FOOTNOTE:
First I am not a writer, as you can tell, and I just put down thoughts that most of the time seem ramdom in nature. Sorry about that.
- It seems believers are being identified more by psychiatric labels than by their fruit. Labels like ADHD, bipolar, panic attacks, OCD and integration sensory disorder are becoming more normal than the list from Galatians 5:22-23 to describe the Church.
Since more believers are being diagnosed with these and other kinds of psychiatric labels pastors, elders and lay counselors are finding it difficult to offer counsel that seems relevant. Sufferers bear the emotional, physical, mental, and relational burden of the diagnosis, while pastors are hard pressed to understand and accept the premise of the diagnosis. The believer who is looking for comfort and guidance from their leaders typically struggle with the counsel they receive because a gap of misunderstanding separates them.
BIPOLOAR DISORDER OR MANIC DEPRESSION
- Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, manic depressive disorder or bipolar affective disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania. Individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes or symptoms, or mixed episodes in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time. These episodes are usually separated by periods of "normal" mood, but in some individuals, depression and mania may rapidly alternate, known as rapid cycling. Extreme manic episodes can sometimes lead to psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. The disorder has been subdivided into bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia, and other types, based on the nature and severity of mood episodes experienced; the range is often described as the bipolar spectrum.
You click on the blue for the definitions of these terms.
Here is my point, it is not that Christians don't get themselves in these conditions. They do. But should they have gotten themselves in theses conditions?
DIAGNOSIS - Diagnosis is based on the self-reported experiences of an individual as well as abnormalities in behavior reported by family members, friends or co-workers, followed by secondary signs observed by a psychiatrist, nurse, social worker, clinical psychologist or other clinician in a clinical assessment. There are lists of criteria for someone to be so diagnosed. These depend on both the presence and duration of certain signs and symptoms. Assessment is usually done on an outpatient basis; admission to an inpatient facility is considered if there is a risk to oneself or others. The most widely used criteria for diagnosing bipolar disorder are from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the current version being DSM-IV-TR, and the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, currently the ICD-10. The latter criteria are typically used in Europe and other regions while the DSM criteria are used in the USA and other regions, as well as prevailing in research studies.
So there you have it. Can we say that those who have bioplar disorder have a form of mental illness? What is mental illness? Good question.
What percentage of Christian pastors suffer from some type of mental illness?
- I am sure many pastors of all churches suffer from some kind of mental illness? I have worked I am sure with a few of them.
So who makes the disagnoses of our conditions?
- We go to the doctor, what kind of disagnoses is he going to give us? We go to a friend what kind of dosagnoes will they give? We go to a professional counseler what is their disagnoses? What if we were to go to a pastor/teacher, what would be the disagoses? What if we went to all these people? How many different disagnoses would we have and how to solve them?
How would a medical doctor view a conditon verses a pastor/teacher?
