Mental Illness

[boodle]

yes i agree, its actually jobs story that keeps me going

Ben

[Guest]

Well said, Patricia1!

I'd like to add to what Patricia posted. I had a nasty bout of depression and hopelessness after the Lord got me off crystal meth. I was told by the folks at the VA that some of that was due to coming off of that nasty drug. The counselor gave me some advice that actually worked. It wasn't a "cure", but was part of the solution.

I had a pretty bad diet at this period in my life, and I was in a homeless shelter. Those circumstances do not lend themselves to good eating habits because you are stuck with what ever is available. The counselor suggested taking a multivitamin everyday to help make up for what I wasn't getting in my diet. It helped a lot. Don't get fancy and go to a health food store, just some Walmart brand ones will do to start.

The second part of the solution was the Word of God, which the Lord saw to it that I more or less stumbled into. Combined with the vitamins and a better diet (physical needs), and massive doses of the Scriptures the depression lifted. It was not an over night cure, though. It was a process the Lord walked me through, and I'm not done yet.

Hope this helps someone, too.

[patricia1]

excellent walla.. it is true that while drugs..increase a chemical and/or chemicals in the brain while being used. When the drug is stopped the brain has to start producing these chemicals again and it takes time.

I praise the Lord Jesus for your sobriety , hard work and for what he has done in your life. The percentages are very low where meth is concerned, for kiking it. God Bless and great testimony!!

[Guest]

excellent walla.. it is true that while drugs..increase a chemical and/or chemicals in the brain while being used. When the drug is stopped the brain has to start producing these chemicals again and it takes time.

I praise the Lord Jesus for your sobriety , hard work and for what he has done in your life. The percentages are very low where meth is concerned, for kiking it. God Bless and great testimony!!

Thank you for the kind words, patricia1, but I didn't do it. Jesus did.

I think most of the recovery statistics are from secular recovery programs, and a secular program doesn't address the real issue in any drug addiction. Its not a drug problem so much as a heart problem. Only Jesus can change a heart!

The depression and that lasted for a little longer than the first 90 days for me. At the 4 month point I went through a week (7 days) with insomnia so bad I may have gotten 1-2 hours sleep at night. Once that stopped everything went back to what I'd call normal - I could sleep again, etc. Just that one roommate I had that snored like a jet engine.............

[DarkNebulaWelder]

I do have to ask one question:

What are you using to gauge your standing with God? Do you have anything to measure and test against, to know where you stand? Or, are you merely going by feelings?

This is an important starting point.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Hi, Suzanne;

No, I'm not using my emotions as an internal compass of my spiritual condition, but the problem is, just because I refute the thoughts doesn't mean that they don't leave, and I'd be lying if I said that they weren't discouraging.

The thing is, right now, what was once a relationship filled with constant spiritual joy, and intimacy, has been replaced by one wherein some days, I am basking in the joy of the Lord, while on other days, I am merely relying on the promises of God. There is no spiritual re-assurance there, just a cognitive awareness of His promises, and my own determination and faith.

Trust me, if it was all emotional, I would have just given up some time ago.

It is as though I am continually having to defend myself against these mental attacks, assuring myself that I am a child of God, and that He loves me, and quote Scripture to myself, apologize to the Lord, and rebuke the thoughts.

Case in point...what happened to me today. After a few weeks of my ex-husband not returning my calls, I was getting increasingly worried, so for the past week or so, I've been calling him, asking him to return my calls, and praying that everything was alright with him. Well, a couple of days ago, he called me, and it was at that point that I felt the Lord tell me that I needed to witness to him (he's backslidden, so I pretty much just told him what he already knew).

Anyhow, he called me back today, and I talked to him about the Lord. He was not receptive.

After I got off the phone, this overwhelming feeling of failure came over me, leaving me desperately disappointed and angry with myself.

