A horrible thing, being mentally ill in prison.

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On March 10, 2015, police responded to an Atlanta apartment complex after receiving a call that a man was "acting deranged, knocking on doors and crawling around naked." According to CNN, police
charged them and after warning him to stop, they shot and killed him. The Atlanta Police's public safety officer dutifully noted, "I can only reasonably assume that if he was running around the apartment complex naked, I believe we can make the assumption there may have been some mental health experience that he might have been having."

In other words, the guy was "crazy," what do you expect us to do?
That resigned attitude towards people experiencing a mental health crisis has dire consequences. Dismissing, ignoring and belittling those with mental illness leads to an underfunded mental health system, and leaves police, jails and prisons to poorly pick up the slack.

I'm willing to bet we're all guilty of this. You're walking around your city and see you a man talking to himself. He's dirty, obviously lives on the streets. You decide to cross to the other side because you think, "that dude's crazy." You look back at him and now he's yelling, maybe getting in people's faces as they walk by. You call the cops, because what else are you supposed to do? They show up. "Good," you think. "The cops will know how to deal with that crazy person."

 
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 56 percent of incarcerated individuals in state prison and 64 percent of those in local jails have symptoms of, or a recent history of, a mental health issue.
 There are ten times more people with mental illness than are in psychiatric hospitals.
What if I told you there were ten times more people with cancer being treated in prisons than in hospitals? Or diabetes? Or heart disease? And that when they were released, their treatment ended, prescriptions stopped, and people were more or less left on their own, many returning to homelessness. You might even call a system like that "crazy."




People with mental illness may ostensibly be arrested for harassment or public urination or drug possession, but that's not really why he or she is in jail. It's because when you and I see small crimes like that committed, all we see is an offense. If we viewed those actions as symptoms, instead of crimes, our response would be therapeutic not punitive. If a man were lying on the ground having a heart attack, we wouldn't want him arrested for trespassing, we'd want him to have help.
Better training for police forces can reduce deadly outcomes, as San Antonio has shown. New York City announced a massive one hundred thirty million investment in mental health treatment.New York Times Massive expansion of mental health services.


  

In Seattle, the AVID Jail Project disability rights jail project, Seattle,WA has been launched to monitor conditions inside jails and provide resources to inmates with mental health issues. Salt Lake City and even Los Angeles have announced or implemented new programs aimed at tackling the intertwining problems of homelessness, the criminal justice system and mental illness or substance abuse. We need to monitor these innovations, study their effectiveness, and build on what we learn.

Yet, new and expanded programs are not enough on their own. We, as a society, are quick to dismiss and disparage the people we see on the street who are clearly experiencing mental health symptoms or crises. We call those people "crazy" and "wacko," making it all too easy to ignore their arrests and forget about their incarcerations. We have to fundamentally change our view. The next time you run across someone having a mental health crisis on the street, think to yourself: if this person were having a heart attack, would you want them arrested?

Does mental illness run in your family?

Mental Illness R Us

 By Guest blogger, Robyn Bloem
Copyright - 2015


Mental Illness tends to run in families-and not the way of the old joke that you “get it from your kids!” And not because the sins of the fathers are passed down to the fourth generation of those who hate Me! It runs in families because it is biological in nature! 
  

We counseled the family of a little boy who insisted his belt be tightened a certain way before school every morning, his blankets tucked around him in the exact manner every night and he worried that he would be late to school constantly. When Steve asked the young mother if there was any mental illness in the family, she said, “No.” The child’s grandmother was in the room and so was his great-grandmother. The great-grandmother said, “Well, I think my daughter (who was present) shows some serious signs of depression and my own mother committed suicide. Then the grandmother said to her daughter, “I think you may be OCD the way you care for your appearance and house-keeping.” We saw the look of surprise and recognition cross all of their faces. It was in their family and had not the four generations been present, it may have been more difficult to diagnose. Steve referred the child to a child psychiatrist and with some medication and behavioral modification, he greatly improved; in fact the last we heard, he was doing very well. 

Some of our Christian brothers and sisters call mental illness a generational “curse” because it is seen in family members throughout generations. Again, I believe another unnecessary condemnation to one who is suffering a mental illness. Why on earth do they think it helpful to reprimand a person who has a brain disease? Do they think they can jar a person out of it? We heard yesterday of a woman who endured an exorcism because she was hearing voices-of course it exhausted her but did nothing else. If she had Alzheimer’s would these same people try to exorcise the demon of confusion?  

Steve has a very serious case of depression. Thankfully he has not had any episodes for quite a few years. That is due to his heavy medication regimen. It should have been no great surprise when our daughter had serious panic attacks and depression.  Steve’s aunts and uncles are riddled with mental illness. What do we do with information like this? Well, we stop pointing fingers and hurting the hurting! We stop being Monday morning psychiatric quarterbacks and leave the diagnoses to the professionals. We refer people to medical doctors and not to our friend’s friend who knew somebody once. Most importantly, we show loving kindness to people in pain and offer a loving hand and not a slap in the face for an illness they didn’t design or desire. 

At Heartfelt Counseling Ministries, we want to help people who have these diseases and their loved ones because the caregivers need support, too. At our CAMI support groups, we have both family members and the sufferers. We all offer comfort, share help within our community systems and prayer. That is what the mentally ill need; not exorcism, not generational guilt and not spiritual platitudes. Yes, mental illness runs in families; it is in ours and if you are reading this, it is probably in yours. Don’t feel guilty and don’t despair. Help is available, support is necessary and medications help control the symptoms. Don’t swallow your stress! We are here to help you! Contact us anytime. We offer seminars, local counseling, long distance counseling by phone or Skype, our book, Broken Minds or short talks at your church or other meeting place. We will go to Sunday School classes, parks or soap boxes. Anywhere there are hurting people, we want to go. Let us know how we can help!

 http://www.heartfeltmin.org/#!contact/cito



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Are you ready to come out of the closet?

