Whole Minds
Earlier this year, I took a General Psychology class. It was a challenging class because of the amount of information that had to be taught quickly in a shorter period of time — by the end of that class, I had written a 12 page paper on a topic of my choice. I was not interested in any other topic, and eventually chose to write about schizophrenia. Based on the research from that project, I found out several of the causes of mental illness in the brain. I learned that there are chemical problems that are root causes for other illnesses like depression or bipolar disorder. A lack of a certain chemical, or an excessive amount of another can effect and damage the mind in many ways.
For schizophrenia, however, this was not the case. Scientists have no solid evidence of a chemical correlation. It is a complete and total mystery. The symptoms are terrifying, and create a broken, hallucination-filled false reality for the person suffering from it. I learned a lot, and although reading even just the smallest amount of the symptoms a person suffers was unsettling, there was still a lot of hope in the fields of medicine and psychology. It isn’t enough to solve the problem, but it helped keep my paper from being miserable.
I did not include this in my paper, but the underlying reality I learned from others, my Dad especially, is that this mental illness is demonic and from the devil. Every sickness is, even other mental illness that is not nearly as severe. This was in the back of my brain for a long while, but it came back up under humorous circumstances. I’m wandering around the house tonight, and Blue Bloods was left on. I prefer background sound anyway, and I would stop every once in a while, as one of the side plots of the episode revolved around a case of a girl dealing with a similar mental illness under the same umbrella as schizophrenia.
It was a sweet and rather challenging episode throughout that plot, but I was suddenly struck with an urge to write when the actress performing that girl did what appeared to be an excellent (and hard to watch) performance of a human being suffering mentally, in a way that is not even remotely her fault, being convinced someone is after her to the point that she violently lashes out. The characters talk about how difficult and hard it is to help people who suffer from a wide range of mental disease, and that there are people like that “all over the place”. The side plot regarding that girl ended in a really hard way: she takes her own life off-screen.
The episode concludes with the characters taking action to form a committee of like-minded people who could help and prevent loss like that from happening again.
It struck me to write about my (brief) experience writing about and researching mental illness. I believe, strongly, that recognizing what medicine and science has discovered is hugely important to believers today. I also believe that, as well-meaning as many of the drugs and treatments developed are, they will not solve the problem. I am aware and relieved that the world, for the most part, has moved on from throwing people with any mental disabilities in dungeons and asylums and leaving them there to rot.
I don’t want the solutions to be either drugs or dungeons, because I know that Jesus paid for far more than that. I know there are more complex and helpful treatment than that, but that’s all there is. Treatment.
The people who are unfairly, demonically imprisoned in their own minds are longing to be delivered and set free.
The people who struggle with depression deserve the freedom Jesus paid for our minds to have.
Anyone who has endured a mental breakdown, memory loss or damage, or any other kind of problem in their mind are worthy of the healing Christ’s work accomplished.
The first step is to recognize that it isn’t their fault. I do not know, personally, any Christian organization or person who operates under that assumption, but it is normal for human beings to feel that way, to believe that lie. It is our responsibility to remind ourselves that God created them just the way He wanted. But they weren’t created to suffer, or struggle, or hurt. I feel a quiet responsibility to take care of those people the best way I can: Writing about them and pray for them.
It feels too small, undeserving of the weight of the darkness that causes the human mind to suffer in a way it was never designed to, in a way that outrages and grieves the Holy Spirit.
Starting today, I will show special patience and kindness to anyone who is living under mental illness.
Starting today, I will pray for wholeness in the mind in every mind.
Starting today, I will ensure that I take every opportunity to show the love of Christ to anyone who suffers in their mind— it isn’t their fault, and they ought to know that.
Everything we are, everything we remember and believe and know is seated there, in our brains. The human mind should be a sacred space. The devil has no right to be there, and I will give him no ground and no ammunition. I have the overwhelming blessing to be at peace in my own mind, and Jesus died so that everyone can. I’ve never given enough thought to how grateful I am for a whole, peaceful mind — there are those who would give everything just to feel that for a moment.
If you are or know anyone who deals with any mental illness, no matter how “big” or “small” it seems, you are loved. Jesus paid for your mind to be whole and free of any influence of evil and shadow. I genuinely pray for your healing, and stand with any scientific endeavor that recognizes spiritual realities.
It isn’t your fault. It never was. Jesus wants you free, and He has fought, is fighting, and will always fight for your wholeness.