Here was the discourse that erupted in my mind:

(1) Well, that was a failure

(2) You're a complete loser

(3) He thinks you're a complete basket case

(4) Now he'll never want to come back to Christ...You completely ruined any hope of witness

(5) You can't do anything right

(6) If the spirit of God were REALLY inside of you, then you would have been bolder, and handled that better

(7) The Spirit of God probably isn't even inside of you. You're probably just imagining it

(8) The joy and peace that you sometimes feel are probably delusional manifestations of your psychotic highs and lows. You're probably not really saved, and it's probably not the presence of God

(9) Why do you even waste God's time

I SWEAR, these were the thoughts that came to my mind, and they came so rapidly, that I had little time to defend them. I basically had to cry out desperately to God, and ask Him to forgive me for my weakness, and to not give up on me.

All I could think to do was to tell Him how much I loved Him, but this afternoon, I honestly thought I was going to lose it.

THIS is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. This entire episode lasted only a few hours, and it took me some major prayer to get out of this slump, but if I had been relying on my emotional compass, as you had asked above, I would have completely given into these thoughts as reality, but deep down, I knew that they were false.

The thing is, though, it's pretty exhausting battling this kind of stuff so much, which is why I'm completely relying on God, hanging on to His promises, and not validating them by falling for them....but I'm not going to say that, oftentimes, they aren't completely mentally taxing.

I am also wondering if perhaps these are triggered by something biological, and if psychiatric medication wouldn't be able to control this, if in fact, they are brought about by some sort of chemical imbalance. Perhaps they are just a result of mood swings, or some mental condition....but that's just it. I DON'T know whether these are mood swings, or spiritual.

Does ANYONE here have any background in psychiatry, who can assess the situation from what I have detailed thus far? I would seriously appreciate ANY input.

[Adarian]

Hello Mods: A heads up on this one. Ordinarily I would not post links to products, but my mother was a paranoid schizophrenic for most of her life, and my sister is also. If this post is not allowed, I won't be upset if you delete it, but there are too many people who ought to know some of this stuff to let what I know slide on this. Apologies in advance if this is not cool.

Mental illness is a serious drag and a major burden. There are spiritual causes in some cases, and there are natural causes in others.

We live in a terribly toxic society, and the toxins are found everywhere. There is little clean food, no clean air, and nearly no clean water. We have mercury and live viruses in vaccines doing awful damage to people that most are unaware of. We have mercury amalgam dental fillings, which are nothing but a long term instrument of torment as far as I am concerned.

I am by now after many years of encouraging results, utterly convinced that much mental illness is nutritional by lack, and toxicity by abundance.

Mineral deficiencies, when corrected, have great positive effects on mental conditions.

I suggest that we all put on the whole armour of God, and get into daily, deep fellowship with God. Learn our authority over the devil and his legions, and use it without restraint. This eliminates the effects of demonic oppression. You will never be rid of the demons. They are everywhere and will do everything they can to trip us up and rob us of our effectiveness in the kingdom of God. Pray, pray, pray and pray some more. Our society is so lacking in prayer. We need to take up the slack.

In the natural: Things to know:

Dr. Ron Meyers' clinic is the source of this. He is respected even at the W.H.O.

Mercury

More about mercury

This one will stretch your mind a bit, but it's all good

The Lord bless you all with peace and confidence in Him and His Word, and your places in His kingdom.

Adarian.

[Deepblue]

This sort of thing is a daily struggle for me. I am constantly combating bad thoughts. I pray and cry out to God about them, and just when I feel He is telling me I am o.k., that's when I feel most vunerable. I wake up in the middle of the night battling bad thoughts against God. I have struggled with the thought that God is so upset with me that it's too late. Today has been really rough. I get these real dark anxiety attacks, and I am afraid to even open my mouth because I am afraid I am going to accidentally say something blasphemous against God. I constantly, throughout every waking moment of my day, combat the thoughts with "no" "God is good" "ahhh". This struggle has caused me to stray from God so many times. The thought that I have messed up too badly. It's worse some days than others. The worst part about this is that I feel the thoughts are caused by me and I am being charged guilty for them. I also feel that I am all alone in this and that no one would understand. It's a daily struggle and I need all your prayers.

