Yesterday an article was brought to my attention and after reading it I felt like I needed to make a response to it. I would like to state right off the bat that I do acknowledge that there is a serious issue in our society today with the romanticization of mental illness. Social media is filled with people either trying to get sympathy for their illness (that they most likely diagnosed themselves with) or with people who are bragging about their illnesses (that they have been diagnosed with). I think this does a horrible disservice towards people who genuinely struggle with mental illness and the stigma that surrounds it too. Nonetheless, I believe that Freddie deBeor makes some serious mistakes in this article and I intend to point them out. My intention as always is to educate people on mental health issues and if Freddie ever sees this I hope he knows that I do not hold any hard grudges against him. I understand that he is only addressing this issue because he sees a problem that is harming society and therefore it needs to be addressed. I commend him for him being willing to talk about an issue that most people would prefer to sweep under the rug. He opens his article with this introduction:
"Marianne Eloise wants the world to know that she does not “have a regular brain at all”. That’s her declaration, on the very first page of her new memoir, Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking. The book catalogues her experience of a dizzying variety of psychiatric conditions: OCD, anxiety, autism, ADHD, alcohol abuse, seasonal affective disorder, an eating disorder, night terrors, depression. By her own telling, Eloise has suffered a great deal from these ailments; I believe her, and wish better for her. But she would prefer we not think of them as ailments at all. And that combination of self-pity and self-aggrandisement is emblematic of our contemporary understanding of mental health"
I am not sure who Marianne Eloise is nor am I familiar with her book but I am interested in reading it now. I will like to point out that OCD, anxiety disorder, depression, alcoholism, SAD, and eating disorders are all very serious mental illness that should never be taken lightly.
"There is, for example, a thriving ADHD community on TikTok and Tumblr: people who view their attentional difficulties not as an annoyance to be managed with medical treatment but as an adorable character trait that makes them sharper and more interesting than others around them. (They still demand extra time to take tests, naturally.) It’s also easy to come across social media users who declare how proud they are to be autistic; I’m glad they’re proud, but their repetitive insistencemakes me wonder who exactly they’re trying to convince, us or them."
I do admit I do not like how so many people on Social Media sites such as Tik Tok and Tumblr do seem to perpetuate the romanticization of mental illness. I think when people do this it trivializes the real struggle that real people go through. However, I will also say that I do understand why people are wanting to come out of the woods to talk about their mental health struggles because we live in a society that consistently stigmatizes mental illness. It is because of this reason that people do need to be bold and talk about their struggles because raising awareness is the only thing that will make the stigma go away. It is not that we are proud of our illnesses and for him to suggest that just demonstrates that he he is in denial about the stigma that is so prevalent in the world.
" Darker, there’s the world of “DID TikTok”. DID, dissociative identity disorder, is a profoundly controversial condition, once known as multiple personality disorder. Many serious experts question whether it exists at all; at the very least it’s incredibly rare. And yet thousands of adolescents have diagnosed themselves with the condition, and happily perform their various personalities for their social media followers, typically in ways that defy all established psychological understandings of the disorder."
I do not know much about Dissociative Identity Disorder but I know that it is real and I am not aware of any serious mental health professional that questions whether or not it is real. However, it is rare and so these adolescents who are pretending to have it on social media need to be banned from the internet and they need to educated on mental illness.
"It is perhaps comforting to see every last detail of one’s life as the product of some uncontrollable force. “I am this way because I was born this way,” Eloise writes, in a remarkably bald denial of personal responsibility. As a pawn of the various interior forces that do combat in her brain, she is adamant that there is nothing wrong with her, that her suffering is all in service to some deeper way to live, and that she is proud of the very conditions she asks us to treat as a perpetual get-out-of-jail-free card for her behaviour."
It is a known medical fact that people can be born with mental illness so she is right when she says that she is "born this way". Also, mental illness can and often does lead someone into sinning. However, this by no means erases anyone from guilt. We are all guilty before God and there is no justification for us apart from Jesus Christ. But, the diagnoses can and does provide a proper context for one's behavior.
"Eloise has clearly endured a great deal of hardship, but like her culture she seems to feel that this hardship can only be given meaning by being woven into a journey of self-actualisation. Eloise writes that her life is 'underpinned and ultimately made whole by obsession'. Can you imagine a sadder statement: an adult telling you that there is nothing to distinguish her or give her value but her psychiatric conditions, conditions she shares with millions of others?"
This is something that I strongly disagree with the mental health field about. Psychology says that man's ultimate goal is to "self-actualize" but the Gospel says that man's ultimate goal is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. As a matter of fact, when we focus on ourselves we will find nothing but guilt and condemnation but if we focus on Christ then we will truly be whole. John Calvin put it very well when he said that in order for us to truly know ourselves we must truly know God first. When we know who God is then we will understand who we are as creatures in relation to the Creator. We are not called to focus solely on ourselves but our narcissistic culture would have us to believe that. However, that logic is backwards. We were created for a bigger purpose and if we only see ourselves then we will miss that purpose.
"Diagnosis is the Holy Grail of the neurodivergence narrative. Eloise fixates on hers and its quasi-mystical powers. No reader could doubt that her problems are real, but she seems to have treated getting diagnoses like a consumer on Amazon. She states flat out, on several occasions, that she went shopping for an autism diagnosis, went to doctors with the express intent of wringing one out of them. There was a time when self-diagnosis was understood to be unhealthy, and perhaps embarrassing, but this is a brave new world we’re living in now."
Yes, self-diagnoses is unhealthy and even quite dangerous. We should never ever ever diagnose ourselves. I do not care how much you study Psychology and Psychiatry. If you are not a psychiatrist then you should not be diagnosing yourself or anyone for that matter. However, I will say this though that if a Psychiatrist says you have a mental disorder you most likely do. I know some people think that Psychiatrists do not know what they are doing but the field of Psychiatry has been around for over 20 years. So they have plenty of experience in treating people with mental illness nowadays.
"Once enough people insist on mental illnesses as upbeat and fashionable lifestyle brands, then any of us who oppose it are guilty of the most grave sin of all, the sin of perpetuating stigma. It’s stigma to call autism a disorder, despite the fact that it renders some completely nonverbal and unable to care for themselves; it’s stigma to suggest that someone with ADHD bears any responsibility at all for problems at school or work; it’s stigma to speak the plain fact that people with psychotic disorders sometimes commit acts of violence under the influence of their conditions. It’s stigma, in other words, to treat those of us with mental illnesses as anything else than wayward children."
First off, I would like to say that if you oppose mental health awareness then you are guilty of perpetuating the stigma. Stigma is a real thing. When someone cannot call off work for a sick day and instead they have to lie, then that is evidence of stigma. As for ADHD people, their illness makes is impossible for them to concentrate so that is why it seems like they are not paying attention. Secondly, mentally ill people (such as myself) are more of a danger to ourselves and then we are a danger to others.
"Stigma, that cartoon monster, has never been in the top 100 of my problems in 20 years of managing a psychotic disorder, but never mind; stigma is the ox to be gored in contemporary pop culture, and so we must fixate on it to the point that we sideline the health, safety and treatment of those with mental disorders.
It saddens me deeply to see a fellow person with mental illness denying that stigma is a thing. If he truly believes that then I dare him to tell his boss at the last minute that he needs the day off for a mental health day off. Also, I dare him to explain his illness to a woman on their first date. I guarantee that he will not be willing to do these things, but why? It is because he knows that stigma against mental illness is still very much alive and by him denying this reality he is in essence doing a disservice for many people with mental illness around the world.
"This is what it’s actually like to have a mental illness: no desire to justify or celebrate or honor the disease, only the desire to be rid of it. But the modern conception of neurodivergence (and disability activism generally) wants to have it both ways. Sometimes, people would prefer for you to think of their conditions as debilitating hindrances for which they may demand special dispensation. And sometimes they would like them to be seen as positive personality quirks that make them unique."
I have absolutely no desire to be rid of my Schizoaffective Disorder because I honestly believe that mental illness displays the glory of God just like the man born blind in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. For more of my thoughts on this please read this article: How My Schizoaffective Disorder Displays The Glory of God blog article. I think that is how we should view mental illness because it is much more than a debilitating disease but it is not a positive personality quirk either. We need to see mental illness as something that brings glory to Christ because everything was made by Him and for Him. That would include mental illness.
"Today’s activists never seem to consider that there is something between terrible stigma and witless celebration, that we are not in fact bound to either ignore mental illness or treat it as an identity."
As someone who is a Christian Mental Health Advocate, I agree that mental illness is not something to be ignored or celebrated. Like I already said, I believe mental illness should be seen as something that glorifies God. As for identity, for Christians our identity is found in Jesus Christ alone not our mental illness. I am not a Schizophrenic but instead I am a Christian who struggles with Schizophrenia.
"We might, then, have the courage to say that mental illness sucks, that there’s nothing good about it, that the efforts to bend it into some superpower of greater creativity or deeper living is sour grapes from those who can’t escape. We might help people like Eloise, rather than celebrating them as self-actualised girlbosses. We might have the wisdom to ease her suffering, while we patiently tell her that there’s nothing beautiful about it."
