Orthodoxy and mental illness

[SeraphimSarov]

How do the Fathers treat the subject of mental illness? How do the elders and theologians of the Church treat it? Are there any books that might be good concerning this? I have schizophrenia, and while it's under control (praise God, because for years it wasn't), I'm struggling to understand it or make sense of it. The secular world says it's a mere neurotransmitter problem, mostly dopamine and serotonin, but what does the Church say?

 

[AlexDTX]

How do the Fathers treat the subject of mental illness? How do the elders and theologians of the Church treat it? Are there any books that might be good concerning this? I have schizophrenia, and while it's under control (praise God, because for years it wasn't), I'm struggling to understand it or make sense of it. The secular world says it's a mere neurotransmitter problem, mostly dopamine and serotonin, but what does the Church say?

I don't know what the Church Fathers have to say, but I do know what the Bible and Jesus said. The lunatic of Gadarene was possessed by demons and Jesus cast them out. Mental illness has never existed apart from expressions of madness, lunacy or such things. The secular theories of psychiatry are only 2 centuries old. I am not saying you have a demon, by the way, for I know nothing about you. My comment is only on historical perspective.

 

[Monk Brendan]

I don't know what the Church Fathers have to say, but I do know what the Bible and Jesus said. The lunatic of Gadarene was possessed by demons and Jesus cast them out. Mental illness has never existed apart from expressions of madness, lunacy or such things. The secular theories of psychiatry are only 2 centuries old. I am not saying you have a demon, by the way, for I know nothing about you. My comment is only on historical perspective.

From my experience, dealing with clinical depression is hard enough to go through without it being suggested you have a demon. Clinical Depression is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. With the appropriate medication, you can go years without falling into depression.

 

[All4Christ]

Ugh, I really don't like some of those demon-related scriptures when related to illness, like the "epileptic" or "lunatick"

Remember though, that term was used for people whose problems were increased when the moon was in sight.

I've had people tell me my epilepsy is because of demonic possession. Not true - bought it was hurtful. (I wish some translations didn't take the liberty to translate it as epileptic.) The same goes with any mental or neurological illness imho.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I don't know if it would actually be helpful to you, but I've read several books on the subject by more recent teachers. They really tend to address the kinds of things that are cognitive in nature though, or as the emotions affect us, that sort of thing.

Scizophrenia ... well, with the caveat that I've been "out of the loop" for about 18 years, which is an eternity in the field of neuroscience, but my strong impression is that brain structure and neurotransmitters play a HUGE role in that one. It's a bit of chicken-and-egg in that I have not seen it conclusively demonstrated that the physical components necessarily precipitate, but for all I know they may have demonstrated that by now.

My point is, how we think, how we relate to God, and so much more has TRENENDOUS potential impact on our mental health, surely, but schizophrenia may very well be a primarily medical condition.

That doesn't mean you can't benefit by right thinking - we all can. But it might mean that wrong thinking isn't the cause of your condition.

With that said, there are crossovers between psychotherapy and Orthodoxy out there. I should have been more diligent in tracking them down - result being I know of a few, but I'm not sure they would be helpful to you. Is that the kind of info you are looking for?

 

[All4Christ]

There is a good book called Orthodox Psychotherapy. It has some reference to medical psychotherapy, but it associates it to the entire body - healing of both the spiritual and physical realms.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I think the best answer, not being a doctor or Elder, is it could be either psychological or spiritual, or both. so I think the best thing is to keep going to docs and confessors.

 

[AlexDTX]

From my experience, dealing with clinical depression is hard enough to go through without it being suggested you have a demon. Clinical Depression is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. With the appropriate medication, you can go years without falling into depression.

As I said, I am in no way saying this is your case. I was only giving an historical perspective.