Psychiatry for Christians

 My father was a very good psychiatrist. He often visited his patients in hospital in the evenings. He was not only a very good specialist, but also a compassionate man.

He was not a Christian, but he respected the faith of his Christian patients. He himself only converted at the age of 88, when he was bedridden in a retirement home.

He cared for all kinds of patients. He also worked in Catholic hospitals, where he often cared for priests and nuns with psychiatric problems.

As a student, I lived in a student residence. We were quite spoilt and we ate in a dining hall.

One day, one of the maids came to see me. She told me that she had been one of my father's patients.

She was a Baptist missionary. When she returned home from her service abroad, she had a nervous breakdown and needed psychiatric care.

She wanted to tell me how grateful she was that my father had restored her life.

There are some psychiatrists who don't respect Christian faith, and that can be a problem, but there are also many Bible-believing Christians who completely misunderstand mental illness.

Jesus is our healer. I believe that Jesus can and will heal all of our illnesses. I have experienced miraculous healings.

He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases. Ps 103:3 CSB

But there are Christians who do not understand mental illness as an illness. They assume all mental illness is symptomatic of demon possession. They often try to cast out imaginary demons.

I know Christians who have been treated in this way. When deliverance from imaginary demons does not help, the mentally ill person is condemned for lack of faith or sin. Jesus never abused weak people like that.

I once talked to a Christian who had been homeless, addicted to drugs and broken until he heard the good news of Jesus. He converted and became normal step by step. He claimed that we should not waste our time and money on psychiatry. The miserable people only need to hear about Jesus.

But I regularly talk to Christians who have been victims of abuse in Christian families or churches and who are traumatised and clinically depressed or mentally ill.

They believe in Jesus, but they are victims of abuse from other Christians. If I were to tell them that all they need to do is believe in Jesus, it could drive them to despair or suicide.

There are Christians who are dogmatic opponents of psychiatric medication.

Shortly after my conversion, I was harassed and excommunicated by a fanatical Christian sect. I was devastated and I had a complete nervous breakdown.

I am grateful that I had good psychiatric care, good occupational therapy in a hospital and was treated with effective medication.

Was I only saved by psychiatry? No. Many Christians prayed for me and I experienced God's miraculous healing.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Ps 147:3 NIV

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; Lk 4:18 NKJV

The Power of Good Thoughts

 I was studying to be a social worker. I had a practical placement in a public hospital. 

The social worker introduced the students to a cancer ward. She explained that dying patients were given strong narcotics to ease the pain and mental suffering. The medication was effective but it also helped the patients to die more quickly.

I began to think more intensely about my mortality and the meaning of my life. I was in my twenties and I could look forward to 50 or 60 more years, but what then?

I was going to a church which focused on humanist theology, social justice, therapy for troubled souls and human solutions to problems. I had a nagging feeling that I was avoiding eternal spiritual issues, but I was afraid to commit myself to the God of eternal heaven and hell.

In my confused state of mind, I was enticed by a horrible cult following a false Messiah. After a few days of brainwashing I was on the edge of a mental breakdown and I walked out of the commune.

I was desperate and I was finally ready to go to a church that took the bible seriously. I made a real commitment to be a disciple of Jesus, but I was still very depressed.

A good Christian friend took me to a church where I encountered the love and the real presence of God, but sadly this was not a happy ending.

This church turned out to be an authoritarian cult. I was told to fast a lot and to stop seeing my psychiatrist. It was a disaster. I became upset and angry and I was excommunicated by the pastors.

I spiralled down into an abyss of mental illness and I spent 12 months in a psychiatric ward on strong medication.

In the few months before I was excommunicated, I had been hammered by severe preaching. We were told we must be broken in spirit, that our wills must be broken to submit fully to God. I was already broken by terrible trials and I just could not take this poisonous mixture of obligation, fear and guilt.

Before and long after I left that church, I lived in fear of condemnation from God. At times, I was terrified.

Eventually I left the hospital and went to a good church, where I found kind people and good ministers, but I struggled to overcome the deep depression.

I remember standing outside the church after a good meeting. I looked up at the night sky and told God I just wanted to die and go to heaven.

In this short article, I don't want to tell my whole life story, but the question is how I overcame my trauma.

I found a church where God's grace and miraculous healings were emphasised. I learnt to experience and enjoy God's loving presence on long walks.

Even in the hospital, I learned to distract myself from the horrible thoughts with positive and creative activities.

Sometimes I hear Christians condemning psychiatry and medication. I can only say that they are often misguided by ignorance and prejudice.

I am eternally grateful for the support of my parents, and also of good friends and loving Christians.

I have been in a church for seven years where a pastor has taught us to unleash our imagination to think of fond memories and develop an attitude of gratitude.