Since I see mental illness as something that brings glory to God, I will not say that it sucks. But, I will say that living with a mental illness is challenging. There are days where I do not want to get up out of bed and there are days where I can stay up for three nights in a row and still be very much animated. However, I do not think of my illness as something for me to be pitied over any more than someone should be pitied for having a broken arm. I think we need to look to Christ as our Lord and Savior instead of allowing our illnesses to define who we are. I do admit that I like how so many people are coming out and talking about their mental illness because it does raise awareness but when we do this we need to always point people to Jesus. He is the way, the Truth, and the Life and without Him we have nothing and are nothing.
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Support The Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation
▼
Saturday, April 30, 2022
Friday, April 29, 2022
My Response To "Broken Pieces And The God Who Mends Them: Schizophrenia Through A Mother's Eyes" Chapter 1 By Simonetta Carr
I recently started reading this book by an Italian woman named Simonetta Carr about her experiences raising a son (Jonathan) with Schizophrenia. I found this book to so impactful that I decided to share this with you. Simonetta Carr is a Reformed Christian woman and author and mother of eight children. This book that I am reviewing was published in 2019. I am currently reading this book and it is having such a profound effect on me. As you may already know I struggle with Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar Type 1. I have found that my identity is not found in my illness but in Christ and that even in my darkest moments Christ is still with me. I hope as you read this blog and subsequent blogs afterwards that you find that you are enjoying this too and that you will want to go out and buy this book for yourself. You will be edified and the Lord will be glorified too. Simonetta opens up the book by telling us this scene,
"Jonathan is sitting at a computer in front of me. My husband Tom has gotten him out of bed early to work on college applications. His eyes are perplexed and searching. 'Do you want to play a game? I ask, hoping that it can be that simple. 'No, Is this a game? 'Do you mean life?' 'Yes' I muster up all the poise I can and give some theological explanation about how life can seem like a game but God is in perfect control. All the while, an ominous feeling grips my heart. He adds something, but it's hard to make sense of what he is saying. 'I don't understand this extension.' 'What do you mean?' 'This extension of life'.
Sounds like this is the beginning of an existential crisis which I believe is common amongst people with Schizophrenia. I know that I personally have went through this and I know other people with Schizophrenia who would report going through this as well. I am not quite sure why we tend to experience this but I think it has something to do with the fact that it is very common for Schizophrenics to have religious delusions. For example, at one time I believed that I was the literal Antichrist and I know other people who have reported having the same delusions also. i know that in my case, I had an existential crisis because I knew deep down that I was the Antichrist nor did I want to be one but the delusions seemed so very real to me.
Simonetta then goes on to explain how much of a charming and intelligent boy he was. She supports this comment by saying this,
"He especially converting years and days, hours, and minutes, and seconds--- His mind was always active, investigating, calculating, analyzing,
I can totally relate to this because my mind is always focused on analyzing and investigating too. As matter of fact, sometimes I will catch myself "spacing out: because my mind is in overdrive analzying something I see or something someone says. I think that this might be common amogst people with Schizophrenia, but I am not entirely sure. However, I do know that people with Schizophrenia tend to score pretty high pretty high IQ's. . For example, John Nash was a brilliant mathematician but he suffered with severe Schizophrenia. If you do not know who John Nash is then I recommend you watch the movie titled A Beautiful Mind.
She then goes on to talk about how he had a passion for sports,
"Analyzing sports was also a passion, and his predictions were usually correct. He chose to support the Detroit Lions because they were the underdogs, When it came to playing, he was nit the best; but he refused to give up. His Little League team exploded with a roar of claps when he hit the ball for the first time after months of unsuccessful but determined attempts"
Again, I can totally relate to this because I too share a passion for sports (although the Denver Broncos were totally destroy the Detroit Lions!). I never analyzed a sports games but one of my delusions makes me thing that in order for one of my favorite sports teams (The Denver Broncos, The Denver Nuggets, and The Cleveland Cavaliers), I must be watching. Otherwise, if I am not watching then my team will lose, according to my belief, My delusion can sometimes be so strong that it causes me great anxiety until I drop everything I am doing in order to put on the game. It does not matter if my team still loses while I am watching because my delusion still persists anyways and it does no good to try to convince me otherwise either because I will not listen to anything that runs contrary to my belief. Also, I can relate to Jonathan not being good at sports because while I too liked to play Basketball with my friends, I was not all that great at it either. I mean, I was was able to sink some pretty good throws from the 3-point line but that was all that I can do. I was horrible at free-throws and I was was not good at running while dribbling either. My friends understood this so whenever we would play they would have me position myself at the 3-point line and then they would pass me the ball so I can score. However, that would be my only contribution to the game and eventually I grew bored of that and I stopped playing sports altogether because I realized that it was not meant for me.
"His depth of thought was evident in matters of religion. He was only six when we started to attend a small Reformed church. After years at a fairly typical evangelical megachurch, I found the level of quality and abundance of theological teachings refreshing"
This is another thing I have found to be common amongst people with Schizophrenia: we tend to have a very keen understanding of religion. I did not grow up in a religious household but I know that as soon as I came to know the Lord, I quickly became obsessed with theology. I was literally engrossed in anything I could get my hands on that had to do with theology, apologetics, world religions, etc. Before I become Reformed, my understanding of Scripture was a lot more deeper than my peers and it would frustrate me that they did not share the same level of passion or understanding as I did. When I finally became Reformed, I felt like I finally found where I belonged because now I am amongst people who are Christians who are not afraid to be intellectual. I find that the conversations I have with my Reformed brothers and sisters to be more thought-provoking and a lot more deeper than with my Arminian brothers and sisters who tend to be very anti-intellectual. Another thing, even when I was going to college, I found that I am more interested in learning about the Bible than anything I can learn in college, especially since nowadays college is full of "woke" politics. It is weird how all that my mind literally ever thinks about is theology, philosophy, and religion but I am alright with that.
"He took religion seriously. He studied the catechism and had a clear understanding of theology. When it was time to pray, while his brothers resorted to the usual 'Dear Lord, thank you for ths day, help us have a good day," he developed a very methodical system using the Lord's Prayer as a framework, expanding on the 'give us thus day our daily bread' clause."
I find it remarkable how he was like at this at only six-years-old! At that age was too busy playing with my Tonka Trucks to be worried about religion. However, when I was finally introduced to Christianity I was exactly the same way as he was. Again, I think this may be common amongst people with Schizophrenia. I know that when I talk to other people with various different types of mental illness, we all seem to be very religious. Our theological understanding may be different from person to person but we are all very religious nonetheless.
"He seemed especially annoyed by anything thar he couldn't consider fair or logical and had to reason things out within his mind"
I think this is common amongst those of us with Schizophrenia because we do tend to have an inner anger inside of us that we do not know how to let out in a healthy fashion. As a result, our anger tends to build up inside of us and when it finally comes out we explode over trivial matters. This could explain why we are always seemingly irritable too. I know I tend to get irritated over little things and I normally am aware of it so I am able to restrain myself. However, there are times when I did not restrain myself and I ended yelling at my computer, getting sarcastic with my wife, getting upset with friends and family, etc. My Schizophrenia has caused a lot of problems in my relationships with people. I do not mean to be like that but a lot of the times I cannot help myself. I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7 how the evil things he did not want to do he does do but the good things he does want to he does not do.
"One sign of his independence was trying different things with his hair. The mohawk phase was the shortest, as it was almost impossible to maintain with curly hair. For awhile, he let his hair grow as long as he could, ending up with a soft afro. Just before college, he decided to try dreadlocks. Since his hair was still too short for that look, he looked more like a porcupine"
I find this ironic because when I was younger I tried different things with my hair as well, but I never thought of it as if I was trying to declare my independence. It does make sense, though, because when you have a mental illness there is very little that you feel you are in control of. As a result of this, we do like to find things that we can have control over. Sometimes we find things that are healthy but sometimes we do not. In this instance, Jonathan and myself seemed to find that we can have a sense of control over our hair but unfortunately it seems like we both realized that we cannot even fully control that either!
"Apparently, Jonathan had been smoking for some time and had convinced Anna (his girkfriend at the time) to smoke with him. His 'theological' grounds were that the Bible didn't expressly forbid marijuana, so it could be included in the same class as wine---a substance 'to gladden the heart of man'(Psalm 104:15)'"
It is actually quite common for people with all kinds of mental illnesses to smoke either cigarettes, marijuana, or both. It is so common that even some mental hospitals will allow patients to go outside for scheduled smoke breaks. The reason we like to smoke so much is because there are psychological benefits to smoking. Smoking helps us alleviate our mental illness symptoms to the point where it has been known to suppress hallucinations. This is why so many of us prefer to self-medicate with smoking rather than take medication. I used to be a heavy smoker and if it was not for me getting sick and almost dying last year I probably would still be smoking too. However, the Lord had other plans for me and I am thankful to Him too.
