Where is the line Drawn?

[3choes]

Something that has been on my mind for many years in regards to my crippling anxiety and OCD is: Where is the line drawn between faith, and an actual medical condition?

I will start with a little background information....
Since the age of 9, I have had crippling anxiety and panic attacks. I was medicated at 10 years old with Zoloft until about the age of 19 when my medication suddenly "gave up" on me and I went into immediate withdrawals for an entire year. I graduated high school and was accepted into University with a musical performance scholarship. Unfortunately, due to my anxiety, I lost my scholarship as I walked off stage during a paid solo performance in Miami, FL...that was the end of my musical career. It devastated me.
From then on, I have had countless jobs which I have lost due to my anxiety and not being able to work...my depression worsened and I felt a total failure to both myself and my family.

In 2016 I met my (now) wife, Amelia. She brought me out of the depression and into a new sense of being. In 2019, we moved to Abbeville, South Carolina and rented separately (as this was the proper thing to do). I was working for a well established Mennonite company called Stoll Industries, while she is a Paramedic/Firefighter...this is where things turn.
In 2020 during the initial breakout of Covid-19, Stoll Industries fired me. They were forcing me to talk with their Mennonite pastor (whom I found out later was divulging my conversations to my bosses) who had some very different beliefs on faith than I had growing up. The entire management board sat down with me and gave me 2 weeks (paid) off to basically "get better" in regards to my anxiety - so I did the only thing logical. I went home to see my family who I hadn't seen in a year and a half. I returned to work - obviously still with anxiety issues - and was immediately let go because I did not take the "initiative" to get better. Stoll Industries is a "faith based" company which, to be honest, threw my faith through a whirlwind.

Fast forward to now, my wife (just married 2 weeks ago) and I bought a home with 30 acres and I am working with a small company in Abbeville.

So now that's out of the way - I spoke with several pastors throughout this entire time asking the same question, "Where is the line drawn between faith and a medical condition?". Every single pastor I have talked to has given me a different answer. Some have said that a medical condition is in no way connected to faith, while others have claimed I may be possessed or tormented by demons...
It had me thinking about people who are clinically diagnosed with "psychosis" - are these people possessed? Or is this an actual medical issue?

I apologize for the lengthy post, this has just been something that has bothered me since my brush with the "mennonite" faith (which has to be the most two-faced Christian belief I have ever witnessed).

 

[3choes]

Not sure why this was moved to the Mental Health section...this is a faith question..

 

[Tolworth John]

Where is the line drawn between faith, and an actual medical condition?

As people are all different it will varry between people and as our faith is not constant and illnesses are variable in intensity the line moves in each pson.

There is no set in stone demarkation line.

 

[Brad D.]

Something that has been on my mind for many years in regards to my crippling anxiety and OCD is: Where is the line drawn between faith, and an actual medical condition?

I will start with a little background information....
Since the age of 9, I have had crippling anxiety and panic attacks. I was medicated at 10 years old with Zoloft until about the age of 19 when my medication suddenly "gave up" on me and I went into immediate withdrawals for an entire year. I graduated high school and was accepted into University with a musical performance scholarship. Unfortunately, due to my anxiety, I lost my scholarship as I walked off stage during a paid solo performance in Miami, FL...that was the end of my musical career. It devastated me.
From then on, I have had countless jobs which I have lost due to my anxiety and not being able to work...my depression worsened and I felt a total failure to both myself and my family.

In 2016 I met my (now) wife, Amelia. She brought me out of the depression and into a new sense of being. In 2019, we moved to Abbeville, South Carolina and rented separately (as this was the proper thing to do). I was working for a well established Mennonite company called Stoll Industries, while she is a Paramedic/Firefighter...this is where things turn.
In 2020 during the initial breakout of Covid-19, Stoll Industries fired me. They were forcing me to talk with their Mennonite pastor (whom I found out later was divulging my conversations to my bosses) who had some very different beliefs on faith than I had growing up. The entire management board sat down with me and gave me 2 weeks (paid) off to basically "get better" in regards to my anxiety - so I did the only thing logical. I went home to see my family who I hadn't seen in a year and a half. I returned to work - obviously still with anxiety issues - and was immediately let go because I did not take the "initiative" to get better. Stoll Industries is a "faith based" company which, to be honest, threw my faith through a whirlwind.

Fast forward to now, my wife (just married 2 weeks ago) and I bought a home with 30 acres and I am working with a small company in Abbeville.



So now that's out of the way - I spoke with several pastors throughout this entire time asking the same question, "Where is the line drawn between faith and a medical condition?". Every single pastor I have talked to has given me a different answer. Some have said that a medical condition is in no way connected to faith, while others have claimed I may be possessed or tormented by demons...
It had me thinking about people who are clinically diagnosed with "psychosis" - are these people possessed? Or is this an actual medical issue?

I apologize for the lengthy post, this has just been something that has bothered me since my brush with the "mennonite" faith (which has to be the most two-faced Christian belief I have ever witnessed).

