Mental Illness

I May Be Mad, but I Am Not Stupid
Randy Skeete

God's will for the mentally ill is wellness. Mental illnesses are a crisis in the United States and Christians can help. Find out how!

From behind the iron-barred second floor window of a mental institution an inmate gazed at a black-suited motorist kicking his car in disgust. The left front tire had flown off after the car had hit a deep pothole. With the lug nuts lost in the roadside grass, the motorist helplessly pondered how he might reach the gas station five miles down the country road. Suddenly he heard, "Psst!" Psst!" Looking up and across the street, he spotted the inmate, who shouted, "Take one lug nut from the other wheels and use them to put the tire back on." Embarrassed and relieved, the motorist yelled back in the resonant tone of a professor (which he was), "That's brilliant!" The 70-year-old inmate muttered, "I may be mad, but I ain't stupid!"

Are the mentally ill mad or stupid? Is a schizophrenic curable?

In the September 1999 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry Dr. William T. Carpenter, Jr., writes in the editorial, "Society has a moral responsibility for its sick and disabled citizens." He describes some mentally ill patients as suffering from "the worst diseases afflicting mankind." If secular society has a responsibility to the mentally ill, what is the responsibility of a moral God?

A Crisis

Mental illnesses are a public health crisis in the United States and abroad. Depression is second only to heart disease in magnitude of disease burden (the negative effect on the person and society). Mental illnesses account for more disease burden than all types of cancer combined. These are some findings of The Global Burden of Disease, a 1990 study by the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and Harvard University to help governments assess public health priorities. Of the 10 leading causes of disability listed in the study, four are mental illnesses. Depression is number one. Clearly, more people are mentally ill than health authorities suspect.

Statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health suggest that more than 19 million adult Americans age 18 and over will suffer from a depressive illness—major depression, bipolar affective disorder, or dysthymia--each year. Millions more will suffer from a variety of mental illnesses such as manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, autism, suicidal thinking, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, panic attack disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), social phobia, excessive self-love (narcissism), learning disabilities, compulsive gambling, and illogical thinking. Until fairly recently the psychiatric community tended to view ?overly religious? people as mentally ill to some degree.

According to the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale, certain significant life events generate varying degrees of stress. The top five causes are (1) death of a spouse, (2) divorce, (3) marital separation, (4) jail term or death of a close family member, and (5) personal injury or illness. Since stress is implicated in many physical and mental illnesses, any of the five life events listed above may lead to temporary or permanent mental illness. With the United States leading the world in divorce rates, murders, and percentage of the population incarcerated, it is a fair assumption that mental illness may be epidemic in this society.

This gloomy picture is outlined against the light of the American Psychiatric Association?s definition of "mental illness," which may be expressed as "a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual" (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition [1994]). Millions are covered by this definition.

Hope From Above

When the faint cry arises from the earth, "Is there hope for me if I am mentally ill?" Jesus roars back from heaven, "Yes!" His own family, at one point, regarded Him as mad and attempted to restrain Him (Mark 3:21). On the eve of His crucifixion He took Peter, James, and John into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me? (Matthew 26:38). Was He depressed? Was Jonah depressed when he sat sulking under a tree and asked God to kill him (Jonah 4:1-3)?

Whether one's condition is mild and temporary (mental illness) or profound and chronic (mental disorder), God's will for that person is wellness. Third John 2 states, ?Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.? The psalmist David says of God, He ?forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases? (Psalm 103:3). Mental illness is a disease!

While the psychiatric community regards some mental illnesses as treatable but incurable, the Christian believes that with God all things are possible and curable! (See Luke 18:27). A God who raises the dead can cure a mental condition if He chooses to. If He elects not to heal outright, He will provide manageability of the condition even as He enabled Paul to manage his "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7-9, KJV).

To be saved in God's kingdom one must accept Christ's salvation. This calls for an intelligent act of the will based on faith. An intelligent act of the will requires soundness of mind. A clear and present danger to soundness of mind is mental illness.

The demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20 had no such soundness of mind. He frequently mutilated himself, was kept in chains, which he often broke, and spent long nights howling in graveyards. Whether his insanity resulted from demons or divorce, the point is that he was mentally ill. Christ did what no psychiatrist then nor now can do--He healed his mind! (Verse 15). With his sound mind, the man accepted Christ and became a missionary (Verses 19, 20).
God loves the schizophrenic as He loves the pilfering preacher. He desires to save all people (2 Peter 3:9) whether they suffer from hyperactivity or halitosis, anxiety or arthritis. Christ came as a physician to the sick (Matthew 9:12).

What Can Be Done?

Without ignoring the role of genetics in some mental illnesses, the Christian community can lower the incidence of mental illness in its ranks by living out two Bible texts. One is "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18, NKJV). *The passage addresses loneliness, not necessarily aloneness. Many interpret it to mean "It is not good for people to be single." Loneliness can lead to depression, which in turn encourages loneliness. The circle is vicious.

The other text is "Where is Abel thy brother?" (Genesis 4:9, KJV). This Bible verse upholds the serious moral responsibility for each other that God requires of all Christians.

Combined and expressed, these two texts make the Christian church the most effective support system for the mentally (and physically) ill believer and nonbeliever alike. These Scriptures also make the church a sanctuary where God's unconditional healing, love for all people is preserved and demonstrated.