Psychiatric Ward – Broken Believers

From a Mental Hospital Ward, [Crushed]

^{3 “}For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.”

Psalm 143:3

Some time ago, I was hospitalized for my mental illness. (Actually seven times.) And though each time was bitter, but the Lord carried me. They would take from me my shoelaces, and belts, and fingernail clippers. Basically, I was stripped of everything, anything that I might use to harm myself. But I was creative, I took a clock off the wall and rolled it in a blanket, I smashed it and used the shards of glass to cut my wrists.The nurses were exceptionally observant, and within moments they intervened.

I had already been stripped, searched, and then brought into a ward full of very sick people. Much of all of this is a terrible glazed blur. There was a real awareness of unreality. I was quite confused, and it would take several weeks before I could reconnect. Things were no longer ‘reasonable’ and I could discern nothing. But I didn’t know I was so confused (but I did suspect it). The staff were quite aware and accommodating. They let me be, so time could take care of the rest. I needed to unravel things

Besides, Jesus knew exactly where I was if I didn’t.

Days rolled by, quite slowly. The tedium of a mental hospital is the worst— much more difficult than jail or prison. You walk in a very limited corridor, back and forth. You wait for your shrink, and wait, and wait. You pace, and pace. You pray, stupidly. The other patients were equally disturbed. There was a great variety among them. One guy would urinate in any corner. Once he jumped up on the nurses station, and took a “whizz.” It was hysterical. He almost shorted out their computer.

In all of this, there was a very bleak and strange awareness, of being incredibly ‘detached,’ and only remotely aware that something was not right with me. I tried to get well, but I was mentally lost. I paced, and I remained confused. I was most definitely in an ugly place. Desperate and increasingly bewildered, I knew I had no place to go. A fine place for someone who used to pastor, and teach at a Bible college.

If you have been in this place, you will recognize the ‘lostness’ of being on a ward of a mental hospital. It is confusion mixed with despair, and without a part of very strong drugs, and there is nothing you can do to be released. And really until you come to this fact, they will never let you go. They wait for you to snap out of your confusion, unfortunately that takes time. Sometimes many weeks and whole months. Sometimes never.

It’s worse when you have a family. In my case it was my wife, and two small children. This at times, would twist my heart. I would get a very short phone call, once a week. But this was quite difficult. I gained very little from those calls, and I found myself quite disturbed after each call. Being on this ward tinged me completely. It was like being dipped into darkness. I was very much affected. Now on the outside, I admit I was quite disturbed, but at the time I honestly did not understand a way out.

Dear friend, having a mental illness is cruel and disturbing. And being committed to a mental hospital is a desperate thing. Having passed through its locked doors is something you will never forget. The way I figure these seven hospitalizations have stolen over six months of my life. Its work is irrevocable, its fingerprints will be on your life, for as long as you live. But God will bring good out of this. This I know.

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.”

Micah 7:8

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Mentally ill should be in hospitals, not jails (newsherald.com)
From a mental hospital in Las Vegas, he’s dispatched by bus to Sacramento (sacbee.com)

Dancing With Bruises

Bruises seem to be part of life’s package to us. Some will be serious, most minor. But each are noted, and some will just have to be endured.

Dancers are some of the most wonderful people I know. Their gracefulness can be seen both on and off the stage. A dancer’s training is far from easy. By choosing to become dancers they have made a decision to absorb pain. Their toes and feet are blistered and bruised; they take constant abuse. Some must live with chronic tendinitis. Their feet bleed sometimes, and pain is their constant companion. Two things to consider.

They choose to dance. Dancers have an iron-will and a elegant grace. I suppose that is why they can dance.
The scars and bruises often become “badges of honor.” And they wouldn’t have it any other way. They would rather dance in pain, than not to dance at all.

Someone once compared depression as a “mental bruise.” I understand this. As depressed people, we must choose to walk out our lives from this pain. I know what it is like to bury myself in my bed for several weeks. My own mental bruise was simply more than I could take. There was a sensation of sinking into blackness, a sense of total and complete despair. I felt completely lost, and completely alone.

I prayed. I groaned, and I prayed. My sense of being totally lost was beyond comprehension. Dear reader, this was something quite real, and you must become aware of these things. Some of your friends are suffering. And it is a hellish and desperate depression.

