so fun to me. This is not mania or psychosis because I was just having a confidence and a normal ambition in me that everything would work out great. I would believe that I had a higher calling and some kind of purpose. Over the following months leading up to November 14th, I would feel extreme fear and anxiety that something was going to take me over and take away my way of life and control me or something. It's crazy and strange. Then I started getting visions that I was being brutally tortured by someone. However, the people who were torturing me and abusing me in these visions included people that existed in real life. So these are visions of people that exist in real life that are torturing me in these visions. These were the same people who were abusing me and making me feel down in my other visions of abuse. It happened out of nowhere suddenly. I was just closing my eyes and I get these weird sensations and mental visualizations of me being tortured by someone and then it would be very vivid, more vivid than any other type of visualization or dream that I had in the past. When I think about these visions, they don't progress into anything anymore. It feels like I am dead. This all happened and then suddenly this is my ongoing issue in my life:


My mind feels weird and I feel like my personality, identity, and my character died. I feel like my mind isn't operating as a part of me anymore. My mind is not working right. I had some intense mental visualizations/imaginations/visions that included in me being tortured by someone or being abused and all of a sudden, I feel strange. I feel like I was really connected to those visions in some way. It was as if the damage that was done in the visions was connected in some way. I feel like major parts of my identity and personality have been diminished and weakened. It's like the traits and characteristics that made me myself get affected and weakened so severely that I can't even recognize them anymore. It's very subtle. It's as if it is not a part of me anymore. It is very, very similar to what people would describe as an ego death. These are my cognitive issues: Severe issues with learning, memories issues, severe lack with logical thinking skills, critical thinking lacking skills, struggling to think things through, struggles with thinking for myself, struggles with understanding and comprehending information immediately, not being sharp as I used to be, etc. Things that I was, things that I liked and hated now seem diminished to me in feelings. I feel as if my personality is not operating fully in me at all. I have strong brain fog that blocks me from thinking critically and logically as well. It's hard for me to think deeply, learn new things and to improve my life better. I was heavily into personal development in my life. When this happened to me, I lost all of the motivation and drive to improve my life in different areas. I was not sad when this happened. It's like I had the momentum taken away from me. When I try to think about the thoughts that I had about improving my life and to better myself and anything that happened in the past, I feel like it's so foreign and different to me, as if it happened in a different reality. I can't even seem to remember the past and it's like I have to fight back to get the feelings and sensations that I once had. There are times when I can't even discern the thoughts that I have in my mind, whether it's intrusive thoughts, impulsive or rational feelings. How do I get help from this? The key to understanding this is that I seemed to put way too much energy into all of this paranoia and negative thoughts here but it shouldn't have manifested into something like this. I need serious help here. I won't take going to a psychiatrist as an answer here because I need serious help for certain. I have a deep conviction and common sense to understand that this is definitely not mental health related issues. What exactly is this? I need a word here. I just want to get back to normal and I don't want to keep living like this. It's horrible.
Have you suffered some type of abuse in the past?
 
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