Remember The Back Button On Your
Browser
The Life Foundations
Nexus
HOW TO DEAL WITH A MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM
By Dr. Michael J. Bisconti
Since mental health problems are not necessarily identical
in all respects and because of the litigious (prone to engage in lawsuits)
nature of our society we must protect ourselves at the same time that we seek
to help others. Therefore, please note
the following:
ADVISORY: The following
advice and commentary is neither intended nor claimed to be complete or definitive
relative to the mental health problem you are addressing. We advise you to contact an appropriate
spiritual/mental health professional in your area to deal with the problem with
which you are faced.
The best way to find a Bible-believing psychiatrist
is to consult the pastor of a church in your area. Most pastors will be glad to recommend someone whether or not you
are a member of their church. In
addition, if an emergency situation arises, the average, emergency room,
medical doctor at most hospitals has, at least, a minimum amount of psychiatric
training to deal with mental health crisis situations.
Abnormal behavior can be a person's
attempt to maintain their sanity, an attempt to keep from losing control of
their mind. Loss of control of one’s
mind could result in a loss of control of one’s physical faculties. The reason people turn to abnormal behavior
CAN BE due to simple ignorance of NORMAL ways of maintaining one's sanity. The only likely exception to this is a
person who chooses to live what they know will be an evil life. Note that we said “evil,” not “sinful.” There is a difference. “Evil” refers to something that encourages
sin but is not necessarily sin itself.
“Sinful’ refers to what both encourages sin and IS sin. In the case of a person who chooses to live
an evil life, abnormal behavior CAN BE an expression of rebellion against God
and/or people. However, it can also be
an expression of temporary loss of the ability to tell the difference between
good and evil. Such loss of ability can
occur from alcohol consumption and/or drug use and/or psychotic episode
(“temporary insanity”). A psychotic
episode CAN BE caused by an overtaxing of one’s God-given, automatic, mental
defense mechanisms, which work continually to maintain a person’s sanity. Such overtaxing can occur when one’s
knowledge of life is not extensive (complete) enough to explain how a “bad
experience” is consistent with the belief in a caring God and/or consistent
with the natural fiction (natural, beneficial delusion) that “life cares.”
Usually, sanity is maintained by
maintaining “sane awareness.” “Sane
awareness” is “awareness of sane knowledge and sane belief.” You might wonder how knowledge or belief can
or cannot be sane. Knowledge or belief
is or is not sane depending on how it SPONTANEOUSLY (automatically [involving
no act of choosing]) affects a person.
For example, what would be your SPONTANEOUS reaction if you had a little
boy and someone was rushing toward your little boy to “hit him in the head with
a baseball bat”? You would
INSTINCTIVELY (another word for SPONTANEOUSLY) attempt to block the
attacker. In that moment, you would be
experiencing what is called “profound concern.” It could also be called “loving insanity.” The difference between profound concern
(loving insanity) and insanity is that profound concern results in one’s
energies AUTOMATICALLY (instinctively [spontaneously]) being directed to
accomplish good. In the case of the attacker,
the good would be the health and well-being of your little boy. Insanity, on the other hand, results in
one’s energies AUTOMATICALLY (instinctively [spontaneously]) being directed to
accomplish evil. This could take the
form of self-inflicted wounds and/or suicide.