Mormons and mental illness

[Anonymous]

Quote:

I read about a study that estimated that up to 80% of mental illnesses (in the US I suppose) are rooted in misinterprations of Judeo or Christian doctrine.

Fwiw, I don’t believe that for a second.

[Anonymous]

Wjclerk,

First I want to say that it is good to hear from you again. Your introduction made such an impression on me that I once linked to it for a newer StayLDS member. I didn’t think that my life experience allowed me to be particularly helpful – but I knew from reading your forthright intro that he wasn’t alone in his struggles. Sometimes there is a benefit to knowing that we aren’t the only ones. Your posts for me have always been piercing in their ability to get to the heart of the issue.

I can sympathize a little bit with the “fix it” mentality. My sister had some nerve damage that resulted in near continuous pain. She could take some medications but they had the side effect of making her somewhat loopy. We had a pretty good HT with a good heart that was always bringing over articles or suggesting remedies. He was always crestfallen when they didn’t result in improvement. My sister started saying that they had “helped some” just not to disappoint.

Old-Timer wrote:

Quote:

I read about a study that estimated that up to 80% of mental illnesses (in the US I suppose) are rooted in misinterpretations of Judeo or Christian doctrine.

Fwiw, I don’t believe that for a second.

I believe that perhaps Featherina is talking about something different.

Humans use a form of fuzzy logic that is not precise. There are many shortcuts (heuristics) that we use both because that’s the way we are wired and because of our social upbringing background. Sometimes these help us to save time and fit in with our social group, at the same time these can lead us to inaccurate conclusions and sometimes bad decisions. I would find it more believable to say something like “up to 80% of cognitive distortions in the US are rooted in interpretations of Judeo-Christian doctrine” just as my “just world hypothesis” assumption set the major plank of my assumptive world before the collapse and could be traced back to theology etc.

But cognitive distortions, heuristics, and false assumptions (even when we build our entire lives upon them) are not mental illnesses. I believe that the temptation to conflate the two is in itself a false assumption that is used to more easily understand and explain the phenomenon of mental illness (without actually understanding mental illness, remember it is a false assumption )

If most mental illnesses were simply extreme manifestations of cognitive distortions then people could unlearn them, or at least minimize their effects by reminding themselves that these assumptions are not accurate. While there does seem to be some benefit to discovering and unlearning unhealthy patterns -This just doesn’t seem to be the major cause of mental illness.

[Anonymous]

I have struggled with mental illness for at least 17 of my 33 years on earth. I once 5150’d myself (I guess that means it wasn’t really a 5150 [btw, I love that country song]) because I was ready to commit suicide and I spent 6 days in the psyche ward. I was also addicted to drugs.

I think people in my ward can help just by being nice to me and being happy to see me. Also, they shouldn’t expect me to be consistent in my service. One day I might be zealous about the work, and the next I will be suicidal.

[Anonymous]

Roy’s response was FAR better than mine – and I agree, Shawn, that the best thing lots of people can do is love someone who is struggling in some way.

“Mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort” means a LOT more simple things than we often understand.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone – especially Roy. Part of the recurring problem is not being able to believe good about yourself. Hearing that someone has gained something positive from something you have done or had influence on can be a real pleasant surprise – if you are in a position to accept it. Some times, no matter how kind the words or how straight from the heart they come, they can’t penetrate the lead shield that may be a temporary/long-term emotional state for someone with a mental illness. Still, I am grateful for your kind words.

One of the issues that I think can stand some scrutiny is the issue of what happens to worldview with a mental illness. All my life I was taught “The light of Christ is given to all men so they can know good from evil. If you do what’s right, you will be blessed (always with the caveat that in may be in the next life that you are blessed, leaving you holding the bag in this life).” This is a great principle. It sounds like a law of physics or a mathematical equation – when you do x, y will happen. You pray, you get a feeling someone is listening. You serve others, you get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. So what happens when it doesn’t work for you? Did I just fall out of the human race/all men category?

We like rules to be comprehensive and without exception so we can count on them. Without rules that follow accepted patterns, the apple cart is upended and the whole world around you goes into flux. “I don’t know what I can count on anymore when life itself seems to change on a daily basis.” This way of thinking could end tomorrow, or it could go on for decades or until the end of my life. It is a shame that we mentally ill folk are so complicated (“doc, what do I do?” “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” “Bishop, I don’t feel things anymore. How do I feel the spirit?” “Just pray, and it will come to you.”) The 2 + 2 equation breaks down like light around the event horizon of a black hole (perhaps a more apt analogy than I intended!) Thus, it is not unreasonable to conclude that for some members or non-, just doing the “prescribed” church standard answers will notnecessarily result in an invariably positive result. Ergo: faith crisis that may or may not have a resolution subject to missionary discussion-level prescriptions for “finding the truth.”

BTW, I am not looking for anyone on this board to diagnose or try to treat me or my issues. I have shared what I have to put forth the idea for discussion that “there are people in the faith community of the LDS Church for whom the normal rules do not appear (I chose that word carefully) to work the same as they do for many others, or even themselves earlier in their lives.” This is not a necessary consequence resulting from sin, lack of faith, apostasy, or not “doing the right things.” I invite you to comment on this as you see fit.