After their pastor was informed of Jonathan's marijuana habit, he decided to lovingly confront Jonathan about this. However, when it was clear that Jonathan was not willing to give smoking, the pastor and elders decided to use church discipline by forbidding him from participating in the Lord's Supper. Church discipline is something that has fallen out of favor in many churches today but it is actually a very loving thing that a church can do. I have experienced church discipline before and I am very thankful for that because it really did grow me into more maturity in my faith. However, it can be a shameful thing to have experience and in Jonathan's case he ended up falling into a deep depression. Simonetta describes his demeanor in this way:
"By now he has sunk into a very recognizable depression. He spends most of the day, each day, in his room, playing chess online. Sometimes he sits in the living room with the TV on with no sound, not really watching. Other times he turns the volume up as high as he can and stands there without apparent emotion. Frequently my husband has to get up in the middle of the night in order to turn off the blaring TV downstairs"
I can totally relate to Jonathan here because I have had frequent bouts with depression myself. When I get in a depressed mood, I tend to want to sleep all day and not talk to anyone or even eat either. I also have a tendency to have frequent thoughts of suicide and death. I think its good to make a note here that there is a difference between depression and typical sadness. Everyone gets sad but not everyone gets depressed. Depression is much more severe than mere sadness and when someone is depressed it usually means they need to be hospitalized because they are a danger to themselves. Most people in our culture do not understand this and that is why they casually throw around the term "depressed" like it means nothing. But depression is a severe mental health disorder that should be taken seriously not trivialized.
Shortly afterwards, Simonetta encourages her son to go back to college but when that plan fails she tries to encourage him to work. She describes this event in life this way:
"College starts, so we encourage him to attend his classes. He drives by himself, but we aren't sure if he makes it to the college. Finally, he stops going altogether. We ask him to cancel the classes, to salvage what is left of his academic record, but he doesn't. We try to find some part-time jobs to make use of his time"
She mentions her friend Kris' husband Bill hires him to work for his landscaping business but then shortly after Jonathan stops going to work and contacts Bill again. This is common for people with Schizophrenia too. I know that in my mania I tend to take on a lot of activity and I tend to be very productive too. However, eventually that mania wears off and I always end up not finishing what I started. As a result, my life is full of great projects that I start but then I never finish them A prime example of this, is the amount of Facebook groups that I have created. I get these great ideas to start groups for various causes that are dear to my heart but then after about a month I stop paying attention to the group and it ends up dying. Then, later when I am hypomanic again, I start another group and the cycle continues. It is because of this reason that many people think mentally ill people are lazy but that is not the case at all. Many of us are very dedicated hard workers but our illnesses make it nearly impossible for us to complete a task.
"At home, he keeps displaying strange behaviors. His handwriting, once small and neat, becomes huge and messy. He draws scribbles on paper or writes apparently senseless sentences. Even his speech stops making sense. Once, we find him sleeping on our roof--a typical, slanted, tiled roof. Another morning, my husband finds him in a hammock outside. The weather is cold and humid. Tom brings him a blanket, and Jonathan thanks him"
This kind of bizarre behavior is typical amongst those of us with Schizophrenia. I know that when I am unstable my handwriting becomes sloppy and my speech becomes unintelligible too. However, when I am unstable, I do not stop talking. As a matter of fact, I tend to talk even more and it is nonstop. I also tend to go from one idea to the next in a matter of seconds without even thinking. People have told me when this happens they can barely get a word in and they cannot keep up with my flight of ideas too. I have never slept outside, except on the countless occasions I have been homeless. However, even then I would typically find some kind of shelter to sleep under so that I am not exposed to the elements.
Simonetta and her husband finally decide to take Jonathan to see a psychiatrist. When he inside the doctor's office, the following dialogue ensues:
"Are you going to school?"
"No, I stopped"
"Why?"
"I thought there was more to life"
"So what do you do know?"
"Play video games, watch TV..."
"Have you used any drugs?
"Yes-- marijuana"
"How much?"
"A lot"
"Any other drugs?"
"I had mushrooms once"
"Have you stopped?"
"Yes"
"For how long?"
"Six months"
"Do you find that your mind is clearer?"
"Yes"
"Do you ever hear voices?"
"Yes"
From this conversation Dr. Peter concludes that Jonathan has Schizophrenia. This is a typical conversation between a psychiatrist and a client when the doctor is evaluating the patient. I know the questions seem pretty mundane and basic but each question is strategically asked for the purpose of evaluating the mindset of the client. The psychiatrist is trained to look for certain ways the clients answers such as speech patterns, body movements, dialect, and so much more. There is a lot going on during a ten minute session with a psychiatrist that patients are not even aware of. As a result, when a psychiatrist says that someone has a mental illness they most likely have good evidence to base their conclusions off of. This is why most psychiatrists will not evaluate someone they do not see personally inside their own office by the way.
"His case manager proceeds to explain that Jonathan has Schizophrenia. Surprised by her bluntness, I ask her to clarify. I've always thought of Schizophrenia as a dual personality. She briefly describes the illness, gives me a list of resources I can use to find support, and hands Jonathan a fact sheet and a prescription for Resperidone. Very prudently, she asks him to sign a consent paper allowing his parents to be aware of his appointments, diagnoses, and medications. He signs without much concern"
This scenario brings me back to when I was first diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. I remember feeling a sense of relief because I finally understand fully why I am experiencing the symptoms that I am experiencing. My original diagnoses of Bipolar Type 1 sort of seemed correct but it did not fully make sense to me. But, when my psychiatrist told me that I have Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar Type, it finally made a lot of sense. to me. I understand the misconception of thinking that Schizophrenia is a dual personality because at one time that is what people generally thought of when they thought of Schizophrenia. Over 50 years ago, we did not have a name for Dissociative Identity Disorder so people categorized it as the same thing or similar to Schizophrenia. These days we know better now but the general public still have the misconception in their minds and Hollywood further perpetuates this false belief in their media too unfortunately.
This concludes my blog review of chapter one of Simonetta Carr's book "Broken Pieces and The God Who Mends Them: Schizophrenia Through A Mother's Eyes". I hope that you enjoyed reading this and I hope that this gave you a glimpse into what it is like living with Schizophrenia. Please be on the lookout for my review of chapter 2 of Simonetta's book. Thank you very much and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! - Jonathan's Song
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Support the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To The Ministry
"Jonathan is sitting at a computer in front of me. My husband Tom has gotten him out of bed early to work on college applications. His eyes are perplexed and searching. 'Do you want to play a game? I ask, hoping that it can be that simple. 'No, Is this a game? 'Do you mean life?' 'Yes' I muster up all the poise I can and give some theological explanation about how life can seem like a game but God is in perfect control. All the while, an ominous feeling grips my heart. He adds something, but it's hard to make sense of what he is saying. 'I don't understand this extension.' 'What do you mean?' 'This extension of life'.
Sounds like this is the beginning of an existential crisis which I believe is common amongst people with Schizophrenia. I know that I personally have went through this and I know other people with Schizophrenia who would report going through this as well. I am not quite sure why we tend to experience this but I think it has something to do with the fact that it is very common for Schizophrenics to have religious delusions. For example, at one time I believed that I was the literal Antichrist and I know other people who have reported having the same delusions also. i know that in my case, I had an existential crisis because I knew deep down that I was the Antichrist nor did I want to be one but the delusions seemed so very real to me.
Simonetta then goes on to explain how much of a charming and intelligent boy he was. She supports this comment by saying this,
"He especially converting years and days, hours, and minutes, and seconds--- His mind was always active, investigating, calculating, analyzing,
I can totally relate to this because my mind is always focused on analyzing and investigating too. As matter of fact, sometimes I will catch myself "spacing out: because my mind is in overdrive analzying something I see or something someone says. I think that this might be common amogst people with Schizophrenia, but I am not entirely sure. However, I do know that people with Schizophrenia tend to score pretty high pretty high IQ's. . For example, John Nash was a brilliant mathematician but he suffered with severe Schizophrenia. If you do not know who John Nash is then I recommend you watch the movie titled A Beautiful Mind.
She then goes on to talk about how he had a passion for sports,
"Analyzing sports was also a passion, and his predictions were usually correct. He chose to support the Detroit Lions because they were the underdogs, When it came to playing, he was nit the best; but he refused to give up. His Little League team exploded with a roar of claps when he hit the ball for the first time after months of unsuccessful but determined attempts"
Again, I can totally relate to this because I too share a passion for sports (although the Denver Broncos were totally destroy the Detroit Lions!). I never analyzed a sports games but one of my delusions makes me thing that in order for one of my favorite sports teams (The Denver Broncos, The Denver Nuggets, and The Cleveland Cavaliers), I must be watching. Otherwise, if I am not watching then my team will lose, according to my belief, My delusion can sometimes be so strong that it causes me great anxiety until I drop everything I am doing in order to put on the game. It does not matter if my team still loses while I am watching because my delusion still persists anyways and it does no good to try to convince me otherwise either because I will not listen to anything that runs contrary to my belief. Also, I can relate to Jonathan not being good at sports because while I too liked to play Basketball with my friends, I was not all that great at it either. I mean, I was was able to sink some pretty good throws from the 3-point line but that was all that I can do. I was horrible at free-throws and I was was not good at running while dribbling either. My friends understood this so whenever we would play they would have me position myself at the 3-point line and then they would pass me the ball so I can score. However, that would be my only contribution to the game and eventually I grew bored of that and I stopped playing sports altogether because I realized that it was not meant for me.