First of all congratulation on your new marriage, and all your new beginnings there in Abbeville! I was wondering if God used the depression you were going through in 2016 to help connect you with Amelia in any significant way? And similarly did He use her help to you afterwards in your battle with depression to help build your relationship together, and signal His will in you two being married?

I was also wondering about the town of Abbeville. Did the job with Stoll bring you there, or was there some other reason you wanted or felt the need to be there and so applied for the job with Stoll in order to get there? And likewise, after the painful experience with Stoll, you still invested your life there to stay, buy land and work it out. Why did you do so? What makes this your place?

I ask this because it helps us sometimes to step back from our acute crisis, pan out and view it from the whole. The enigmas God places us in sometimes, though incredibly painful, often have His providential hand written all over it.

The Bible is full of such enigmas, such painful experiences. Consider the life of Joseph for a moment. Almost murdered by his brothers, sold into slavery, isolated for 20 years from his father, all those dreams he had apparently crushed. It seemed as though some cruel hand of injustice had cast him down to some unrecoverable blow. But then all those years later he sees his brothers come riding into town, he hears of his father again, and one day looks out over it all and sees the whole thing was orchestrated by God's hand for His good.

I know that doesn't answer your specific questions. Perhaps there are things in life that are unanswerable. It is my thought the questions I asked just touch the surface of the many more I could have asked. There may be a lot more going on there than you think as it relates to many areas of your life, and what God may be desiring to teach you about these things. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on these things if you have the desire to share?

 

[Leaf473]

Something that has been on my mind for many years in regards to my crippling anxiety and OCD is: Where is the line drawn between faith, and an actual medical condition?

I will start with a little background information....
Since the age of 9, I have had crippling anxiety and panic attacks. I was medicated at 10 years old with Zoloft until about the age of 19 when my medication suddenly "gave up" on me and I went into immediate withdrawals for an entire year. I graduated high school and was accepted into University with a musical performance scholarship. Unfortunately, due to my anxiety, I lost my scholarship as I walked off stage during a paid solo performance in Miami, FL...that was the end of my musical career. It devastated me.
From then on, I have had countless jobs which I have lost due to my anxiety and not being able to work...my depression worsened and I felt a total failure to both myself and my family.

In 2016 I met my (now) wife, Amelia. She brought me out of the depression and into a new sense of being. In 2019, we moved to Abbeville, South Carolina and rented separately (as this was the proper thing to do). I was working for a well established Mennonite company called Stoll Industries, while she is a Paramedic/Firefighter...this is where things turn.
In 2020 during the initial breakout of Covid-19, Stoll Industries fired me. They were forcing me to talk with their Mennonite pastor (whom I found out later was divulging my conversations to my bosses) who had some very different beliefs on faith than I had growing up. The entire management board sat down with me and gave me 2 weeks (paid) off to basically "get better" in regards to my anxiety - so I did the only thing logical. I went home to see my family who I hadn't seen in a year and a half. I returned to work - obviously still with anxiety issues - and was immediately let go because I did not take the "initiative" to get better. Stoll Industries is a "faith based" company which, to be honest, threw my faith through a whirlwind.

Fast forward to now, my wife (just married 2 weeks ago) and I bought a home with 30 acres and I am working with a small company in Abbeville.

So now that's out of the way - I spoke with several pastors throughout this entire time asking the same question, "Where is the line drawn between faith and a medical condition?". Every single pastor I have talked to has given me a different answer. Some have said that a medical condition is in no way connected to faith, while others have claimed I may be possessed or tormented by demons...
It had me thinking about people who are clinically diagnosed with "psychosis" - are these people possessed? Or is this an actual medical issue?

I apologize for the lengthy post, this has just been something that has bothered me since my brush with the "mennonite" faith (which has to be the most two-faced Christian belief I have ever witnessed).

Well... faith is something we all want to have. And it doesn't take much, just mustard seed sized.

Medication, like which ones and how much, is something you work out with your doctor.

Does that answer your question?

Peace be with you

 

[Mari17]

These are great questions. Thank you for sharing!

I'm so sorry that you've had such negative experiences. It's common for some Christians to completely misunderstand mental disorders. The short answer, in my opinion, is that we humans are holistic, a combination of the physical, spiritual, and mental, and that our mental health reflects that. For example, I believe that my OCD stems from physical/biological causes, but has been influenced by my environment and beliefs, including my spiritual beliefs (e.g. my hyper-responsibility and fear of causing harm to others stems from putting too much weight in my own efforts, and trusting myself more than God). However, I don't think we should blame ourselves for our disorders, but rather see them as a weakness (almost like an illness) to work on; a weakness that God wants to help us with. And I do NOT think that mental disorders are caused by demon possession or anything like that. Those are some of my initial thoughts, but I'm willing to discuss in more detail if you'd like. I think you might find some helpful ideas and advice on Mitzi VanCleve's blog, The OCD Christian. She also heads up a good online support group at Christianity and Anxiety Disorders - Let's Talk | Facebook.