Religious Delusions and Schizophrenia/Schizoaffective Disorder

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#schizophrenia #livingwellwithschizophrenia #schizoaffectivedisorder #mentalhealth #religion

[LivingWellwithSchizophrenia]

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[lovekarro]

I've been a Christian since 2009 and I thought I was possessed by a demon, this is why I never searched psychological help before last year. I have tried everything I could under the sun, like throwing away bags of stuff, numerous 40-day fastings, I have other people fast with me, I had 3 failed deliverances, people considered me really stiff because I was avoiding "sinning as much as I could', repented and I never got any relief from my symptoms. I thought I had blaspheme against the holy spirit (because that is what the voices said) and could never find peace until I accepted I had schizoaffective disorder. I felt peace inside for the first time. These demons beliefs did more harm than good to me. On the other hand, believing in a loving God that is what prevented me from committing suicide. I'm on a break from religious stuff right now and most of my religious condemning voices and delusions are gone. I've never felt that good in my life before :)

[theblindmomnextdoor]

Dude! I’m BLIND, purely physical disability, and I’ve had sooo many people demand to pray for me (in front of my children, no less) and not only is it completely awkward, but it’s so demeaning. I live a perfectly capable, awesome life, my blindness isn’t the result of my sin, and there are far more important things to pray for IMO. I can imagine this might be a hard video to create—but I’m glad you did! ❤️

[larry]

I grew up with a mother who was on the schizophrenic spectrum. She experienced hallucinations (mostly auditory, from what I could tell), paranoia, delusions, etc. with what I considered to be severe depression, and what I now understand to be anosognosia, but she was never diagnosed or treated.

One day, when I was about 16 years old, her sister and her daughter (my aunt and cousin) came over for a visit. We were sitting in the kitchen chatting, when out of the blue, my aunt suddenly gets up and rushes over to my mom. She grabbed her in a bear hug and yelled to the lord to "exorcise this demon from my sister". Oddly enough, this did not happen. After she did this, the situation devolved as one would expect.

As an angst-ridden teenager trying to find his place in the family, let alone the world, this made for a wonderful experience, that I cherish to this day... </sarcasm>

To anyone who is considering doing this to their loved-one, please don't.

[curtd]

Lauren, you are the best thing to happen to demystifying, destigmatizing, and helping us understand schizophrenia in my lifetime. There is nothing in the world like a likeable articulate honest spokesman for changing public perception. I'm still sort of stunned with what you've accomplished by producing just a few videos.

[poisonmyrrh]

I don't have schizophrenia, but I do have bipolar disorder, and just last week I was told I'm demon possessed. I totally understand how hurtful this can be. Thank you for making this video.

[brothercoyote]

To give a person who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia the belief they are persecuted by qn evil force is completely irresponsible and perhaps harmful to that person.

[Pajamalamalamalama]

I have OCD and I've had religious based obsessions and compulsions. Thankfully have lost most of them with treatment.

[orangecrush]

I don't think you know just how important these videos are for those of us who are dealing with a schizophrenic loved one. Thank you for putting yourself out there and, by doing so, helping so many people.

[tammyburgess]

I spent years and years jumping from church to church trying to get the demons cast out of me. When one church couldn't cast the demons out I would jump to another church. I was just miserable.

[civilengineerplay]

the link between religion and schizophrenia can be concreted by fear since most religions infrigies some type fear to their members which can in turn mannifest as schizophrenia. what activates schizophrenic episodes are overwhelmed uncontrollably fear. hopefully this shapes light on the topic.

[LM-ekhb]

Wow, I can see how this particular video might be a tough one to make. Sensitive topic! However, you navigated through it perfectly!

