Is anyone else in this same boat? I need someone to relate to and someone who leans on Jesus for strength to help me get through some of the issues I am facing… I have a long story but just need someone like minded or at least not completely against Christianity to help me through…
is there a schizophrenic support group in your area…?
i admire your strength…
know someone cares 
take care 
Thank you. I suppose I could look that up… We are in marriage counseling but it seems to be focused on him, his past, his issues, etc. and not as much on how I am coping.
If it is conservative style Christianity and not pentecostal evangelical revival type Christianity then it’s OK. But if his hallucinations or delusions are related to Christianity it could be difficult
Hope you guys figure things out 
Simple born again Christian … No real focus on “denomination”. Have you any experience?
Perhaps you could also get individual counseling so that you could talk about everything, my wife, she is my better half even since recently, i fell into disarray, man that’s a big whole, but she hasn’t given up on me. Thank you for standing by your mate even thru the rough patches
Oh OK that’s good.
The first time I had psychosis episode it was relating to hearing god and Jesus and seeing all sorts of stuff. Was a bit disastrous.
I’m not against at all but I don’t follow anymore it would always just lead me back to hearing voices of God and hallucinations that followed.
I now just take a go with the flow sort of approach to life and I just stay away from magical style of thinking. Seems to work for my case
I’m trying. I gave up in my heart a while ago before I knew he was actually schizophrenic because I took everything personal and it was really bad… Now I’m back to square one, trying to learn about it, avoid triggers, be supportive… Etc. he’s still hurtful to me but I’m trying to see past a lot. I just found a NAMI group 16 minutes away from me so I’ll be registering and going soon. Thank you.
Hard to always discern His voice even if you aren’t hallucinatory so I do understand. Praying one day you can return to the Faith with a clear mind. I have trouble discerning his schizophrenia from demonic attacks really.
Please hang in there, don’t give up on him, you are a stabilizing force, but yes, I hope you can find a good counselor and I hope the Nami group can also help, many times so much is going on inside my head, i can’t even talk to my wife, only paint, I know she is there but it’s hard to express the turmoil
I told him to start drawing again and the stuff that pours out of him is just incomprehensible. He’s really taking to it and can hardly put the pen down.
I’m still a Christian and my faith (God’s faithfulness) is the only reason I’m alive and improved at this point. While I still believe in angels/demons and demonic attacks (I see/hear both angels and demons) It’s super important to not get swallowed-up in those topics because for a mind like mine it goes too far and becomes destructive to myself and my life. It doesn’t matter to me whether I’m actually being attacked by demons or not, I rebuke the whole thing or risk losing the life I’ve built now.
Good to hear he is drawing, during one hospitalization that was the only way i could deal, believed i was possessed by demons and was receiving messages thru the music, which is true, it’s all spiritual, but drawing was good for me
Forgiving those who have trespassed against me was a huge step in recovering peace in my life.
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” - James 4:10
Maybe some actual family members might want to chime in here. Seems like only diagnosed people have rushed in here to answer. I mean this was posted in the Family section.
I’m a family member, my son has psychosis/schizophrenia (not a ‘full-on’ diagnosis so far). He is also a believer and his first episodes of psychosis were experienced as somehow ‘special’, receiving ‘messages from God.’ Recently, he was detained under the Mental Health Act. I visited him every day for nearly two weeks. There were lots of other patients too. It was remarkable to the point of comedy how many of them told me they were the Second Coming (the most insistent guy was Hindu). When I related that to my son, it clearly gave him pause for thought. What was also good for him was actually spending some time with other people with sz. He pointed out to me one day that they were all very nice people. I wondered later if somehow he had suspected that he got it as a ‘punishment’ for being ‘bad.’ Seeing that ‘bad things happen to good people’ may have helped him.
on the demon possession thing that a lot of religious people lay on you, one of my friends, who is very religious said this:
Any kind of weakness lays us open to temptation, whether you call that Satan’s wiles or demonic possession. The weakness can he physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, even social. It ‘opens the gate’ for Satan. If medication closes the gate, then you have a moral obligation to use it.'
I have another very close friend with sz. At one point she said she wanted to stop taking her meds and I asked her why. Is it because of the side effects or because you want to be ‘normal’? She said because she wanted to be ‘normal’. My first, very wise friend said, 'When you take your meficine, you ARE normal. When you don’t, you aren’t.'
This is true, for both my son and my friend. When they are treated, they are both ‘above average’ in terms of intelligence AND likeability.
Keep religion away from mental illness. It only makes things worse.
Best wishes,
Padster
Hi Bre,
I’m protestant and my Catholic wife has sza. Over the course of 5 years, I’ve found that no matter what priest, preacher, counselor, or friend of friend that we went to for help, nothing did any good. In fact, I believe that involving all of these people who lack the understanding of the gravity of mental illness really set us back. I’ve had several “Christians” tell me that I should divorce my wife because she’s never going to get over her illness…even though that advice is in conflict with the what the Bible teaches.
I believe that both protestant and Catholic ministries have really missed the mark when it comes to mental illness. They just have no answer at all. There is hope however, Rick Warren has started a ministry to deal with MI issues: http://kaywarren.com/mental-health-initiative/. I think you will find this helpful.
Go to this website everyday and read all of the literature that notmoses and others recommend. It’s a Godsend. Also, going to the NAMI support groups really helps.
If you would like to discuss more of our struggle, I would also be available to talk to you offline via email if that would help.
Because there are so few of us that have to deal with this issue, the best thing that I can say is listen for God’s voice and take the advice of other religious people for what it is…the issue with those afflicted isn’t based on their accepting God, it’s about their brain chemistry and how badly it’s misfiring. I’ve had Christians tell me that all we need to do is “pray away the cray.” But that never worked. It’s about taking the correct medications at the proper dosages…and unfortunately those sometimes need to be adjusted.
This website is wonderful for support…I heart all of these people!!!
I am schizophrenic and I am Christian. Just PM me if you want to talk. welcome.
Hi,
There is a good book written by a priest who has a brother who has schizophrenia. I recommend you guy it:
Here is an excerpt from it: