Monday, February 14, 2011

Mental illness and the church

Today's story, entitled "Living with a Schizophrenic," comes courtesy of the Catholic News website. I was rummaging around on the Internet to back up my contention that the modern church, using psychiatry, has hoodwinked everybody, including itself, about the biological basis of the "schizophrenia disease." The early Christian church, through a series of conventions or "councils" as they were referred to then, succeeded in ensuring that correct spiritual thinking came through the organized church, unchallenged by those pesky prophets who were wandering in and around the city gates. Today's church finds psychiatry a convenient way of making sure that its dogma goes unchallenged.

Mr. Fernando is a Singaporean man who has been caring for his "schizophrenic" wife for over thirty years. He writes in his book, "I am troubled that there is no cure for schizophrenia. But I'm more troubled by the attitude of people towards those with mental illness - avoiding them and stigmatising them - when we should be helping them."

Since Mr. Fernando reads his Bible, how does he reconcile his modern belief about schizophrenia with the many instances in the Bible where Jesus cured the mentally ill, a.k.a. the demon-possessed? How is it that the Church believes that this is no longer possible? Why isn't the Church actively more engaged in practicing the faith healings that Jesus told us were within our power?

As a full-time author, Mr Fernando gives talks about being a caregiver to patients, teaching them how to identify symptoms of schizophrenia as well as providing tips, always using his experiences with his wife to illustrate his points. His talks are often encouraging, and he reminds his audience not to lose hope because mental illness can be overcome with regular medication, counselling and strong emotional support from loved ones.

It's strange that church leaders and parishioners can recite the symptoms of something they call "schizophrenia" while, at the same time, being surrounded in church on any given Sunday by high strung people (including themselves) who speak in tongues, get swept away by religious ecstasy, feel the devil is out to get them, recount Biblical persecution stories and subscribe to the Holy Trinity.

I am always struck by how "mentally ill" bordering on schizophrenia church-goers are (and I'm a church-goer), but its leaders still believe that somehow there exists something called serious mental illness that needs support provided by psychiatry, not the Church.

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(Raymond Anthony Fernando's book "Loving A Schizophrenic" is on sale at the Catholic News Book and Media, at the Catholic Archdiocesan Education Centre, 2 Highland Road, #01-02. It is also available for online purchase at http://www.rankbooks.com/. It is priced at $15.)

3 comments:

  1. leave even one of my schizies out of ur love an i will not respect u
    if u deny me before men i will deny u before the father
    do not give my little ones drugs whichy are mostly poisons
    if any die oer have died at ur hands@
    ?

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  2. MY FIRST LADY EDUCATERS SPIRIT
    NOEL18- 23YEARS APPRX
    mARIA MC KEE
    THE ALBUM THAT SAYS IT ALL
    "yOU GOTTA SIN TO GET SAVED"
    IF UR REAL U NEED TO FEEL THIS LARGE PART OF MY EVERLASTING HEART
    U HAVE VTO LIVE A BIT TO LEARN ABOUT LOVE

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  3. Big Pharma stigmatizes the population by declaring a segment genetically incurable and always needing care and protection from real life.
    They declare a segment of the population genetically malformed, inferior and always deserving of chemical lobotomy. They say that for this segment psychotherapy and /or emotional involvement and emotions l expression IE therapy and life therapy , is useless for this class of people. That is to say, they are not unman beings like everyone else and must be kept sedated.
    Taht has got to be the ultimate racism and the ultimate bigotry. The anti-stigma campaigns are the ultimate hypocrisy.
    As for the Church, what else is new? It's all about getting power for themselves. They sue existing political forces to help gain authority over their congregations to exercise power over them. No matter what th powers are , Nazism, American elitism, Canadian Oligarchs, Rednecks, Anti-semitism KKK racism, Multi-Billion dollar Pharma companies, they co-opt with the prevailing repressive authority to extend their own authority over their congregation.

    ReplyDelete

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