"His depth of thought was evident in matters of religion. He was only six when we started to attend a small Reformed church. After years at a fairly typical evangelical megachurch, I found the level of quality and abundance of theological teachings refreshing"
This is another thing I have found to be common amongst people with Schizophrenia: we tend to have a very keen understanding of religion. I did not grow up in a religious household but I know that as soon as I came to know the Lord, I quickly became obsessed with theology. I was literally engrossed in anything I could get my hands on that had to do with theology, apologetics, world religions, etc. Before I become Reformed, my understanding of Scripture was a lot more deeper than my peers and it would frustrate me that they did not share the same level of passion or understanding as I did. When I finally became Reformed, I felt like I finally found where I belonged because now I am amongst people who are Christians who are not afraid to be intellectual. I find that the conversations I have with my Reformed brothers and sisters to be more thought-provoking and a lot more deeper than with my Arminian brothers and sisters who tend to be very anti-intellectual. Another thing, even when I was going to college, I found that I am more interested in learning about the Bible than anything I can learn in college, especially since nowadays college is full of "woke" politics. It is weird how all that my mind literally ever thinks about is theology, philosophy, and religion but I am alright with that.
"He took religion seriously. He studied the catechism and had a clear understanding of theology. When it was time to pray, while his brothers resorted to the usual 'Dear Lord, thank you for ths day, help us have a good day," he developed a very methodical system using the Lord's Prayer as a framework, expanding on the 'give us thus day our daily bread' clause."
I find it remarkable how he was like at this at only six-years-old! At that age was too busy playing with my Tonka Trucks to be worried about religion. However, when I was finally introduced to Christianity I was exactly the same way as he was. Again, I think this may be common amongst people with Schizophrenia. I know that when I talk to other people with various different types of mental illness, we all seem to be very religious. Our theological understanding may be different from person to person but we are all very religious nonetheless.
"He seemed especially annoyed by anything thar he couldn't consider fair or logical and had to reason things out within his mind"
I think this is common amongst those of us with Schizophrenia because we do tend to have an inner anger inside of us that we do not know how to let out in a healthy fashion. As a result, our anger tends to build up inside of us and when it finally comes out we explode over trivial matters. This could explain why we are always seemingly irritable too. I know I tend to get irritated over little things and I normally am aware of it so I am able to restrain myself. However, there are times when I did not restrain myself and I ended yelling at my computer, getting sarcastic with my wife, getting upset with friends and family, etc. My Schizophrenia has caused a lot of problems in my relationships with people. I do not mean to be like that but a lot of the times I cannot help myself. I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7 how the evil things he did not want to do he does do but the good things he does want to he does not do.
"One sign of his independence was trying different things with his hair. The mohawk phase was the shortest, as it was almost impossible to maintain with curly hair. For awhile, he let his hair grow as long as he could, ending up with a soft afro. Just before college, he decided to try dreadlocks. Since his hair was still too short for that look, he looked more like a porcupine"
I find this ironic because when I was younger I tried different things with my hair as well, but I never thought of it as if I was trying to declare my independence. It does make sense, though, because when you have a mental illness there is very little that you feel you are in control of. As a result of this, we do like to find things that we can have control over. Sometimes we find things that are healthy but sometimes we do not. In this instance, Jonathan and myself seemed to find that we can have a sense of control over our hair but unfortunately it seems like we both realized that we cannot even fully control that either!
"Apparently, Jonathan had been smoking for some time and had convinced Anna (his girkfriend at the time) to smoke with him. His 'theological' grounds were that the Bible didn't expressly forbid marijuana, so it could be included in the same class as wine---a substance 'to gladden the heart of man'(Psalm 104:15)'"
It is actually quite common for people with all kinds of mental illnesses to smoke either cigarettes, marijuana, or both. It is so common that even some mental hospitals will allow patients to go outside for scheduled smoke breaks. The reason we like to smoke so much is because there are psychological benefits to smoking. Smoking helps us alleviate our mental illness symptoms to the point where it has been known to suppress hallucinations. This is why so many of us prefer to self-medicate with smoking rather than take medication. I used to be a heavy smoker and if it was not for me getting sick and almost dying last year I probably would still be smoking too. However, the Lord had other plans for me and I am thankful to Him too.
After their pastor was informed of Jonathan's marijuana habit, he decided to lovingly confront Jonathan about this. However, when it was clear that Jonathan was not willing to give smoking, the pastor and elders decided to use church discipline by forbidding him from participating in the Lord's Supper. Church discipline is something that has fallen out of favor in many churches today but it is actually a very loving thing that a church can do. I have experienced church discipline before and I am very thankful for that because it really did grow me into more maturity in my faith. However, it can be a shameful thing to have experience and in Jonathan's case he ended up falling into a deep depression. Simonetta describes his demeanor in this way:
"By now he has sunk into a very recognizable depression. He spends most of the day, each day, in his room, playing chess online. Sometimes he sits in the living room with the TV on with no sound, not really watching. Other times he turns the volume up as high as he can and stands there without apparent emotion. Frequently my husband has to get up in the middle of the night in order to turn off the blaring TV downstairs"
I can totally relate to Jonathan here because I have had frequent bouts with depression myself. When I get in a depressed mood, I tend to want to sleep all day and not talk to anyone or even eat either. I also have a tendency to have frequent thoughts of suicide and death. I think its good to make a note here that there is a difference between depression and typical sadness. Everyone gets sad but not everyone gets depressed. Depression is much more severe than mere sadness and when someone is depressed it usually means they need to be hospitalized because they are a danger to themselves. Most people in our culture do not understand this and that is why they casually throw around the term "depressed" like it means nothing. But depression is a severe mental health disorder that should be taken seriously not trivialized.
Shortly afterwards, Simonetta encourages her son to go back to college but when that plan fails she tries to encourage him to work. She describes this event in life this way:
"College starts, so we encourage him to attend his classes. He drives by himself, but we aren't sure if he makes it to the college. Finally, he stops going altogether. We ask him to cancel the classes, to salvage what is left of his academic record, but he doesn't. We try to find some part-time jobs to make use of his time"
She mentions her friend Kris' husband Bill hires him to work for his landscaping business but then shortly after Jonathan stops going to work and contacts Bill again. This is common for people with Schizophrenia too. I know that in my mania I tend to take on a lot of activity and I tend to be very productive too. However, eventually that mania wears off and I always end up not finishing what I started. As a result, my life is full of great projects that I start but then I never finish them A prime example of this, is the amount of Facebook groups that I have created. I get these great ideas to start groups for various causes that are dear to my heart but then after about a month I stop paying attention to the group and it ends up dying. Then, later when I am hypomanic again, I start another group and the cycle continues. It is because of this reason that many people think mentally ill people are lazy but that is not the case at all. Many of us are very dedicated hard workers but our illnesses make it nearly impossible for us to complete a task.
"At home, he keeps displaying strange behaviors. His handwriting, once small and neat, becomes huge and messy. He draws scribbles on paper or writes apparently senseless sentences. Even his speech stops making sense. Once, we find him sleeping on our roof--a typical, slanted, tiled roof. Another morning, my husband finds him in a hammock outside. The weather is cold and humid. Tom brings him a blanket, and Jonathan thanks him"
This kind of bizarre behavior is typical amongst those of us with Schizophrenia. I know that when I am unstable my handwriting becomes sloppy and my speech becomes unintelligible too. However, when I am unstable, I do not stop talking. As a matter of fact, I tend to talk even more and it is nonstop. I also tend to go from one idea to the next in a matter of seconds without even thinking. People have told me when this happens they can barely get a word in and they cannot keep up with my flight of ideas too. I have never slept outside, except on the countless occasions I have been homeless. However, even then I would typically find some kind of shelter to sleep under so that I am not exposed to the elements.
Simonetta and her husband finally decide to take Jonathan to see a psychiatrist. When he inside the doctor's office, the following dialogue ensues:
"Are you going to school?"
"No, I stopped"
"Why?"
"I thought there was more to life"
"So what do you do know?"
"Play video games, watch TV..."
"Have you used any drugs?
"Yes-- marijuana"
"How much?"
"A lot"
"Any other drugs?"
"I had mushrooms once"
"Have you stopped?"
"Yes"
"For how long?"
"Six months"
"Do you find that your mind is clearer?"
"Yes"
"Do you ever hear voices?"
"Yes"
From this conversation Dr. Peter concludes that Jonathan has Schizophrenia. This is a typical conversation between a psychiatrist and a client when the doctor is evaluating the patient. I know the questions seem pretty mundane and basic but each question is strategically asked for the purpose of evaluating the mindset of the client. The psychiatrist is trained to look for certain ways the clients answers such as speech patterns, body movements, dialect, and so much more. There is a lot going on during a ten minute session with a psychiatrist that patients are not even aware of. As a result, when a psychiatrist says that someone has a mental illness they most likely have good evidence to base their conclusions off of. This is why most psychiatrists will not evaluate someone they do not see personally inside their own office by the way.
"His case manager proceeds to explain that Jonathan has Schizophrenia. Surprised by her bluntness, I ask her to clarify. I've always thought of Schizophrenia as a dual personality. She briefly describes the illness, gives me a list of resources I can use to find support, and hands Jonathan a fact sheet and a prescription for Resperidone. Very prudently, she asks him to sign a consent paper allowing his parents to be aware of his appointments, diagnoses, and medications. He signs without much concern"
This scenario brings me back to when I was first diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. I remember feeling a sense of relief because I finally understand fully why I am experiencing the symptoms that I am experiencing. My original diagnoses of Bipolar Type 1 sort of seemed correct but it did not fully make sense to me. But, when my psychiatrist told me that I have Schizoaffective Disorder Bipolar Type, it finally made a lot of sense. to me. I understand the misconception of thinking that Schizophrenia is a dual personality because at one time that is what people generally thought of when they thought of Schizophrenia. Over 50 years ago, we did not have a name for Dissociative Identity Disorder so people categorized it as the same thing or similar to Schizophrenia. These days we know better now but the general public still have the misconception in their minds and Hollywood further perpetuates this false belief in their media too unfortunately.
This concludes my blog review of chapter one of Simonetta Carr's book "Broken Pieces and The God Who Mends Them: Schizophrenia Through A Mother's Eyes". I hope that you enjoyed reading this and I hope that this gave you a glimpse into what it is like living with Schizophrenia. Please be on the lookout for my review of chapter 2 of Simonetta's book. Thank you very much and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! - Jonathan's Song
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Support the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To The Ministry
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Anger, Lust, and Divorce in Relation To Mental Illness
In this blog I will be discussing how Anger, Lust, and Divorce relate to mental illness because these three topics are very big problems in the lives of mentally ill people. Some people may at this point think that these are issues that everyone deals with and that is true. However, when someone has a mental illness these issues are exacerbated. As a matter of fact, a key factor that separates mental illness from normal living is in the fact that mental illness severely disables someone from doing basic activities. As you read this blog, please keep in mind that this is not meant to be an exegetical hermeneutic on Matthew 5. There are people plenty smarter than I am who have already took on that task. Instead, What I am doing is discussing how these scriptures relate to myself and people like me. I hope that you find this blog enlightening and edifying to you and anyone else who reads this. For the first scripture I'll be adressing, I draw your attention to Matthew 5:22 which says,
"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council' and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to hell of fire"
I must admit that I do struggle with this daily because I am always getting mad at somebody or something. Part of it is because of my Schizoaffective Disorder because it causes me to become easily irritable. I also have difficulties trusting people because of my paranoia. However, this command came from Jesus Himself and I must submit to it no matter how I feel in the moment. This is difficult to do because my mental illness causes me to be very impulsive so I am not thinking about what I am doing before I do it most of the time. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me so I know that on my own I will fail but when I rely on God's strength that is when I succeed. This is of itself is a difficult task but with the help of my local church, my wife, my medication, my therapist, my sisters, and most importantly, the Holy Spirit, I can gain the upper hand on my illness. This does not mean that I will walk perfectly with the Lord but it does mean that when I mess up there is grace for me.
"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart"
This is huge blow to my ego because lust has always been my strongest struggle. Studies have shown that Schizophrenia and Bipolar have a tendency to cause people with these disorders to be more sexually promiscuous. I believe that the reason for this is because our illnesses causes us to be more susceptible to lust. I have tried repeatably to overcome this struggle but it seems like the more I fight it the stronger it becomes and the weaker I become. Jesus equates lust with adultery because sin begins in our heart. In other words, from a wicked heart comes all forms of sin an depravity. My lust problem reveals to me that there is nothing good in me whatsoever and it drives me to look to Christ for my identity and my salvation.
"It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce'. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery"
This is where things get controversial because this is a hot topic even in Christian circles. However, Jesus is very clear here when He says the only justification for divorce is if your spouse is unfaithful to you. Later, Paul says that if your spouse is an unbeliever who abandons you then that is another justification. However, outside of these two scenarios there is no other justification for divorce. So, if you get a divorce for something other than these two situations then you need to either reconcile or never marry again. If you do marry again you will be committing adultery. The reason God is so strict on marriage is because divorce tarnishes the image of Christ's relationship with His bride, the Church (you and me). After all, the purpose of marriage is to display the image of Christ and His Church in holy union. This is why God hates divorce and this is why mental illness is not a legitimate excuse for divorce. It is sad at how many divorces happen because of someone's mental illness but this should not be the case. If someone knew about their spouse's mental illness beforehand and still decided to marry this person then that means they are agree to be unified to that person for as long as they live in this world. Its unfortunate that so many people think that mental illness is a deal breaker in marriage. My own father was like that because he divorced my mother when I was only two-years-old all because of her mental illness. It breaks my heart that he allowed a medical condition tear apart a union before God. He will have to answer to the Almighty for that one day. Let this be a lesson to anyone out there who is considering divorcing their spouse because of mental illness: How would you feel if you were diagnosed with cancer and your spouse divorced you over it? It would hurt you deeply, I bet. Well, why would you want to cause that kind of pain onto someone else? If you think that mental illness is more than you can carry on your own well the good news is you do not have to carry the burden on your own. Jesus tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light so come to Jesus and rely on Him to sustain you through life.
I hope that this blog has helped you have a glimpse into the lives of the mentally ill and next time you see a mentally ill person maybe instead of hiding from them you will instead show them the love of Christ. We do not need be isolated from society but instead we need to be shown love and support. It is a lonely world out there for us and so we welcome any kind of ray of sunshine to pour into our lives.
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To The Ministry
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
The Beatitudes & Mental Illness
"And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you" -Matthew 5:2-11
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sermons preached by Jesus that were actually quite profound. He covered a variety of topics such as anger, divorce, reconciliation, and so much more. When we think of the Sermon on the Mount we do not typically think about how it relates to mental illness. The purpose of this blog is cause you to see the Beatitudes in a different light than you normally would have done. I do want to freely confess that while I am relating these blessings to the lives of the mentally ill, I am not saying anything about anyone's salvation. Salvation is through Christ by faith alone and nothing else counts towards salvation. However, when I read the Beatitudes I cannot help but see my own experience and the experience of others in them. I will break down this collection of sayings one verse at a time and then give my own thoughts on them:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
Mental illness causes those of us who have it to be very humble. We fully know and are aware of our limitations. My Schizoaffective Disorder shows me that I am a weak and fragile human being and that causes me to look to Christ for my strength. I know that there is no good thing in me and that in His grace is where true strength is found. This is contrary to what our culture says because our culture tells us to rely on no one but ourselves. However, Christ tells us that if we rely on ourselves we will inevitably fail. Instead, we should rely on Him and Him alone. That is when we will truly succeed.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"
In my darkest moments, all that I ever could do was mourn. When I lost my mother, all I wanted to do was cry. When I was stuck in a hospital bed for three months, all I wanted to do was cry. When I am stuck in psychiatric hospitals, all I ever want to do is cry out in frustration. I want to cry out to God and demand that He tell me why this is happening to me. However, in those moments I realize that the Lord does not owe me an explanation but what He does choose to do instead is to remind me that it is all working out for my good. I may not fully understand how that is so but it does bring me comfort to realize that He is sovereign and in control and that nothing catches Him by surprise. Everything happens as He plans for His own purposes and glory.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"
Again, having a mental illness is a really humbling experience. It does suck having to rely on medication just to be able to function. But, I know that just like Paul had a "thorn in the flesh" well my Schizoaffective Disorder is my thorn in the flesh because it causes me to rely on God's grace for my life. Every day He demonstrates His grace towards me and I know that I do not deserve it. If I deserved it then it would no longer be grace but a reward. However, the Bible talks about God granting his GRACE to wicked sinners because of what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied"
I have a strong desire to see justice done when it comes to seeing how my fellow people with mental illness are being treated in the private sector and the public sector as well. Studies have shown that mentally ill people are treated horribly wrong in the correctional facilities all across America. We are also mistreated in homeless shelters and in the streets too. We get mistreated by our own families and even by those whom we thought were our friends. I would venture to say that the mentally ill are most likely the most marginalized group of people in the world.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy"
Mental Illness does cause us to be more merciful towards other people who are suffering. I believe this is the case because we understand what it is like to go through immense suffering. A friend and brother in Christ once told me, "People who do not struggle with mental illness will never understand what it is like for those of us who do struggle with mental illness" and that is true. In order for someone to really be able to empathize with us they must have been able to walk in our shoes first. This is why people who deal with real mental illness do tend to be some of the most merciful people I know.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"
This verse troubles me because I know my own heart and it is far from pure. According to Dr. R.C Sproul, people see God through faith in Jesus. This makes sense because without a mediator we cannot see the Holy God. We are sinners and sin cannot be in His presence. So, we need look to Jesus and when we do that then we will see God in all of His glory. The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation".
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God"
As a Christian mental health advocate, I strive for peace between people who suffer with mental illness and those who do not. I do this because there is a lot of stigmatization surrounding mental illness because of people being ignorant. My goal is to educate other Christians on mental illness so they the stigma in the Church will decrease. If the stigma can be eliminated then the Body of Christ will be free to truly show mentally ill people the love of Christ.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
All of my life I have dealt with the wrath of my peers who used to harass me because I was different from them. I am not a isolated case either. It is the common experience of other people who struggle with mental illness for us to be picked on. I think this is because it is human nature to naturally fear what we do not understand. Generally speaking, people do not understand mental illness and thus they fear people who are mentally ill. This fear comes out in two different ways: 1) People will outright reject us or 2) People will harass or harm us.
"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you"
As I have already stated, mentally ill people tend to be some of the most marginalized and mistreated people in the world. I know I have dealt with people badmouthing me and trying to ruin my reputation because they just do not like nor do they understand me. I do admit that some of it is my fault because I can be difficult to deal with but it is not always the case. Sometimes people just hate you for no reason. It is in those moments I have learned to rejoice because I rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.
I hope that this blog really opens your eyes to seeing the experience of those who struggle with mental illness. I do not expect you to full understand but maybe this blog will give you a glimpse into our experience. Hopefully, the Lord will use this to change people's attitudes towards mental illness and possibly show people who struggle with mental illness that they are not alone.
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
The Mercy of God
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him'." -Lamentations 3:22-24
When it comes to the topic of God's mercy, we need to be very careful how we talk about it. I feel that there are usually two mistakes that Christians make when they contemplate divine mercy. On the one hand, we fall into the trap of antinomianism which says that God accepts us no matter what we do and therefore it does not matter how we live. On the other hand, we can fall into the trap of ignoring the fact that God is merciful and thus we end up thinking of only divine justice. Both of these extremes are completely wrong because they do not properly describe the nature of God, who is both merciful and just. According to Scripture, those who are in Christ, God will never hold our sins against us. This does not mean we can live however we want to, however, because we are called to live a life that is set apart for His glory and His kingdom. Now, this does not mean that we will never sin though, but when we do sin God has already forgiven us because of what Jesus Christ has done on our behalf when He went to the cross. I know that in my experience I sin all the time in every single moment of every day whether its in my thoughts, words, or deeds. It is precisely because of this that I do have a tendency to feel shame for what I have done. I frequently feel like I have grieved God and that I am just one more step away from Him sending me away. However, it is in these dark moments that I need to be reminded of the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ says that I am innocent in God's eyes because He sees the righteousness of His Son in me! Therefore, God sees me as though I have never sinned. This is an incredible truth to grasp because I do not always believe it. My mental illness frequently leads me into sin and because of that I do not fully understand how the Lord can see me as sinless. But, I need to remind myself not to look within like the world would have me believe. When I look within that is when I am in danger. In reality, what I need to do is look outside of myself to the cross of Jesus Christ because that is when I will realize the truth of Romans 8:1 that for those who are in Christ there is therefore NOW NO condemnation! This is an amazing truth and I praise the Lord for His abundant mercy and grace that He shows when He declares a guilty sinner to be righteous! We need to really let this truth sink into our hearts instead of just giving it intellectual acknowledgement. In Christ, God loves you and me and nothing can ever separate us from that love. This truth should cause us to want to live our daily lives for His glory not our own. So in closing I will challenge you to examine yourselves and ask the Lord to reveal to you if you are truly living for Him or if there is an area where He needs to work on with you. It is all for His glory and His honor. Soli Deo Gloria! -East To West By Casting Crowns
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support The Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To The Ministry
Monday, April 25, 2022
How Cancel Culture Affects Mental Health
In these contemporary times, so-called Cancel culture is becoming increasingly more and more popular. What exactly is Cancel culture, you ask? According to Wikipedia:
"Cancel culture or call-out culture is a contemporary phrase used to refer to a form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media or in person. Those subject to this ostracism are said to have been 'cancelled'.
We all know about the physical effects that this sort of behavior can wreak in a victim's life but not very many people are aware of the mental affects that this movement can have. In this blog, I will be discussing some of the ways Cancel Culture negatively affects one's mental health. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list and the things I will be mentioning are just my own thoughts too. However, as someone who studies psychology and is somewhat knowledgable about human behavior, I think I am able to make some credible observations concerning this issue. I will say that I do not support Cancel Culture whatsoever because I see this movement as being harmful to society in general. Some of the ways this movement harms mental health are 1) It isolates people of differing opinions, 2) It causes division within society, 3) It shames its victims, and 4) It turns villains into heroes. In the following paragraphs I will be elaborating on each of these points.
Isolates People Of Different Opinions
________________________________________
This movement has been known for painting a target onto people who express unfavorable opinions in public. The reason this is bad is because as soon as someone has that target painted on them, they are then mistreated by society. According to every psychological study I have seen, human beings are social creatures. This means we innately desire to be accepted by our society. So, when the society is rejecting us because of our unfavorable opinion then that has a deep impact on our self-worth. Instead, we should encourage the exercise of free speech and allow people to express their ideas without fear of reprisal. This in turn will give people more confidence to be themselves in public and in turn they will be productive citizens in society.
Division within Society
_________________________
This is an important point to because as I stated earlier we are social creatures and this means we desire community. Cancel culture creates an atmosphere where people no longer trust one another and where there is no trust they is no community or relationships. When people are too afraid to be themselves and express themselves in ways they desire then they will refuse to engage with other people. This in turn will break down society because community is based on relationships so without relationships there is nothing.
Shaming the victim
_______________________
This is especially insidious because it has the potential to literally kill people. What Cancel Culture inevitably does when they go after people unfairly is they cause these very people to retreat into themselves. When our defenses are up, we tend to go into one of two stances: fight or flight. If someone decides to fight then when someone attacks their character that person will attack back. If the person decides to take flight then when their character is attacked they may retreat. Both cases are equally unhealthy and they both will result in the person's sense of shame being compounded on itself. If shame continues to build up without any healthy way to let it out then it could result in someone becoming increasingly depressed and at that point they need to be hospitalized no matter what. It would be highly unloving of someone to keep this person outside unless they were a licensed caregiver. Their depression often can lead to suicidality too.
Villains into Heroes
_______________________
I have noticed that this movement does have a tendency to cause people to believe that they are innocent when they are really guilty. I call these types of people "toxic" so I would recommend to people to not have any kind of association with them. Cancel Culture allows these people to pretend like they are the victims while they are actually the ones who are the perpetrators. I think of this current court case going on with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Depp is obviously the victim but Cancel Culture is allowing Amber to be portrayed as the victim instead. The case is a sad testament to why we should not always "believe all women" and how that mentality has led to so many innocent lives being destroyed. Finally, Cancel Culture puffs up the people it is pretending to "protect" while demonizing the people they are attacking. The unfortunate result of this is the people who they are "protecting" think they then can get away with literally anything while the people they are attacking feel like they are powerless to defend themselves.
I hope that this blog has really given you an idea why Cancel Culture is detrimental to mental health and why we as a society need to reject this movement. The stability of our society depends on us rejecting this harmful ideology. People should be able to express themselves any way they want to as long as they aren't calling for violence on people. Anyways, I thank you for reading my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support The Christ Centered Mental Health Ministry
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Mental Illness & The Sinful Nature
"For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." -Galatians 2:19-20
The topic of the sin nature in the realm of mental health is a pretty tricky topic and unfortunately it has fallen out of favor amongst most mental health professionals. However, as a Christian mental health advocate who cares about what the Bible says, I cannot ignore this topic. I would like to make mention that I do believe that people who struggle with mental illness are indeed responsible for any sinful behavior that they exhibit. I do not think that mental illness absolves us of our guilt before God. However, I do believe that mental illness can and often does lead one to commit sinful acts. I know that a lot of my Christian brothers and sisters will balk on this idea when they read this, but please hear me out. I am not only a mental health advocate but I am also someone who struggles with a very real illness called Schizophrenia so I have personal experience in this area. My Schizophrenia does cause me to experience delusions and hallucinations that often do lead me into sin. For example, years ago I had an intense delusion where I believed that I must assassinate Donald Trump. This in of itself is horrible enough but if I would have followed my delusion and attempted to assassinate the president, it would have been because of my mental illness. I would still be at fault for my sin but because of my degenerative brain disease I essentially lost control over my inhibitions. I hope that I am making myself really clear that I am not trying to say that I am faultless because of my illness. On a much lighter note, what about someone who struggles with an anxiety disorder? Some people might think that someone who never leaves their house could just be lazy. This is a possibility, however, another possibility is that the person could be suffering from a crippling fear of the outdoors. In this instance, yes laziness is a sin, but the person's mental illness is the cause for their laziness. These are just a couple pertinent examples of how mental illness can lead to sin and I can write an entire novel replete with examples of this but for the sake of this blog, these two examples will suffice.
If mentally ill people were left in this predicament then we would have absolutely no hope. However, according to the above scripture we actually do have hope In Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sin but when He did we literally died in Him. The Apostle Paul so closely identified us with Christ that he makes the claim that we actually died on the cross with Christ. Then when Jesus rose from the dead we were raised with Him. Let this truth sink in some. It is because we have a new life in Christ because of His resurrection that we are not living for ourselves, This is absolutely wonderful news for the mentally ill because we need to understand that when we are in Christ our identities are not found in our illnesses but in Him. It is precisely because we have a new life in Him that we no longer need to struggle with our symptoms. Does this mean that we won't struggle anymore? Absolutely not! We will always struggle until either Christ returns or until we go to be with the Lord. However, when we do struggle with our symptoms or when our illnesses do lead us to sin, Christ is our advocate who is always interceding on our behalf and as someone who has been tempted in every way we are and was without sin He can sympathize with our frailty. We can always turn to Christ when we are dealing with our weaknesses because He cares for us and as the Sovereign Lord He is always sustaining us as well. So, always remember what the Apostle Paul tells those who are in Christ concerning the love of God,
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:35-39 (emphasis mine)
Crucified with Christ by Phillips Craig and Dean
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation
Saturday, April 23, 2022
The Voice of God vs The Voices in My Head
"The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon" -Psalm 29:5
As someone with Schizoaffective Disorder, I am very familiar with experiencing voices in my head. For some reason they are always negative and I am not really sure why but I know that they are troublesome. There are times when the voices in my head tell me that people in my church are worshiping me and that they are praying to me in Bible Study too. I also hear voices that command me to hit people and to drive cars off of bridges. The voices in these times are sometimes soft-spoken but other times they are very loud. When they are soft-spoken I can easily ignore them but when they get loud I usually have to remove myself from the area that I am in until the voices subside. The thing that helps me in these periods of time is the Word of God. I know that it is imperative that I stay grounded in God's word. This ends up helping because I know that when the voices tell me something that contradicts God's word that the voices are clearly wrong. Does this make the voices go away? Absolutely not! As a matter of fact, sometimes the voices will get even louder. However, I know that no matter how loud the voices get that the voice of the Lord is even louder and He speaks clearly to my mind and my heart. A verse that really helps me in these troublesome times is Proverbs 3:5-6 which says,
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths"
According to this scripture, as long as I wholly trust in the Lord instead of my own vain reasoning He will guide me. This really resonates with me because on top of the voices that I experience I also experience delusions as well. It is because of my delusions that I experience that I know that I cannot trust my own thoughts, feelings, and perception. As a matter of fact, most of the time I cannot even trust my own personal experience at all because my mind often tricks me into seeing things that are not in touch with reality. All that I have is the word of God. The Bible is what keeps me grounded in reality and without the Bible I would be lost. So, because of my mental illness the Lord has really shown me what it means to be utterly dependent on Him for my sustenance, my well-being, and even my sanity. Actually, this reminds me of when Jesus was enduring the wilderness temptation in Matthew 4. After He just finished fasting for 40 days, the devil came to Him saying "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread" and Jesus responded with, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God". I believe that this was a real temptation for Christ because He was indeed human but His response to the temptation is very profound. He basically tells the devil that man cannot survive by food alone and that man needs the word of God in order to survive. In my life I found this truth to be a reality because I desperately need God's word just to get through the day. Sometimes I cannot even get through a moment without the word of God. It is because of this that I have realized that I am totally helpless without God. The lesson I want you, the reader, to get out of this is that you are no different from me. Whether or not you have a mental illness, you still need God's word in your life. It is the height of human arrogance for man to think that he can travel through life without God, who is always sustaining him and providing for him too. We cannot even breathe without God giving us breath. In other words, we "live and move and have our being" in Him (Acts 17:20). Every single one of us is already utterly dependent on Him. I just have a literal constant reminder of this fact that I deal with on a daily basis.
Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support The Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To The Ministry
Friday, April 22, 2022
Leading As A Husband With Mental Illness
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." -Ephesians 5:25-27
Marriage has taught me a lot about what it means to be a spiritual leader over my household while dealing with my Schizoaffective Disorder. I will admit that before marriage I had no idea how mThental illness would affect my ability to lead my wife. I used to think that I needed to rule my household with an iron fist and then later I thought I just needed to always focus on being loving and compassionate. I now believe that in order to be a good biblical leader, we must be in the middle of these two extremes. In this blog, I will be discussing three things that the Lord has taught me concerning leading as a husband while dealing with mental illness and my prayer is that everyone who reads this will be edified. The three lessons I have learned concerning this topic are: 1) I need to daily sacrifice for my wife, 2) my wife needs to daily submit to me, and 3) Marriage is about holiness. I will elaborate on these points in the subsequent paragraphs.
Sacrifice For Her
_____________________
This is one of the hardest lessons that I have had to learn because my mental illness causes me to be incredibly self-centered and selfish. However, I know that this verse is a command not a suggestion. As a godly man, I am called to lay down my very life for my wife. I understand that this concept is not popular today but when you truly understand how our Lord has laid down His life for us it should make it easy for us to lay down our lives for our brides. Unfortunately, I recognize that this is not always as easy as it sounds. I know I personally frequently mess up and when I do I need to always seek forgiveness from my wife. I am called to lead her but this does not mean that I must not accept guidance from her. As a matter of fact, my schizophrenia does tend to make me delusional and during those times it is imperative of me to really listen to my wife because she is seeing things clearly while I am not. When my medication is working well and I am stable, I make reasonable decisions for my family and my wife does need to submit to me even if she disagrees.
Wife's Submission To Me
___________________________
I do believe that when a woman does not submit to her husband then it puts everything out of order and God is the God of order not chaos. I know in my personal experience my wife does submit to me in all things but there are times when my mental illness makes me unreasonable. It's during those times that it would be unwise for my wife to submit to me. For example, if I am in a manic episode and I am overspending our money, then it is imperative that my wife lovingly confronts me and if she needs to she should take away my debit cards because if she lets that go unchecked then we will end up homeless because we would not be able to pay our rent. The people who hold to a strict view of biblical submission for women are in violation of the "I desire mercy not sacrifice" principle found in Matthew 12:6-7 because they are turning a biblical concept that is meant to be freeing for women into a legalistic standard that ends up holding women in spiritual bondage. My wife does submit to when it is wise to do so however when she sees that I am mentally unstable then she absolutely must step and help back onto the path of rationality. That is what it means for her to be my help
Holiness Not Happiness
______________________________
Our culture has this idea about marriage that it is about happiness and when people operate on this assumption then as soon as they realize that marriage is not making them happy they want out of it. I believe this is why the divorce rate is so high. People have a distorted view of what marriage is truly about. God uses marriage to conform us to the image of Christ and because of this marriage is solely about our holiness not about our happiness. Does this mean we should never be happy in marriage? Absolutely not! There are many joys in the marriage covenant. I love to have fun with my wife. However, happiness is not the primary purpose of marriage. I think this is a very important point to make and it is what distinguishes Christian marriages from secular marriages. In the realm of mental illness, this means that my wife needs to understand that because of my mental illness I will not always be her "perfect knight in shining armor" but instead there will be times I will be "The Beast" from the Beauty and The Beast Disney movie. I do not intend to be that way and I will always seek her forgiveness when I am like that however she does need to be patient with me at all times. I also need to understand that even though she does not have a mental illness she is still a human being with flaws and she may not always make the best decisions in how she reacts to me too. When we keep these things in mind, it allows us to be able to show one another grace and compassion instead of being harsh and legalistic.
Grace Liberates Your Relationships By Paul David Tripp
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support The Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To The C.C.M.H Ministry
Thursday, April 21, 2022
How Nouthetic Counselors Misrepresent The DSM-5
As some of you may know I have been following the teachings from modern Nouthetic Counselors very closely and I find some of their teachings to be either intentionally misleading at worst or downright ignorant at best. Does this mean that everything they teach is wrong? No! They do offer a lot of great insight into the human psyche from a Biblical perspective. However, where they veer away from traditional Reformed tradition is when they deny that secular psychology is useful because this assertion is a fundamental Two Kingdom Theology. Am I a DSM apologist? No I am not. I will freely admit that the DSM-5 is a flawed book. However, what we do have in its pages is very helpful in understanding mental illness and how to effectively treat them. In this blog, I will discuss some ways that I have seen Nouthetic Counselors misrepresent the DSM-5 when they talk about it. When reading this, please keep in mind that I am mainly talking about people such as Voddie Baucham, Todd Friel, John MacArthur, Heath Lambert, Dr. Charles Hodges, and Jay Adams. These are the main names that come up when discussing this matter. The ways that these Counselors misrepresent the DSM-5 are as follows: 1) They do not properly define mental illness, 2) They do not properly define the purpose of the DSM, 3) They pretend that mental illness is not common 4) They wrongly trivialize how the DSM was put together, 4) They do not acknowledge Christian psychology, and 5) They are in error about the Sufficiency of the Bible. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list but here are the few errors that I have noticed them make and I will do my best to address these errors because no one else will. I hope that if anyone subscribes to the Nouthetic Counseling ideology that they will realize the errors they have been making and will then change their thinking on this subject. I also hope that anyone who are not Nouthetic Counselors but know about these errors that they will know how to address them when they come up.