If I could speak for others who may feel like me, I would want to say “we just want to know that we are not excluded (by biology, by genetics, by disease, by spiritual state, by nature) from what other faith-holding saints are able to feel and recall on a daily basis that guides them on their walk through life.” But I have to admit, I do feel like God has made an exception for us and struggle to believe that what happens in my life and my heart are evidence of a “loving” Father in Heaven.

So, many of the same problems faced by many who have a faith crises, but with unique little twists! 🙄

It is possible to feel alone standing in a room crowded with people – depending on if you feel excluded (not even necessarily by them but from them. Feeling the same way about God? :wtf:

[Anonymous]

Thank you, wjclerk.

That was profound and very eloquent. I sincerely wish every member (including leaders at all levels) could read it and understand what you are saying.

Do you mind if I quote it on my personal blog at some point in the future – without attribution to this site but as something a friend once shared with me?

[Anonymous]

wjclerk wrote:

If I could speak for others who may feel like me, I would want to say “we just want to know that we are not excluded (by biology, by genetics, by disease, by spiritual state, by nature) from what other faith-holding saints are able to feel and recall on a daily basis that guides them on their walk through life.” But I have to admit, I do feel like God has made an exception for us and struggle to believe that what happens in my life and my heart are evidence of a “loving” Father in Heaven.

I don’t know if it is kosher to quote oneself, but it struck me as I read my own post that a simple change of premise and this could also be words coming out of the mouth of someone struggling to understand the underlying reasons and basis for same-sex attraction and related issues. Funny how things, lenslike, can focus what you see on something you hadn’t thought about save you looked through the same glass through it at another issue.

@ray

I don’t quite know what to say, other than I would be honored if you thought something we have talked about in my short time of contributing to the discussion would be worth sharing somewhere else. I hope people all share things that are personal to them, leaving the great, or funny (I love humor. My wife calls it obnoxiousness. As for me, he doth not stink! ), or painful wisps of ourselves that wind up laying across the path of someone walking by at another time for whom it just so happens to be a puzzle piece that fits into a puzzle they were working on — and at that time, perhaps, they didn’t even know they were in need of it, and it just so happens to fit just right. 🙂

[Anonymous]

wjclerk wrote:

Some times, no matter how kind the words or how straight from the heart they come, they can’t penetrate the lead shield that may be a temporary/long-term emotional state for someone with a mental illness.

Wow, that is a good way of putting it. I have felt so many times that there is a wall right above my head blocking me from the heavens.

wjclerk wrote:

All my life I was taught “The light of Christ is given to all men so they can know good from evil. If you do what’s right, you will be blessed (always with the caveat that in may be in the next life that you are blessed, leaving you holding the bag in this life).” This is a great principle. It sounds like a law of physics or a mathematical equation – when you do x, y will happen. You pray, you get a feeling someone is listening. You serve others, you get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. So what happens when it doesn’t work for you? Did I just fall out of the human race/all men category?

…”there are people in the faith community of the LDS Church for whom the normal rules do not appear (I chose that word carefully) to work the same as they do for many others, or even themselves earlier in their lives.” This is not a necessary consequence resulting from sin, lack of faith, apostasy, or not “doing the right things.”

….If I could speak for others who may feel like me, I would want to say “we just want to know that we are not excluded (by biology, by genetics, by disease, by spiritual state, by nature) from what other faith-holding saints are able to feel and recall on a daily basis that guides them on their walk through life.”

It doesn’t work the same for me. Sadly, some are excluded from what other saints experience. This was acknowledged in a general conference address:

Quote:

When we strive to keep the commandments of God, repenting of our sins and promising our best efforts to follow the Savior, we begin to grow in confidence that through the Atonement everything will be all right. Those feelings are confirmed by the Holy Ghost, who drives from us what our pioneer mothers and fathers called “our useless cares.” In spite of our trials, we are filled with a sense of well-being and feel to sing with them that indeed “all is well.”

I do not wish to minimize the reality of clinical depression. For some, solutions to depression and anxieties will be found through consultation with competent professionals. But for most of us, sadness and fear begin to melt away and are replaced by happiness and peace when we put our trust in the Author of the plan of happiness and when we develop faith in the Prince of Peace. LINK

I have ruminated about this many times. I am not included in the “most of us” so sadness and fear do not melt away to be replaced by happiness and peace.

wjclerk wrote:

But I have to admit, I do feel like God has made an exception for us and struggle to believe that what happens in my life and my heart are evidence of a “loving” Father in Heaven.

I hear ya. On a positive note for me, I believe Heavenly Father makes other exceptions for me. He has taken special care of me in some ways and I do believe I would be worse off without Him. Sometimes the Comforter does break through the wall for me.

[Anonymous]

I am bumping up this thread. Roy linked to it in another current thread, but I think it’s worth everyone seeing – even those who don’t see the link in the other thread.

[Anonymous]

Regarding choices, some New Agers and Indians believe everything is a choice including being disabled, raped or run over. It’s all karma out of our choices in this life or the previous.

Then on another note, you’ve got Ernest Hemingway. About a dozen of his relatives committed suicide. Something genetic, not choice there.

As I state in another thread, the establishment won’t deal properly with the external influences. It will dope folk up, and offer people for endless chats, but it refuses to deal with bad environments, work practices etc.

[Author]

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