Why do people neglect the spiritual side of things when dealing with mental illnesses?

Question

I hear there are lots of mental wards and such places in the States as well as in other countries. They say that madness/insanity is trying the same thing over and over that has never worked and hoping it will work. I've observed that people in mental facilities and such places (and even people who function in life but with psychiatric meds) are either in the same condition, worse, or in "an okay state". The professionals hate to flat out say, "We don't know what we're dealing with" or "We don't have the answers." (Besides, they need to keep their jobs.) So many big words are in use because no one wants to take a look at the spiritual side of things. So many wrong diagnoses. In our world, "If it can't be explained, we'll file it away and avoid it." It IS okay to not know. In my own research, things like nightmares and mental illnesses are often misdiagnosed and shoved aside only to have a person suffer in silence or to have the same issues manifest at later times in life.

Answer 1

Cultural fashion, my friend, pure cultural fashion. Imagine yourself as a young psychiatrist, with a patient who is possessed by a tramp soul. You know their mind has been invaded by an alien entity. But try telling your boss that they are "possessed" or "a victim of witchcraft" and see which side of the locked doors in the loonybin (oops, psychiatric unit) you find yourself on.

Psychiatry is too medically-oriented, but there are branches of counselling (= psychotherapy) that actively include the spiritual (Transpersonal trainings such as Psychosynthesis) and others (such as Gestalt and person-centred) which allow the counsellor to if they are so minded.

Answer 2

theologically i would argue it promotes a lex talionis or primitive theodicy. Personally i choose to believe that we are not constantly being judged with nightmares and other illnesses across a wide spectrum because a vengeful god has decided to exact revenge because of some falling short by the individual. I think it has a doubly wrong assumption, first that any god is willing to continually punish us seems flawed with more modern interpretations of many world religions and secondly it seems to presuppose that our actions demand a retaliation from the other frequently, which is a concept that is discussed throughout modernist theory.

I am not saying there is no need to discuss spirituality when looking at mental illness but rather by opening it up we force medical professionals to tread a very thin line that many are perhaps not comfortable or capable of treading.

Answer 3

Yeah its sad how in America there is a name for EVERYTHING and a pill for EVERYTHING. The reality of it is that we, as humans, create these "diseases" or "mental illnesses." It goes along with living in a world full of complications. As the world gets more modernized, our lives get more complicated. We have more expectations, more fears, more anxiety.

We think we need things like television, fancy restaurants, cars etc. when in reality these things are NOT making our lives easier. Here in America we tend to forget that once upon a time we didn't have all those things. Back in the day we lived off of the land and had simple lives and there were a lot less mental disorders.

I think the U.S. ignores these things because they don't want to change. They are so used to making pills and finding the "easy" way out of things. They can actually learn a lot from different cultures and religions but they choose not to because they're stubborn and they don't like to admit they're wrong.

Answer 4

You pose a good question. Being someone diagnosed and going through depression, I can attest that religion is not implemented in treatment or anything. However, a big part of what keeps me going is knowing God is there and will always be there. I often feel alone but I know God is watching over me and in Him and through Him I know I will be alright.

Answer 5

Its interesting you indicate the term Spiritual, yet many have assumed you are referring to religion. This to me is a huge assumption since spiritual and religion can be two different things. I consider myself to be spiritual but not religious, and yes having faith in myself, and my family and friends having faith in me has helped me overcome my depression. There is merit in what your saying, but I don't necessarily think it is religion since which religion would we encourage? If we pushed a particular kind in therapy then we would be forcing our values onto our patient, in which case I believe is unprofessional. Spiritual healing I think is more about being at peace with oneself.

Answer 6

because science doesn't belive in religion. religion cannot be proven, except through books, while science is proven