Can church be bad for your health?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Timmy

Aquila, you'll be sure and pass Coadie's advice along, won'tcha?

Yep. lol

[Praxeas]

Some churches can and have been very unhealthy mentally to some individuals, but not all.

I can see this happening in a church that is very strict and members are constantly under the microscope and performance oriented

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by nahkoe

When I tried this, I had a most unpleasant reaction to the whole thing. I don't know why, my provider has no idea, and because of the trauma that the experience caused I never did pursue any further explanation, I just ran. For some reason, I had vivid, horrible, intense, REAL as life nightmares after my first treatment. They were, in a lot of ways, more real than reality. There are no words to describe what I saw, smelled, touched and experienced.

I wouldn't even have connected the eye movement in your post and this, except that these images have been creeping back into my dreams lately. Not like they were then, just around the edges, hazy, but enough that they've jarred me again and are causing me some issues.

I have friends who have used EMDR and have been thrilled with the results. I just don't know why it works so well for them and it left me in far worse condition than I was in before. I was practicing witchcraft at the time, but so were some of my friends who tried it. Because of my experience, I suggest caution and much study when approaching this sort of treatment option. I suppose it's like medications, they can be very effective but can also bring side effects with them. If I had been aware of what could have happened, I probably would have tried EMDR anyhow, but at least I could have been prepared for the possibility.

Wow. Thanks for sharing. I fully understand why you'd caution people about this.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

I will go on record as saying, "Yes, attending church can be bad for your health-- mental and physical."

If your church building has asbestos floating in its ventillation system, that can have a terrible effect on your health.


Sometimes, the wrong church for the wrong person can actually drive down their sense well-being, their self-confidence, and create an environment where depression can grab a hold of some saint's life.


Sometimes, the wrong church has all sorts of sin going on-- or maybe not all sorts of sin, but a few people with sin whose actions are unchecked-- under the radar, so that it is never addressed. When your kid gets sucked in to that negative atmosphere, the fruit can only result in rottenness.


These are things I know about, personally.

Amen.

[Aquila]

This individual would love to attend church more often. However, the negative thoughts, memories, suicidal feelings, stress, cold sweats, head aches, anger, and the outbursts that follow are too much to handle. Is it healthy to continue to argue, prod, and get this person to attend after they've voiced this issue? Do they need more time? Are they reprobate? Should they try to find alternative expressions for their faith that don't involve traditional churches? I'll admit, this is one reason why I lean far more towards the house church philosophy.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Some churches can and have been very unhealthy mentally to some individuals, but not all.

I can see this happening in a church that is very strict and members are constantly under the microscope and performance oriented

Having come from an ultra conservative church, I can see your point.

I'm astounded with how a given church can be a real fit for some and completely destroy others.

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by nahkoe

When I tried this, I had a most unpleasant reaction to the whole thing. I don't know why, my provider has no idea, and because of the trauma that the experience caused I never did pursue any further explanation, I just ran. For some reason, I had vivid, horrible, intense, REAL as life nightmares after my first treatment. They were, in a lot of ways, more real than reality. There are no words to describe what I saw, smelled, touched and experienced.

I wouldn't even have connected the eye movement in your post and this, except that these images have been creeping back into my dreams lately. Not like they were then, just around the edges, hazy, but enough that they've jarred me again and are causing me some issues.

I have friends who have used EMDR and have been thrilled with the results. I just don't know why it works so well for them and it left me in far worse condition than I was in before. I was practicing witchcraft at the time, but so were some of my friends who tried it. Because of my experience, I suggest caution and much study when approaching this sort of treatment option. I suppose it's like medications, they can be very effective but can also bring side effects with them. If I had been aware of what could have happened, I probably would have tried EMDR anyhow, but at least I could have been prepared for the possibility.

I had heard of this happening before too.

Found this:

Precautions in EMDR therapy:

There are specific procedures to be followed depending on the client’s presenting problem, emotional stability, medical condition, and other factors. Specifically, the following may occur:

•Distressing, unresolved memories might surface through the use of the EMDR procedure.
•Some clients have experienced reactions during the treatment sessions that neither they nor the administering clinician may have anticipated, including a high level of emotion or physical sensations.
•Subsequent to the treatment session, the processing of incidents or material may continue, and other dreams, memories, flashbacks, feelings, etc., may surface.
•Memories of past events targeted for EMDR treatment may be altered (clarity of memory may either be experienced as decreased or enhanced, while associated emotion may be greatly decreased).

[sandie]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Some churches can and have been very unhealthy mentally to some individuals, but not all.

I can see this happening in a church that is very strict and members are constantly under the microscope and performance oriented

I attended an above mentioned type church. The pastor was not like that, but many of the members were.
I struggled to keep up with the rules and one day in adult Sunday School the teacher said, "if you have things in your life that you shouldn't, God is just putting up with you". Jesus was just putting up with me??? It broke my heart.
I waited until class was over, walked out and didn't come back for several years.
Experiencing things like that has made me to know that Jesus can keep us thru it all!

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by rgcraig

I had heard of this happening before too.

Found this:

Precautions in EMDR therapy:

There are specific procedures to be followed depending on the client’s presenting problem, emotional stability, medical condition, and other factors. Specifically, the following may occur:

•Distressing, unresolved memories might surface through the use of the EMDR procedure.
•Some clients have experienced reactions during the treatment sessions that neither they nor the administering clinician may have anticipated, including a high level of emotion or physical sensations.
•Subsequent to the treatment session, the processing of incidents or material may continue, and other dreams, memories, flashbacks, feelings, etc., may surface.
•Memories of past events targeted for EMDR treatment may be altered (clarity of memory may either be experienced as decreased or enhanced, while associated emotion may be greatly decreased).

Wow. When they say that such therapies may have "undesirable effects" they're not kidding.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by Aquila

This person was in leadership and was at the church nearly every day for preparation for Sunday School, choir practice, family prayer, choral practice, morning prayer, out reach, etc. They were VERY involved and VERY close to the leadership. It's already confirmed that the pastor's wife suffers from chemical embalances and takes medication for it. Her mood swings and his accomodating her has led to a number of seriously hurt people. At one point this ultra conservative church MANDATED that everyone in leadership have a filter on their computer that generated a record of internet activity to a mailbox accessible by the pastor. They were not allowed to watch television, non-Christian radio was admonished and secular radio condemned, no worldly sports allowed, women were admonished not to cut the hair, those who did were condemned, slandered, and disfellowshiped,... the list could go on. I know the church this person came from, I attended too for many years before leaving because of abusive leadership.

You're missing the point Coadie...

Is it possible that someone could suffer from PTSD in relation to emotional and spiritual abuse in church?

Is it possible that while this person misses church on some levels, attending sends them into such a negative spiral that attending church is bad for them?

Those are some simple questions.

What is a chemical embalance? It is not a formal clinical diagnosis

What is a negative spiral?

It is difficult to have inteligent discussion when people use slang and vague expressions.

Renda said it once. People need to set boundaries. If they cuss at you or inflict trauma, draw the line. Spell it out.

At what point does the pastor need to be told that key click software is illegal. He can ask for it, but can't have it.

My personal opinion is these cases are not only rare, but the more people exagerate them, the more pitty they get in return.

In my memory, I don't have knowledge of "chemical embalances" as a disease that is contageous.