Evangelicals & Nervous Breakdowns

[tamor]

Originally Posted by Sister Alvear

I think our churches needed to be educated that a nervous breakdown is not a devil that needs to be cast out. It is a real sickness and needs to be dealt with.

Amen.

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by A_PoMo

Hmmm....that's interesting, about the guy not thinking Baptists are evangelical. Baptists are the quintessential evangelicals, haha! I'm not sure what to make of that one. From what I understand there are Pentecostal evangelicals, but not all Pentecostals are evangelical. I fall in the first and as I understand it OP's fall into the latter. Although technically I consider myself apostolic I don't call myself Apostolic because of the general association with OP. I'm splitting hairs I suppose. But I'm a seminary student and that's what we do best. haha.

About the other thread,

I'd like to see more books like the one's you propose. Non-Pentecostal evangelicals (who write most of the books) tend to, imo, over emphasize the clinical side of emotional/psychological issues to the near exclusion of the spiritual side. On the other side it seems that too many Pentecostals over emphasize the spiritual side of the issues to the near exclusion of the clinical side. A book that could effectively bring some balance to the issues would be breaking new ground I think.

I agree. The research I did while in my program showed that the counseling which included the 'spiritual' part of an individual was much more successful than those who did not address this side. I will add this to my books.

Thank you for your input!

Blessings, Rhoni

For those who deals with anxiety, there's a medicine called Bu-Spar. It was fairly new in 1995. It takes the edge of nervousness - it helps to control anxiety (panic) attacks.

[steve p]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Absolutely! I wish I could evangelize and hold seminars on the condition and possible cures, and do counseling to ministry leaders who find themselves in this situation. But that is another passion I have, which I actually have the calling to do [for those who would question] but again...waiting for a door.

Blessings, Rhoni

"hearing a door open!"....

[Sister Alvear]

Since that robbery I have almost had several panic attacks. I usually am the last one to go to bed and sometimes if a noise is all of a sudden I break out in cold sweat...

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by steve p

"hearing a door open!"....

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by Sister Alvear

Since that robbery I have almost had several panic attacks. I usually am the last one to go to bed and sometimes if a noise is all of a sudden I break out in cold sweat...

I'll pm you from home tonight.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Rhoni

Today on my way to work I was listening to James Dobson on FM 100.7. He had a guest Pastor from a Denton, Texas mega-church on there to tell of his experience with depression. The type of depression has been called a "Nervous Breakdown" before the public was educated as to what was really going on.

This type of depression is primarily among the most successful men & women, a high % of the fortune 500 people as well as those who Pastor large churches and are highly motivated. This happens with Type A, & those with choleric personality types when they are completely overloaded, oeverworked, and their body reacts to the decreases Seratonin levels.

In his experience he said that his co-workers and peers who are "Evangelical" were no help whatsoever. He said that he was told the typical: just pray an read the Bible more, give it to God, and just get over it. He ended up going to a psychiatrist who normalized this, described the symptoms, and through medication and counseling the Pastor was able to prioritize, let go of some things/works that he could delegat to others and within 6 months he was back to himself and off medications.

It was interesting to note that he said, "Unless you have been through it you cannot help others to understnad and know there is hope." He strongly recommended that no one go to an 'Evangelical' for help with such a physiological reaction to depression caused by overload of stress.

Your well thought out posts/opinions on this would be appreciated. Do not personalize this to me and what I do for a living. Please keep this on topic.

Thank you & Blessings, Rhoni

Right. Leave God, His Word, and His people completely out of the equation. Make a beeline to someone who can give you a pill to make you feel better. Sounds like just peachy advice to me.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by A_PoMo

1. I had a nervous breakdown while in Bible college. I was working full-time, newly married, going to school full-time, leading a time intensive project, and had all sorts of inner turmoil going on at the same time. I finally lost it in my senior year. For a time there I'm not sure how I made it through and would literally forget to go to class and things like that. At the time I didn't know what it was, figured I was just tired and somehow I slogged through it and graduated. It wasn't until recently that I've understood the depth of my struggle with depression over the years and have learned to cope with it better now than I did before.

2. I thought this guy's admonition to not seek out the help of evangelicals to be a little over the top. Evangelicals are the ones that offer MFT programs at their seminaries and it's evangelicals that write all the emo books that we buy at the Christian bookstores. Sounds like he was running with an uninformed crowd. In my limited experience I have found that OP's and Apostolics are generally resistant to seeking out counsel and psychological help. Not always for sure, I go to school with an Apostolic girl who is in the MFT program there, but generally the OP's I've been around kind of look down at psychological/emotional issues and their remedies are too often to spiritualize the problems instead of seeking medical help. I think a combination of both, doctors and prayer, are the best approach.

Exactly. There's nothing wrong with getting help in the form of medication, but don't exclude help from fellow Christians. Christians were there to help me make the decision to get help, were there to help while I was on the medication, and were there to rejoice with me when I finally got off the medication. They proved to be a valuable asset in my overcoming depression.

[Michael The Disciple]

I have to say it looks to me like scripture teaches a sound mind for the Christian.

7: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7

At least under general circumstances this must be true. An open door that allows mental problems doesn't have to be something sinful of itself. To much work or even to much heaviness due to manifold temptations can bring us low.

I have to believe that if we abide in Jesus and a godly circle of friends we fare better against depression or any mental problems than those who are without him.