Distinguishing Reality From Fantasy

 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean not your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths" -Proverbs 3:5-6 

As someone who struggles with Schizoaffective Disorder, I find it really difficult to distinguish reality from fantasy. My delusions sometimes cloud my mind and I cannot find the truth. This is common amongst people who struggle with schizophrenia. When I talk to my friends who struggle with this disorder they have told me the same thing. I tend to have delusions and voices that tell me things such as I am God and that people are worshiping me. Sometimes I even hear voices telling me to drive cars off bridges too. All of this has taught me that I cannot trust my ow n thoughts, sensations, and perceptions. If I cannot trust my perceptions and thoughts then how do I distinguish fact from fantasy? I have found that what helps me is being grounded in the word of God. I have found that the Bible defines reality so anything that contradicts the word of God is not real. In this blog, I will talk about how the Bible helps me distinguish fact from fantasy. My mental illness has taught me the value of not "leaning on your own understanding" and instead "trust the Lord with all your heart" because God is all-wise so His judgement of my given situation will always be better than mine. There are four things that help keep me grounded in God's word which in turn helps me remain in reality. These four  things are: 

1) Daily Devotions 

2) Bible Commentaries 

3) Apologetics/Theology 

4) Weekly Worship 

I will explain how these four things bring me back to reality when I start to fall into delusional thinking or when I am hearing voices telling me lies. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list that should be applied to everyone with Schizophrenia. These are just things that have helped me, but everyone's situation is different and therefore there are different solutions for each different individual. 

Daily Devotions

I will admit that I do struggle with doing devotional readings of the Bible every day. However, whenever I do get into the Bible it does always help me to understand what is real. For instance, when I hear the voices telling me that I am God, I always remind myself of Isaiah 45:5 which says, 

"I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me"

This helps to remember that even though the voices are telling something different that I should trust the Bible because God cannot lie. This means that the reality is that I am not God. There is only one God and that is the Triune God of Scripture. Daily Devotions really helps me to remember this fact. 

Bible Commentaries

This is something that I have found to be in handy in just recent years. I used to be against Bible commentaries but these days I find them helpful because there are certain things in the Bible that I find difficult to understand, which then causes me to doubt. However, when I read a Bible commentary, it usually explains hard-to-understand passages in a way that I do understand. Once certain passages are understandable to me, I usually no longer doubt. This is why I really like Study Bibles. I have found Dr. R.C Sproul's The Reformation Study Bible to be particularly helpful to me. I also like Dr. Michael Horton's Systematic Theology textbook too. I will admit that sometimes these do not alleviate all of my doubts however I realize that when it comes to certain truth claims about God that not everything needs to make perfect sense. Sometimes it is ok to admit that certain things are hard to comprehend because of our finite minds but that we still trust the Lord in all matters. I am perfectly content with this position too because I do not need to know everything about everything. 

Apologetics/Theology 

Now, this is something I really love because I am a major apologetics and theology nerd. I have a deep passion for both of these subjects. I love studying the reliability of the New Testament and how the Bible was put together. I love studying presuppositional apologetics and classical apologetics. It is definitely interesting to see how scientific and archeological discoveries are actually confirming the Bible. All this helps me stay in touch with reality because it reveals to me that there are good reasons and evidence to believe in the Bible and Christianity. I am the type of person who does not like to believe something without good reason. So, when I see that there is a mountain of evidence proving Christianity to be true, it just further helps me to realize that The Bible defines what is real because it is the absolute, true, and objective word of the Living God. 

Weekly Worship

Finally, the most important thing that really helps me stay in touch with reality is the weekly worship with other believers. I fully recognize that I should be doing daily worship and that is something I am working on instituting for my family but until then we do weekly worship. Worship really helps me out because it just reminds me in a very tangible way that I am not God. Sometimes my voices intrude my mind so much that I must remove myself from the congregation but in those moments I remind myself of Isaiah 45:5. However, weekly worship really serves the purpose of showing my my own frailty as a human being who is utterly dependent on the Father for everything in my life, even my very own breath that I breathe. It causes me to in awe of the Creator of the universe and it draws me closer to Jesus. I know that without Him I can literally do nothing so I depend on Him for my very sustenance. This knowledge keeps me humble especially when I think of the amazing grace that He lavishes onto me. I know full well my own sin that I commit every day, every moment but His grace that He daily shows me makes me adore Him even more! 

I hope that this blog gives you a better understanding of what helps me stay in touch with reality when I am dealing with delusions and hallucinations that cause me to doubt my own senses, perceptions, and thoughts. I thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope that this blesses someone to the praise and glory of God the Father. Soli Deo Gloria! 

Voice of Truth By Casting Crowns

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate And Apologist


 For 24 hour peer support, please call the Christ-Centered Mental Health ministry line at 567-343-3727 or email me at christcenteredmentalhealth@gmail.com

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