This is so important that we focus on beautiful thoughts.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling bad, I simply remember my favourite things, and then I don't feel so bad.’ (The Sound of Music.. Rogers and Hammerstein)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Php 4:8 NIV

Christian Activism and Abuse Victims

 As a little girl, she firmly believed in Jesus and prayed with childlike trust in God. But then she was sexually abused. As a teenager, she was confused and sought comfort with marijuana and boys. 

I am thinking of stories of not just one or two women who ended up in a brothel, a psychiatric institution or on the street.

I think of a young man who was begging on the street in a German city in winter. He lived off donations, and he told me he sometimes spent the night with a client.

I know women in Germany who visited brothels to help prostitutes with friendship and kindness.  In one year, they uncovered four victims of trafficking and helped them return home.

In one Australian state, the government reported that 15-20% of all mentally ill patients committed suicide within 24 hours of being discharged. After that, no more statistics were published. The scandal was simply hushed up.

Yesterday, a Christian political activist phoned me. He told me to contact the government and demand that we should have religious freedom.

I was not impressed, and I gave him a piece of my mind.

Why do these activists protest about abortion, gender mainstreaming, etc., but ignore domestic violence, homelessness and the neglect of the mentally ill and victims of abuse?

The young activist protested that he had himself been homeless before he found Jesus in his life. He insisted that this was not a political issue, but personal evangelism was the correct response.

Sorry, but my experience tells me that there are many homeless and mentally ill people who believe in Jesus or have believed once, but are human wrecks because of hypocrisy and abuse in Christian families or churches.

I have talked to Christians who struggle with suicidal thoughts. I know Christians in this situation who sometimes needed government funded psychiatric care to repair the damage done to them by professing Christians, Christian families or churches.

Inadequate government funding of services for homeless victims and mental patients is an urgent political issue and also a Christian issue.

Jesus sharply rebuked the Pharisees for imposing a narrow religious way of thinking on others, but they did not care about poor, sick and suffering people.

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Galatians 5:14 NKJV

There is a very important word in biblical Hebrew and also in Greek. It means both righteousness and justice. In French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch bibles, the same wonderful word is very prominent.

Sadly, the English language has no word to translate this word. Many Christians read the word “righteousness” and do not realise that it also includes justice and mercy.

“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Luke 11:42 NKJV

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Psalm 89:14 NKJV

Good and Bad Pastors

 Many have experienced very painful spiritual abuse, and I have been badly mistreated myself.

We are familiar with many tragic stories. We see in the daily news how preachers abuse women and children. We can start looking at pastors and priests as enemies, but that would not be fair.

Who has never been misunderstood and hurt by their parents? But imagine a world without parents, a world without a mother's love.

Many pastors are wise counsellors, preachers who pass on God's love and give damaged people new hope.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not only a great theologian, but also a faithful pastor. He was a good shepherd in Germany during the Nazi era. He was not only the leader, but also a role model for the faithful Christians in the Lutheran Church.

Before the end of the war, he laid down his life. He was hanged by the Nazis. He was a heroic pastor and he was by no means the only one.

In 1941 at Auschwitz, a prisoner managed to escape. In retaliation, ten prisoners were selected at random to die by starvation. One of the ten cried aloud, not for himself but for of his wife and children.

The priest Maximilian Kolbe was not selected, but he volunteered to go to his death for the traumatised father. 

He spent three weeks with the other nine victims in the death bunker, comforting them with faith and love. He was a true shepherd.

Countless preachers have suffered voluntarily in prisons, not only in Nazi Germany, but in communist and Islamic countries.

As a young man I was depressed and needed a therapist. As a newly converted Christian, I also needed a good pastor.

Unfortunately, my first pastors were very legalistic, manipulative and authoritarian. Instead of understanding and compassion, I experienced spiritual abuse.

I was rejected and excommunicated, and I had a complete breakdown. But I did not stay down. I thank God for good pastors and medical staff who helped me to recover.

My father was a psychiatrist. He became a believer only when he was 88, but he was a good doctor. I have met Christians who were very grateful for his care.

I have also seen terrible abuse in psychiatric hospitals, but I never want to reject good psychiatry because of bad psychiatry.

I also never want to reject good pastors because of bad or even cruel pastors.

I have often been disappointed with pastors and sometimes badly hurt, but I would never have got to where I am now without good pastors.

Pastors are only human. So of us many have also been hurt by parents, but imagine how we could live without parents.

In the Bible, Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11 NRSV

He is our example whether we are fathers, mothers, pastors or employers.

I thank God for good fathers and mothers, good teachers and therapists, good doctors and nurses, good pastors and preachers.