To my Christian friends. Yes, I believe Jesus died for all my sins. He has forgiven me of much evil, I know that will live for eternity (with you). But mental illness is real, and like other illnesses it seldom is caused by evil or Satan. We would never say that diabetics are that way because of the enemy. Now the dark one will surely exploit it, but I think you give him far too much credit if you suggest he was able to initiate it. Satan just doesn’t have the spiritual “voltage.”

So, inspired by my dancing friends, and the Holy Spirit– I will make the choice to dance again. I’m pretty bruised, but I will try to ignore the pain. I would exult in my God, walk in His love, “leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture” (Malachi 4:2.)

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.”

Isaiah 42:3

Jesus Was A Bruised Reed (vineoflifenews.com)
Home remedies for bruise (homeremediesinn.wordpress.com)
Unanswered Questions… Mystery Bruises (chronicchampion.wordpress.com)

English Pigeons

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Psalm 32:8

In April 2002, I was sitting in this cavernous waiting room at King’s Cross in London, England. I was waiting for a bus to Cambridge, UK. I sat all alone, and stared at the tiled floor at my feet. The doctors had warned me not to travel alone, but I had disregarded their restrictions. I was taking several psych meds and felt somewhat stronger than I had in months.

As I sat there staring at the floor, within my field of vision, came several pigeons. They were fat little guys, apparently thriving on bread thrown out to them. Several very large windows were open, and these pigeons seem to have no fear as they took advantage of a meal from bored travelers. I remember their audacity and resourcefulness as they came up just a couple of feet from my chair.

Depression had followed me like an old friend all the way from Alaska to England. I had pushed my limits and was completely drained and quite confused. I was crying out to the Lord, very desperately. All of a sudden, a pigeon came across the floor and “presented” himself, right square in front of me. I was amazed that he was crippled, one of his feet was a twisted claw. He had been profoundly injured in such a way, that he would never be the same. He was damaged, and yet somehow he survived.

It was like receiving a lightning bolt. I understood for the first time in a long time, the Father’s love and care over me. I saw the pigeon, and I saw myself. It was a moment of a reassuring grace. In the ‘mega-hustle’ of 13,614,409 people in London, and in the midst of my profound mental crisis, I knew God’s caring touch. A grace much greater than all my sin and confusion. He was just letting me know that He was close.

Later that day, I found myself walking the streets of a busy Cambridge with its great universities. I was all by myself, and I had gotten hopelessly lost. I was terribly manic, and my meds just couldn’t keep the lid on. I felt people staring at me, I was talking out loud to myself, disheveled and thoroughly confused. I just kept wandering and talking, for hours. I desperately needed psychiatric shelter. But I was all alone. I knew no one at all.

I kept walking past the many universities, and churches. They were very beautiful, but I was lost. I then remembered the damaged pigeon, completely oblivious to self pity. I started to call out to the Father out of my confusion. Within a few minutes I found myself sitting on the top level of a double-decker bus, with the driver aware of my problems who specifically guided me to the place I was staying. I was being cared for. I think he was an angel sent to my aid.

I have come to realize that this trip to England was not for me to see Big Ben, Parliament or wander the academic centers of Cambridge University. Rather I was brought there to meet a certain pigeon, who was waiting to meet me, and pass on vital instructions. He shared things that I need to know. The history and landmarks were nice, but I’ve forgotten much. But all I really needed was somehow given.

P.S. Two things:

If you can avoid it, don’t travel alone.
Never call pigeons, “rats, with wings.”

Bedlam: Prisons and the Mentally Ill

Taking a Stand for Our Brothers and Sisters

By Mark Earley, Christian Post Guest Columnist, Wed, Aug. 08, 2007

In the 16th century, London’s mentally ill were often kept at Bethlem Royal Hospital. The conditions inside the hospital were notoriously poor. Patients were often chained to the floor and the noise was so great that Bethlem was more likely to drive a man crazy than to cure him. The conditions were so infamous that the nickname locals gave the hospital—Bedlam—has come to mean any scene of great confusion.

Unfortunately five hundred years later, we’re still treating the mentally ill more like prisoners than patients. Fifty years ago, more than 550 thousand people were institutionalized in public mental hospitals. Today, only between 60 and 70 thousand are, despite a two-thirds increase in the country’s population.