[lynettemassey]

I am a Christian and even I have had people tell me I don’t trust God enough and that’s why I have depression.
I’m sorry religion can be such a harsh issue and that you’ve had those remarks. And kudos to you for addressing it. 😊

[jaybrandsma]

Thanks for sharing this, Lauren, I’ve heard many of the same type of comments in the wake of a car accident that left me with severe brain damage. Religious people often have no idea how ignorant and hurtful they are when they try to be supportive. Thanks for this effort to enlighten them 👍🏼

[raresmihaioglavie]

My testimonity:i am a 15 yr old boy who lives in Romania who has been diagnostied with schizoaffective disorder 3 momths ago who was healed by the grace of Jesus Christ(sorry for my bad english).All glory to him🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️

[Shreader]

God bless you. Your like me what I like to call a functional schizophrenic most my friends that are schizophrenic can't work or in a mental hospital. Your an inspiration to me. Your very informative nd positive. Thank you.

[bjones]

So I’ve been diagnosed with mental illness, gone through what you would call psychosis in the medical term and scientific term and was experiencing extreme demonic torment in my life and presents from within inside my house. A person came over to pray with me not because I had a demon, not because I was possessed, but just to pray with me in the troubling time that I was having. I never thought once that I had demons I never even entertain that idea but within 20 seconds 30 seconds tops of this guy praying for me I completely manifested and was rolling around on the floor give or take for 3 to 4 hours talking in different languages, etc. I’ve noticed that I have been diagnosed by psychiatrist at probably the lowest points of my life as having mental illness. They never once have diagnosed me during a normal period of life. I do believe there’s value in the medical field, but I can see just by the language that you use you absolutely give no value to the spiritual part of any type of affliction and only view diagnosis from a scientific and medical basis. I believe there’s value in both and leaning only one way, or the other gives a great disservice to humanity as a whole.

[liveandletdice]

I have schizoaffective disorder and one of my symptoms is religious delusions. It's typically in the form of "I'm receiving revelations from movies and tv shows about religious truths" or "A stranger interacted with me in a weird but nice way that's God speaking through them". With proper medication and following my treatment plan I can see these delusions for what they are and not indulge in them. I'm also religious, but my particular faith has explicit theology that more or less contradicts these delusions so it helps. For instance, my faith believes that God is very encouraging of our free will as people so speaking through a person, (other than relaying messages to a prophet or the like), wouldn't be something God would do. Similarly, revelations have to meet certain spiritual criteria to be genuine in our faith so that works too. At the end of the day however, medication and following up on treatment is the only course of action likely to yield results. If a loved one is dealing with this don't be crestfallen if your persuasions to reason are ignored. Talking someone out of a delusion is just not likely to work, but recovery is a possibility. Religion can be a source of support and comfort, but a secular life can also provide the same supports and comforts. If people would rather be soothed or helped in a non-religious way there is plenty of therapeutic resources and techniques to achieve that. I will however, stress that medication shouldn't be dismissed because in a lot of ways we're at the mercy of our neurochemistry and there just isn't a holistic wand for that.

[selena]

i’ve gone through so much religious trauma and it’s all starting to make sense now. my mom is schizophrenic and i had just found out about a month ago. now i’m connecting all the dots. ever since i was little she used to tell me that she would always see jesus in her dreams and that she would die and jesus would save her. she would always tell me that she might die and jesus might take her and it traumatized me so much. i remember when my mom would take naps and i would be next to her on my ipad and stuff and every second i would feel her chest to check if she was still breathing. i had to grow up with the fear of her dying. one day i attempted suicide. i was in the emergency room for a bit and then i was in a mental facility for about a month. i remeber the first thing she said to me that day when i was in the emergency room was “why would you do this” it hurt a lot because all i wanted in that moment was her love. but that’s besides the point. it’s 2 years later now and i’ve recently gone into a severe state of depression. the other day we got into a really bad argument. she started screaming at me for being suicidal and that jesus was the only one who could decide when i could go. she kept on yelling and shaming me for not having the motivation to do anything even live. now that i know that she has schizophrenia everything’s just stating to make sense to me and it kinda feels like closure.

[potter]

Praying has helped many. I have a friend who has schizophrenia but he’s overcome that being a brother in Christ. He’s living proof that Jesus is a healer