Different mental illnesses run through my family. My grandfather comitted suicide in 1989. My uncle who died a few years ago was a schizophrenic. He thought that God had made him to be like a 5 year old child. He said that God made him to be like a baby so that he couldn't sin against Him. My uncle would go into these strange trances and flashbacks. He soon became very suicidal. He was so afraid that he was going to sin against God that he prayed for God to take his life. He spent most of his life in mental facilities. He finally died of a heart attack a few years ago. I believe God understands these mental illnesses and looks past them. Another uncle of mine also suffers from deep depression. He has told me about his suicidal thoughts as well. Please pray for us.

Edited February 28, 2008 by Deepblue

[tsth]

I do have to ask one question:

What are you using to gauge your standing with God? Do you have anything to measure and test against, to know where you stand? Or, are you merely going by feelings?

This is an important starting point.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Dear DNW,

The reason I asked the question above, is that I am noticing a most common thread in those who are struggling with their standing with God, they are not staying in His Word, on a daily basis, some not at all, and thus, it's like looking in a mirror, only to walk away and forget what you look like! Many are basing their standing with God, upon their feelings for the day, rather than upon His Standard, which is HIS TRUTH. When we go back to the source and get back to the strength of His Truth, we are less apt to waiver in our standing. We will be more likely to feel connected to Him, if we stay in touch with Him each and every day by prayer and reading His Word. His Word reveals to us, where we stand. It is so important to read His letters to us, daily, so that we don't forget His Words of encouragement and instruction! That way, the enemy doesn't get us off-track with His tricks and deceiving thoughts, because we haven't gotten very far away from the Words of our Lord and Father, so we are less likely to be swayed into doubt. That happens easily when we forget where we're coming from.

In His Love,

Suzanne

[tsth]

One other thing I want to add, as a side note:

For me, one of the greatest revelations I ever had, was that we're not supposed to always be happy. I know, it sounds a bit simplistic, but for me, my focus on depression began to dissapate when I came to realization that I wasn't supposed to be happy all of the time....and not only that, but, it was ok to be sad or unhappy. We've been conditioned in society to think that it's all about happiness, and the truth of the matter is, IT"S NOT! There is a time to laugh, and a time to mourn. That's life. I began to realize that it wasn't abnormal to be sad, so my focus began to let up with regard to it. I was too focused on it, because I thought it wasn't appropriate, which only exacerbated it....it is ok to be sad.

In His Love,

Suzanne

[patricia1]

hello there guys,suzanne...I know that Jesus did it for you but without you yielding being surrendered it not would have be done.

And what you write is a true miracle.

Now I will tell you this.

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He has so many fiery darts ready to fire them your way or anyone else to strip you of the truth of the Word of God that Jesus says about you.

I would not consider this a psychiatric promblem and I say this with such ferocity of fact, because I have been there.

For each lie there is the word of God that opposes it. check the facts.

1. You do not know if it was a failure, it is what God does with what you said to Him. The word does not come back void. Truth gives birth at some time.
   
2. Jesus Loves you and you sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus, You cannot be a loser. The Blood of Jesus which was shed for you is the most precious Gift God gave to you.God is for you, who can be against you. You are a winner
   
3. Who cares what he thinks, he is merely a man...it is what God thinks...and His thoughts towards you are Good and lovely
   

1. You ruined nothing. God controls the outcome. We are to encourage those who are backslidden to come back to the Lord. God chases after the backslidden
   
2. Now come on...Look at that statement. You would not say that to your daughter or son! God would not say that either nor does He kick His children around, especially when they are down!
   
3. The Spirit of God is with you and that is why He gave you the words to say! And so is the Heart of God and His mind as well. The living word is definitely lives within you. that should take care of the rest.
   

You are in a spiritual warfare and when you witness sometimes those lies your ex believes come bouncing towards you as well.

Do not let the enemy do this to you.

Put on that armor of God and use a scripture coinciding with each piece.

Quench those fiery darts with the word.

This is a normal attack for christians. True believers. You must have done something correct otherwise the enemy would not be there to drive try and flaten YOU. So flaten HIM. love you patricia1

Oh schizophrenia is different but the same principles above can be used.