Since there’s no evidence that the incidence of mental illness has dropped precipitously, the mentally ill who previously had been institutionalized had to have gone somewhere. While some are being treated successfully in their communities, at homes and groups homes, but for many that “somewhere” is behind bars. This last part shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Five years ago, the Washington Post told the story of “Leon,” a one-time honor student, who had 17 years in and out of jail on various drug-related charges. It was only after several suicide attempts, including drinking a “bleach-and-Ajax cocktail,” that Leon was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Leon’s story was a microcosm of a larger problem: “Prisons and jails are increasingly substituting as mental hospitals.”

As one advocate for the mentally ill told the Post, “a lot of people with mental illness are charged with minor crimes as a way to get them off the streets.” In effect, they are behind bars for “being sick.” Fast forward five years and little, if anything, has changed. A few weeks ago, another piece in the Post discussed the same problem.

Psychiatrist Marcia Kraft Goin told readers something that should shock and outrage them: “The Los Angeles County Jail houses the largest psychiatric population in the country.” As with the earlier Post piece, the conclusion was inescapable: “People with [untreated] mental illnesses often end up with symptoms and behaviors that result in jail time.” You don’t have to be a “bleeding heart” to understand that this is an injustice—any kind of heart will do.

Not only are the mentally ill not getting the help they need, they are as lambs to the slaughter in our crowded and violent prisons. They are being victimized twice over. They’re not the only ones being victimized.

At a time when most state prisons are unlawfully overcrowded, there are better uses for prison beds than as makeshift mental hospitals. As Goin wrote, “treating” mental illness as a criminal justice problem costs “more than treating patients appropriately in their community.”

As part of its ministry to prisoners and their families, Prison Fellowship supports community-based alternatives to incarceration. Not only because it makes “financial sense” but because it’s what Christ would have done. In Matthew 25 he called the ill and the prisoner his “brothers” and he expects us to offer them something more than bedlam.

“There but for the Grace of God go I…” –Bryan

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From BreakPoint®, August 6, 2007, Copyright 2007, Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with the permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. All rights reserved. “BreakPoint®” and “Prison Fellowship Ministries®” are registered trademarks of Prison Fellowship.

Good Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital

http://www.bethlemheritage.org.uk/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/etc/faqs.html

http://www.afscme.org/publications/6042.cfm

Delusions of the First Person Variety

350198-red_pill_or_blue_pill-788751 — When I first watched the “Matrix,” I completely flipped out. It explained too much. It took me a month to recover.

I need to briefly share what delusions are like. I’m going to flip the switch and flood the room with light, and watch the “critters” scuttle to find a hiding place. I’m doing this to help heal myself, and for you to understand this awful state of mind.

First of all– definitions

Delusion n.
A false belief held despite strong evidence against it; self-deception. Delusions are common in some forms of psychosis. Example. Because of his delusions, the literary character Don Quixote attacks a windmill, thinking it is a giant (that’s the dictionary workin’ it for you.)

Delusion de·lu·sion n.
A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness.

Typically, my delusions have a common core of pride or self-centered thinking. For instance, I have experienced all of these:

A woman loves me and she is secretly trying to be with me. This is very flattering and egocentric. This one can really mess with your thought-life. (Ego.)
I’m the center of the universe, people really do not exist, except when they come into my life or influence. [This one is a bit metaphysical.] See #7.
I have special powers that ‘know” a person’s motives, plans and heart. I am hyper-discerning. The opposite can be true at times, where I become exposed to people, which necessitates me never leaving my room. I feel “naked” and of course, very uncomfortable.
I get paranoid, thinking people are plotting with each other behind my back, working to destroy me. Chat rooms, and Facebook are focal points for me with this one, but not always. With this one I get really verbal, and I start zapping people. I guess because it’s the internet I can do this with impunity.
Clocks are always at the top of the hour, like- 7:00 am. Or they are at the bottom of the hour, like 11:30 pm. I call this “chronosynchronism.” I believe this is evidence that my life is orchestrated, purposeful, and this is evidence I am very significant. This is my latest. And it really isn’t super disruptive.
I can read secret messages in books meant for me. I also line up spaces in what I’m reading to form an unbroken line. I compulsively do this.
The big one is this, I am in my form of “The Truman Show”. The universe is just a set and I am the only living thing out there. Everything is focused on me (of course).
I hear voices sometimes, but mostly a radio or sometimes the “dot-dash-dot” of a telegraph. I think its trying to warn me in some code. It can be persistent. And it can be disruptive. Paranoid that my giftedness is cause for the NSA to control me.
My wife intends to poison me.
Personal hygiene issues. Afraid of being murdered in the shower creates a super-phobia. I once went 6 weeks without showering. (I made my own eyes ‘water’, lol).

