How does one know the difference between spiritual and psychological pain or is there a difference?

Question

I grew up being taught that there was, but there wasn't. It was debated. What are your thoughts?

I lost my faith due to psychological issues. I was told, faith heals everything. It doesn't, but people are told it does and that depression, bipolar disorder and the like are caused by lack of fath. Why?

Answer 1

If one of the people who told you that "faith heals everything" broke his leg, would he go to a doctor, or just pray about it and let faith heal it?

Bipolar disorder and depression are just as bad, and they are neither more nor less amenable to faith healing than the broken leg.

I am sad that you were misinformed. I believe that God gave us brains in order to use them for things like choosing to obtain medical treatment.

Please note that I say all of this as a Christian, who has faith, who also has an MA in psychology.

Answer 2

I'm not sure I quite understand your question, but I do think that spiritual pain and emotional pain go hand in hand, that they have a relationship to each other, and they can feed each other..."faith" is a hard thing to define or understand... I don't think I can say that depression and bipolar are *caused* by a lack of faith. They are chemical imbalances that color the way you feel about things. If someone told you that you have this problem because you have a lack of faith, or that your faith should be strong enough to heal you, they were wrong, and it's not surprising that you harbor ill feelings about such things now. I do think that how you are trained, and nurtured while growing up can have a great effect on the prognosis and outcome, though. I do feel that acknowledging a higher power can help, if for no other reason than not to feel so alone in a situation like that. I feel that spirituality can help give you tools for coping and healing of such things, but if you didn't get the right teaching about such things growing up, or had bad teaching about such things growing up, it can be a hinderance as well, and you should still attend to the physical causes as well. I hope that you will be able to find your way through this, to a wholeness of some kind, if you want to call it God, or if you want to call it your life. Good Luck...

Answer 3

I never knew that some thought mental illnesses resulted from a lack of faith. That's like saying a broken leg results from not saying your prayers. It was a common misconception a long time a go that birth defects in children were manifestation of sin(s) in the lives of the women who bore them...not the men mind you...but that is simply what it is...a MISCONCEPTION.

As far as the difference between spiritual pain and psychological pain, I cannot comment, as I haven't experienced either. I do know that faith helps us through our trials in life, but doesn't always heal us of our afflictions. Some folks are fortunate enough to receive that blessing, but not all of us.

Answer 4

I am so sorry to hear that you went through the double pain of psychological issues compounded by an eventual loss of faith. Too often, we allow ourselves to be spoonfed things from the supposed experts rather than doing the hard work of research ourselves. Granted, we must pick and choose since no one can be expert in all things, but in this most important area of faith, we ought to be doubly cautious.

Might I ask you to reconsider your faith with the new, truthful adult perspective you have now? Imagine the hurting people you might help who struggle with what you face?

Depression, bipolar disorder and other such are VERY complex phenomena. While it may be true that lack of faith can cause certain sorts of depression, it does not cause all forms of depression. Most of the things you listed have elements in brain chemistry, as I am sure you are aware. How can you be faulted if your chemistry is out of whack?

By the same token, we wouldn't stoop to telling third world Christians that the reason they are suffering from disease and starvation is due to sin or a lack of faith, would we? The truth is that rich American Christians have been given much of the world's goods and we are expected to help those less fortunate than us, which results in a double blessing: the unfortunate are blessed when we share, and we are blessed for sharing. It strikes me that your suffering is a chance for the body of Christ to help you bear your burden, not condemn you for it. Unfortunately, our very richness has made us susceptible to false teachings which suggest that our Christianity exsists to further our own blessedness, our own well being. This selfish, inward focus has resulted in us turning a corporate blind eye to the suffering around us - no! It is worse than this - we have aggravated it by condemning the innocent!

God forgive us!

Please consider emailing me so we can chat offline - God really wants to help, and since I house church, there is no danger of my pushing church "membership" or attendance or tithing on you - I don't believe in that stuff anyway. [e-mail]

You are NOT forsaken!
Tom

Answer 5

Hello,
I totally understand how you feel. It can be crazy making with all the advice that is receive and much of it does not seem to match up with our inner experience. Here is what I have found to be true.

I teach a personal practice that I call the Internal Guidance System. There is a difference between Spiritual Pain and Psychological pain. It is felt differently in the body which is what makes it two types of pain. When you are depressed most often it is because you have lost your personal divine path in life. The farther you get off path the more spiritual pain you get into. This pain feels like depression and a loss of desire to be on this planet.

Your mind however is also operating in the mix. Your mind creates stories about what it thinks is true and then repeats those stories over and over in your thoughts. The stories look something like; "I am never going to make it in this world, I will never be happy, I am not good enough, see there I go again messing things up. There is no way I am going to be ok, safe or happy in the long run. I will never get to do the things I really want to do." These thoughts are 1. not apart of your spiritual purpose so they are deeply painful and are not getting you to where you are destined to go and 2. they create psychological pain in the body. This pain feels like anxiety, fear, mania and the like. Go to youtube.com/ahumainstitute and check out a couple of videos to see if the information helps.

Every day you are only moments away from thoughts that bring peace. This is not positive thinking that I am talking about it is focusing your mind in the direction that feels expansive in your body. When you feel contracted in your body your thoughts are moving you toward pain, when you feel expansion in the body your thoughts are moving toward divine alignment or your truest purpose.

You are not crazy, faith comes from a deep sense of knowing in the body and it does help get you out of pain and personal issues. Lack of faith does not create these issues, mind stories can create the pain that drives one into depression and misery. If you want to know how to move from thoughts that are not truth and not apart of your purpose to have a true deep sense of what is Truth that will lead to a powerful sense of knowing check out video and let me know what you think. Blessings, Zen

Answer 6

I here ya. I think in a llot of cases religion causes psychological issues