Proper Definition of Mental Illness
__________________________________________
This is a huge error that I see many Nouthetic Counselors make in their speeches and in their literature. It seems almost as if they do not understand what exactly constitutes a mental illness. This is especially surprising in the case of Dr. Charles Hodge because he is a medical doctor so he should know better. However, these Nouthetic Counselors frequently equate mental illness with "emotional problems" and they frequently state that mental illness is not a chemical imbalance, a fact that virtually all mental health professionals agree on. First mental illness is much more than just "emotional problems" and when one defines mental illness in this way it trivializes what people with mental illness really are going through. A proper definition for mental illness would be "any thought, word, or behavior that deviates from the norm that severely impairs one's daily living". I would like to emphasize the last part because this is a fact that gets lost in the conversation. Mental illness is a disability because it cripples someone from doing daily life activities. Nouthetic Counselors would do well if they understood this. Secondly, when they deny that mental illness is a chemical imbalance they are essentially denying medical science. They will frequently make this claim that there is no medical test for mental illness when there actually are. By making this claim, they demonstrate the fact they do not understand that we know that a rise or fall in dopamine and serotonin and cortisol levels can trigger mental illnesses. As a matter of fact, this is why medication is so effective because they restore the balance in the serotonin, dopamine, and cortisol levels in the brain.
Use of The DSM
______________________
Another thing that Nouthetic Counselors do not understand is the proper usage of the DSM. If you do not know what the DSM is, it is the Diagnostic Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders. There are currently five editions of this text that are in print and it is used by all mental health professionals, especially psychiatrists, in order to assist them in better understanding mental illnesses and how to treat them. It was not written with any political agenda or in an attempt to "undermine the Christian faith". It was solely written to assist mental health professionals. Is it perfect? Absolutely not! The DSM is flawed and Nouthetic Counselors are right to call out the flaws in the textbook. However, as of right now, the DSM is the best possible means we have to understanding mental illnesses and for understanding how to treat mental illnesses. When Nouthetic Counselors attack the reliability the accuracy of the DSM, they are doing a disservice towards the mentally ill community by helping spread the stigma in society.
Commonality of Mental illness
________________________________
As I've stated in an earlier blog, mental illness is very common. A recent study has determined that over 50% of our society has a mental illness, regardless of whether or not they are actively seeking treatment or are even aware of their mental illness. Nouthetic Counselors will look at this insurmountable evidence and declare that this is the result of our living in a "psychologized" culture. They frequently think the behaviors described in the DSM applies to everyone. However, this demonstrates that the concept of mental illness evades them. It is true that at one time in history, psychiatrists were overly diagnosing people with mental illness and overly medicated them too. However, today we do have a better understanding of mental illness and we know better how to treat it through medication and therapy. Medication and counseling has been proven to be the most effective means to treating mental illness. This does not mean that they cure mental illness however but they help people better manage their symptoms. This is an important point to make because Nouthetic Counselors wrongly assume that since medication and psychology does not cure mental illness then this means that they are failing. However, this assumption demonstrates that they do not understand the purpose of medication and psychology. There is no cure for mental illness but with medication and therapy people with mental illness can learn to manage their mental health better. One of the dangers of reading the DSM is that we can be tempted to read ourselves into the text however we must no do that/ We must allow our psychiatrists and psychology that we come to visit to do all the talking. _
How the DSM Was Made
____________________________
Voddie Baucham and others seem to make this mistake a lot. Their claim that since mental illness is not a medical issue then the way the DSM is put together is by haphazardly getting to together for voting on what would be considered mental illness. This is factually untrue because it took many many years and a lot of research and experimentation before they came together to discuss their results that should be put into the DSM. They did not just randomly get together and vote on what to put into the DSM. The process is always very long and strenuous.
Christian Counselors
____________________________
This mistake demonstrates that Nouthetic counselors are disingenuous because they are not willing to acknowledge that there are mental health professionals who are Christian. They do not acknowledge this fact because it goes against the "Us vs Them" mindset. I am currently reading a book by Dr. Mark McMinn called "Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality". and it is very exciting book because he clearly shows how mental health and Christianity go together and it is theologically sound too. There are many more Christian psychologists out there too.
Sufficiency of Scripture
_______________________________
This is a common mistake that many Nouthetic Counselors make they frequently assume that the Bible is sufficient in all things. Now, I do believe that the Bible is sufficient in everything that it talks about but it does not talk about everything. This is a slight nuance but let me elaborate. The Bible talks about all things concerning faith and godliness but it does not tell us how to treat Schizophrenia or how to play chess or how to fix a car. For these things it is wise for us to consult experts in the fields mental health, chess, and car mechanics. This is perfectly fine because God is by definition Truth so all truth found in any field outside of the Bible is ultimately God's truth. After all, The Lord has given us two books to read: the book of the Bible and the book of nature and we must learn to properly interpret them both if we are going to understand what God is teaching us.
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation
Monday, April 18, 2022
Temptation May Not Overcome Us, But Circumstances Might!
"Therefore, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it" -1st Corinthians 10:13
I am convinced that this verse is one of the most commonly misquoted verse in the Bible. Usually when people quote this verse they then conclude that it is saying that God will not allow any circumstance to overcome us. However, this verse is not about circumstances. When I read this verse, it is pretty clear that it is about temptation. The apostle Paul is telling us that all temptations that we face in this life are not any different from any temptation anyone else face but when we are tempted The Lord will provide a way for us to overcome the temptation. However, when it comes to circumstances, I believe that the Lord will often bring us to point of utter despair in order to show us that we are in desperate need of His strength instead of relying on our own. In 2nd Corinthians 1:8, Paul tells us "For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself". As someone with mental illness, I can completely relate to this verse because often I feel like I am overwhelmed by my symptoms. There are times that I feel such an intense depression that I just want to commit suicide. There are times when I am in a full manic episode and I am overwhelmed with feelings of ecstasy that I then commit dangerous impulsive acts. Also, there are times, my paranoia and voices cause me to be overcome with fear that I am literally crippled. I am saying this to let you know that there is evidence that circumstances can and often do overwhelm us. However, I have found that it is during these times that the Lord most powerfully shows Himself in our lives. I am reminded of 2nd Corinthians 12 where the Apostle Paul tells us how he was given a "thorn in the flesh" in order to keep him humble. We do not know what this "thorn" is but we do know that Paul asked the Lord three times to remove it and all three times the Lord told him, "My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness". We may not understand why the Lord would give us something like a mental illness however we do know that His grace in our lives is sufficient for us. When I am feeling especially overwhelmed, I remind myself of this passage because I need to understand that the Lord does not owe me anything except for wrath and condemnation for my rebellion and sin. For this reason, any good thing that the Lord does give me is solely a testament to His amazing grace and mercy in my life. This is a very sobering truth because so often we believe that the Lord owes us because of our own supposed "goodness" or service to Him. However, God tells us that He is the Lord and He will do with His creation as He sees fit because that is His prerogative . This is the message of Romans 9. On a final note, even though the Lord may bring us to a point of utter despair so we learn to rely on Him instead of ourselves, He does promise us that He will sustain us and that He will use everything we go through for our own good. When I was in the hospital last year due to a perforated colon, I was in a really dark place mentally and I even almost lost my faith as a lay in my hospital bed. I could not imagine why the Lord was doing this to me. But, then in that moment the Lord kept reminding me of Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to His purpose". What I find particularly interesting about this verse is that Paul is not saying that all things are good but that all things work towards our good. This is a profound truth. We may not fully understand how God uses our suffering for our good and sometimes it does feel like this verse is lying. However, The Lord cannot lie so His word is truth and we must trust His external and objective word over our feelings. God is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to Him and He is working to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. - A Place For Weakness by Dr. Michael Horton
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Christian Mental Health Advocate
For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christmentalhealth@gmail.com
Lydia Sarchet: mrssccmh@gmail.com
Britton Garleb: britaingabriel@protonmail.com
Joe Roman: Twiztedmembrain@gmail.com
Scott AKA Johnny Kangaroo: scottsoconmhs@outlook.com
Dwayne McLeod: psyconatics@gmail.com
Veronica Talbot: vtalbot747@gmail.com
Amber Williams: shayneedm18@gmail.com
Chuck Ward: wcw50@aol.com
Sarah Olivia: sarahjesseolivia@gmail.com
Amber Marie: amarie0193@gmail.com
Zachary Uram: Netrek@gmail.com
Joseph McDermott: jpmlovesjesus@live.com
Roselyn Morgan (Christ-Centered Mental Health Christian Counselor): RoselynMorgan53@yahoo.com
Support The Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
To Make A One Time Donation To Our Ministry