I guess all of these have things in common. They are self-centered. They are unreasonable and illogical. They are compulsive. And yes, meds do work. And the above list? The delusions are only mild-to-moderate issues of delusional paranoia. There are so many Christians and non-Christians who have worse. I once met a man who seriously believed he was Jesus. (And no, I didn’t worship him).

As a believer working out his discipleship, I’ve discovered that humility and openness is always the way of keeping one tethered to reality. However, I have a fear that I will break loose and never come out again. I MUST live in “brokenness”. (So in a strange way, following Jesus Christ is easier.)

Also, I must be open to things that will invalidate my delusion. Even if I’m 99% convinced, that 1% will cause me to consider thinking through a scenario. Truth is your best friend when you are challenging a delusional paranoid. But it has to be gently applied. Life doesn’t have be lived this way. Also, delusions will often ‘morph’ and change and take on modified characteristics. This seems to be part of the mental illness, but can also indicate demonic oppression (or both even).

A psychiatrist should be informed in most cases. Very often meds will be necessary to get your loved one through this time, but not always.

Praying for delusional behavior

People have prayed for me, more then I have prayed for myself. Your intercession bridges a gap over this illness. When you pray, you power up the energy cells and get instructions. It may mean wait, or proceed. Every person and situation is different. Prayer is always the best approach.

(So many delusions and so little time.) They will vary from person-to-person. An active prayer may help, “Lord, may it be the real me who touches the real You.” Remember, Jesus stands at the right hand of his Father praying for you [which can’t be all bad].

“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Romans 8:34

Humility and the Broken Believer (brokenbelievers.com)
psychosis (alixmacdonald.wordpress.com)
Update What is it Like to Feel “Normal?” (schizophrenicmath.wordpress.com)
Gang Stalking – The Truman Delusion. (neverending1.wordpress.com)
Theme 2- Imagination and Delusion (nataliasadith1992.wordpress.com)

Making Pain Work for You, [Trials]

“Then they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. ²²They encouraged the followers and begged them to remain faithful. They told them, “We have to suffer a lot before we can get into God’s kingdom.”

Acts 14:21-22, CEV

Paul and Barnabas, together are perhaps the most gifted men ever to minister the Gospel. They have an amazing love for the Church. They operate out of great difficulty, but the deep work they do, proceeds out of encouragement. I looked at a dozen or so translations of the Bible–all of them translate this, “encouraged.” Every single one!

Earlier in chapter 14, we can read about the brutality and ugliness they had to walk through. It was very bad, beyond belief. But these two never ever lose their love for the Lord, and for His people. Their ministry continued to be full of optimism and comfort. They simply can’t be poisoned by the nastiness and bitterness just days before.

They understand something. What they have to say (as they minister that comfort) kind of boggles everyone’s thinking.

They said, “We must suffer many things to enter God’s kingdom.”

Comforting and strengthening, isn’t it? Sometimes when I read this passage I can’t believe what they are saying! It doesn’t make any sense at all. I believe there are three things we must process to fully understand these verses.

*****************

1) What comforts us is not always comfortable.

I’m slowly coming to the place of accepting pain and sickness as my personal doorway into the Lord’s kingdom. I know my mental illness has opened an entrance into something wonderful. My months of being institutionalized in different hospitals has seemed to have filled me with grace, gentleness and love–in other words, the kingdom. At least that is what I think.

2) What we think is the best way often is not.

No one chooses one’s particular path. If we could we would all be driving a BMW and our homes would be palaces, we would win the lottery on a regular basis. Our children would be little angels. We would never be sick, or have a chronic illness. But–we can’t enter His kingdom, unless there are trials. They have to be there, they must. Somewhere it says, if we suffer, we will reign.

3) What we need from our elders and pastors is the truth.

