Wednesday, November 14, 2007

  • It's Not a Character Defect

    OK, so everyone has a character defect.  In other words, nobody's perfect!

    But it's really tough that when one exhibits the signs of a mental illness, the first thing one thinks is not, "I wonder if she's had a full workup.  It seems like there's something going on there."  No.  That's not what one thinks.

    I'm reading a book right now called Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded? and it describes how many, many Christians do not believe that mental illness is something that should be treated medically.  Instead, they think it's something that will go away if you pray harder, read more scripture, and generally do the right combination of things.

    I attend a pretty radical church.  In fact, it's not really a church at all; rather, it's a fellowship of Christian believers that meet in houses to study the Bible.  They pride themselves, in general, on not being like the cultural Christians of today.  They like to say that you can't do anything to be right with God, grace is a free gift for anyone who will receive it.  (If you attend this church and are reading this blog entry, please be sure to read my disclaimer at the end of this post.)

    They're right about grace.  You don't have to do anything to be right with God.  But they, exactly like the "churchy" Christians they are priding themselves on NOT being, often claim emotional difficulties can be "cured" with enough prayer, bible study, and "body life." In other words, it's not an illness that can be treated medically.  It's a character defect that can be fixed if you do the right things.  To use "Christianese," you have a SIN problem.

    There's one huge problem with that way of thinking.  If you have a such a huge "character defect," and you go years and years doing the right things, and it doesn't go away. . .you can imagine what this does to your view of yourself.  Not to mention your faith in a God who is supposed to fix this flaw in you and use you for his purposes. . .and doesn't.  Does he not love you like the Bible claims he does?  Does he just have more hoops for you to jump through, more things for you to do, and you just haven't figure out yet what?  Are you just so broken you're not worth God's time?

    Sometimes you will hear a church official concede that there is a "place" for medication sometimes in mental illnesses, and that place is to get you functioning so you can then fix the spiritual problem, the SIN problem, and get off the drugs.  However, there is no place for long-term medication in treating mental illness.

    I will review the book once I'm finished reading it, but one thing that has struck me so far is how physical many mental disorders are.  Just like bodily diseases like diabetes and epilepsy that are controlled for life by medication, there are chemical, physical problems in the brain that will not be solved by prayer, barring a miracle.  Now, I'm a believer in miracles, but we all know that they don't happen all that often in this day and age.  Probably good to pray, but continue to take your insulin if you're diabetic.  Probably good to pray, seek counseling, participate in fellowship, read your Bible, serve. . .and take your lithium if you're bipolar.  Or your clozapine if you're schizophrenic.  Or. . .your amphetamine, if you have ADD. 

    Christians don't have the corner on poor treatment of people with emotional difficulties.  Don't think I'm bashing Christians; in fact, I am one myself!  People of all faiths or no faith are guilty of calling mental health sufferers "weird" or "off" or just "not very nice."  Blaming the person that's ill for their issues is easy for anyone to do.  I mean, consider the symptoms.  When I'm unmedicated and untreated, as I was for thirty-plus years pre-diagnosis, I:

    • Don't look people in the eye when I talk with them;
    • Speak too loudly for the situation at hand;
    • Interrupt people when they're talking to me in order to say what I'm thinking;
    • Talk over people to get my point across;
    • Say things that sound critical of others (even when I don't mean them to be) and then fail to notice the body language and social cues that telegraph I hurt someone's feelings or made them angry;
    • Get distracted in the middle of a conversation and inappropriately change the subject or walk away;
    • Give in to an impulsive behavior without thinking through the consequences, such as disclosing private information to one person about another;
    • Forget to return people's phone calls;
    • Fail to return emails and paper correspondence;
    • Forget people's birthdays and other important days; and
    • Become overwhelmed in large social groups.
    I sound like a real fun gal to be friends with, huh?  Now, it's not so bad to admit I behave this way when untreated for a medical condition.  However, it's pretty disheartening to be told for years, and to actually believe, that all this is a character defect, a SIN problem, and if I read enough scripture and pray enough and do all the right things, God will gradually make me better at this stuff.  So. . .what does it mean when I'm thirty years old and I'm no better at this stuff?

    I do believe the central message of the Bible is true; that is, God wants a personal relationship with each of us for all of eternity, and he has provided a way for us to be at peace with him while he still remains fully loving and fully just.  I actually believe everything the Bible has to say for us.  It's a pretty amazing book.  I do NOT, however, any longer believe this invention of Christian people--this belief that just because we think we know a lot about the character of God, we can go around telling people their diseases are their fault, and they have to do something so that God will fix them up.

    God gave us brains, and science, and medicine, and doctors, and research, and common sense for a reason!  Many Christians, my fellow Xenoids in particular, pride themselves in their ability to have faith without leaving their brains at the door.  My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please learn some basic scientific facts about mental illnesses and emotional disorders before explaining to your disciples the "place" medication has in their treatment plans.  And then next time someone with a lifelong pattern of being manic/mouthy/morose/interruptive/obnoxious/timid/otherwise difficult is at your home church meeting, consider whether this apparent SIN problem is actually, well, not.


    DISCLAIMER:  Please know that nothing in this weblog entry refers specifically to anyone in any home church of which I've been a member, including and especially my fabulous peeps at Encompass, who love me as I am, warts and all, for which I'm exceedingly and humbly grateful.  Sheesh, runon sentence much?

  • Choose Identity

  • Give eProps (?)

  • New! You can now edit your comments for 15 minutes after submitting.

Who recommended?