Often the leadership of the Church keeps this one in the closet. They communicate very well other subjects that are enjoyable. And we pressure them to do this, gently and subliminally of course. And everyone wonders why we don’t mature in our faith. Paul and Barnabas are tremendous leaders, but they don’t roll things in sugar, and their ministry carries on the sufferings of Jesus.

Often it seems, when God chooses to bless a man or a woman greatly, He will send a trial to prepare them deeply.

My Mental Breakdown, [Kyrie Eleison]

Quite a few years ago, I was terribly manic. I had found my way somehow from Alaska to Cambridge, England. It was there I wandered the streets talking to myself, lost and disoriented. It was 2002 and I had just gotten out of a mental hospital in Alaska, and was very medicated. I was by myself in a country I had never visited before. I realize I was behaving very strange. I kept noticing the stares and the whispers.

On one occasion I wandered into the English version of a Walmart– I was in a daze, but I clearly “heard” a 12 foot tree call out to me as I walked by. My heart surged with mercy. I would save it! I grabbed it and headed to the cashier. I slid it along, the tree was heavy and the check-out line was very long. It was a very weird experience. How I was getting it back to Alaska was never a consideration. What can I say, I was “gonzo-manic” now listening to talking trees.

Somewhere, somehow, I had gotten this CD and I slipped it in my Walkman. Sanity would slowly return and this CD, by Nick and Anita Haigh really brought me healing words and a Celtic melody. I love this song. I love the lyrics. The Holy Spirit used it to calm me.

I would meltdown several times after this. And there would be 3-4 more visits to a psych ward for my manic depression, but none would be as severe as my collapse in England .

“Kyrie Eleison” = Greek, “Lord Have Mercy”

Kyrie Eleison

Verse 1
Empty broken here I stand,
Kyrie eleison,
Touch me with Your healing hand,
Kyrie eleison,
Take my arrogance and pride,
Kyrie eleison,
wash me in Your mercy’s tide,
Kyrie eleison.

Chorus
Kyrie eleison,
Christe eleison,
Kyrie eleison,

Verse 2
When my faith is all but gone,
Kyrie eleison,
Give me strength to carry on,
Kyrie eleison,
when my dreams have turned to dust,
Kyrie eleison,
In You O Lord I put my trust,
Kyrie eleison.

Chorus:
Kyrie eleison,
Christe eleison,
Kyrie eleison,

Verse 3
When my heart is cold as ice,
Kyrie eleison,
Your love speaks of sacrifice,
Kyrie eleison,
Love that sets the captives free,
Kyrie eleison,
O pour compassion down on me,
Kyrie eleison.

Repeat Chorus

Verse 4
You’re the voice that calms my fears,
Kyrie eleison,
You’re the laughter dries my tears,
Kyrie eleison,
You’re the music, my refrain,
Kyrie eleison,
Help me sing my song again,
Kyrie eleison.

Repeat Chorus

Verse 5
Humble heart of holiness,
Kyrie eleison,
Kiss me with Your tenderness,
Kyrie eleison,
Jesus, faithful Friend and true,
Kyrie eleison,
All I am I give to You,
Kyrie eleison.

Repeat Chorus (x2)

Hear a version of this on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYAvDY5Fjj0

Download Kyrie Eleison (Love Have Mercy) 320kbps mp3

&

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“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

P.S. Two things:

If you can avoid it, don’t travel alone.

Never call pigeons, “rats, with wings.”

Share this:

Like this:

Taking a Stand for Our Brothers and Sisters

“There but for the Grace of God go I…” –Bryan

Good Links:

Share this:

Like this:

I need to briefly share what delusions are like. I’m going to flip the switch and flood the room with light, and watch the “critters” scuttle to find a hiding place. I’m doing this to help heal myself, and for you to understand this awful state of mind.

First of all– definitions

Praying for delusional behavior

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

“Then they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. 22They encouraged the followers and begged them to remain faithful. They told them, “We have to suffer a lot before we can get into God’s kingdom.”

They said, “We must suffer many things to enter God’s kingdom.”

*****************

1) What comforts us is not always comfortable.

2) What we think is the best way often is not.

3) What we need from our elders and pastors is the truth.

Share this:

Like this:

“Kyrie Eleison” = Greek, “Lord Have Mercy”

Kyrie Eleison

Share this:

Like this:

“Then they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. ²²They encouraged the followers and begged them to remain faithful. They told them, “We have to suffer a lot before we can get into God’s kingdom.”