 


When I was a case-manger I discovered that social workers and even psychiatrists were hiding the fact that they had some kind of mental illness. I would say in staff meetings, "If we really want to fight stigma why don't we take all of our antidepressants and mood stabilizers and put them on the table in front of us." They never did. I did witness though when Robyn and I were doing one of our seminars that a well known, highly educated psychiatrist said in front of the group, "I have bipolar 2 disorder and I have finally come out of the closet."
When I first was depressed as a pastor in Florida one of the leaders from my college spoke at a pastors' conference. He presented depression as being a sign of emotional weakness.  I was stuck in the middle of a row in the church. I wished a sink hole would just open up and remove me from my humiliation. Most people with mental illness who attend church refuse to broach the subject. Why the silence? They are ashamed. The result is a person who suffers from one of the most painful diseases known to mankind, faces it alone and then because of these feeling of embarrassment, inadequacy, inferiority and shame, the devil gets an advantage. The end of this scenario is suicide. Remember, the devil is a liar and a murderer and has been from the beginning.

One reason for this misplaced stigma is that many in church leadership regard the roots of mental illness as moral and/or spiritual. This non-shepherding approach assumes that spiritual people do not get depressed, have anxiety or hear voices. This approach breeds a critical spirit. It also drives the person away from the church and discourages transparency.  Job said, "For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; so that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty" (Job 6:14).  Good pastors who berate or neglect the mentally ill may be held responsible at the Judgment Seat of Christ for hurting one of the Chief Shepherd's lambs

 












The Lord Jesus Christ and a weak spirit.

Another reason for this misplaced stigma is a failure to listen to what Scripture says about believers in a weakened state. It was said of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 12:20; A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He leads justice to victory ( NIV). A bruised reed represents a person who is emotionally damaged. This emotional pain could stem from problems with assurance of salvation, it could be from a strong Satanic attack or it could be the result of a mental illness. A bruised reed is almost broken, a smoldering wick is one that is flickering and its flame is almost out; while both are "almost" destroyed, they will not be because Jesus Christ makes sure they will survive. If He is so generous to His weak ones, why should others try to break the spirit of the depressed?

God has chosen the weak to confound the wise
Scripture tells us in I Corinthians 1:26-29 that God has chosen the weak and
foolish of this world to confound the wise. The apostle Paul said that he gloried in his weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9-11. No one really has it altogether. We should glory that we have a vital union with Jesus Christ. We should also glory in our weakness.


Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

A third reason for this misplaced stigma is a failure to look at the experience
of the God/Man Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Mark 14:33, 34 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch . The word for distressed in the Greek is ekthambeho. It means to, throw into terror or amazement. Please notice the word is preceded by "very." He was very terrified and surprised at his suffering. The word, troubled, in the NASB  is ademoneo in the Greek.
Thayer who was a Greek scholar says about this word. It means to be troubled, in great distress or anguish, depressed.This is the strongest of the three Greek words in the NT for depression.
Jesus Christ was wholly God but also wholly man, the God/Man. He felt depression; like the writer of Hebrews says, He was touched by the feelings of our infirmities. He is the One who understands your suffering and He does not condemn you or blame you; Christ is not ashamed of you and your illness. Take heart; He knows.

If you are doubting God you might want to read this.

Psalm 73

Have you ever felt that God was cheating you, that He was holding back His blessings? Remember, this is how the devil attacked Eve in the garden. As she loitered in the place of temptation, the devil presented God as a liar and as One who was holding out on her when it came to His love and blessings (Genesis 3:1-6). Satan did the same to Asaph, who was a Levite and one of Israel’s prominent musicians. Asaph had experienced the Grace of God and was a righteous man. You may ask, “then what was his problem?” Here is a brief look at one of his hymns, Psalm 73.

1. Asaph's backsliding was one which affected his service and joy in the Lord.  

"Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart." Asaph knew the God of Israel and served him; he was a saved man. There is a difference between being an apostate and a backslider. An apostate is one who departs from the faith (See Hebrews 6:1-9, and Romans 6:1-5; 14-23), but a backslider is one who has believed on the Savior and fails for a time to live up to what he has learned. He was shaken in his faith and, as a result, it was nearly eclipsed. 

2. Asaph was part of the Israelite remnant, those who were of a pure heart; it is a fact that not all of Israel was saved (except, of course, at the very end the seven year tribulation period the whole nation will be saved [Romans 11:25-29, Zechariah 14:1-8]). Asaph wanted to make sure that his temptation to sin was his own problem. This is what the adverbs tell us in verse 1 "but as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped.” The righteous man may stumble but he does not lose his footing. He may fall seven times but he gets back up again. Why is this so? It is because the LORD is holding his hand. 

 

Proverbs 24:16 speaks of this divine hand holding: “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity”. Asaph’s backsliding (from his viewpoint) was very close to forsaking God. Psalm 73:2, “but as for me, my feet came close to stumbling (natah)”. The Hebrew word for stumbling means to pitch forward, to stretch out (“My steps had almost slipped”). Later, in looking back on his envying the wicked and being discontented, he says, "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you." (Psalm 73:21, 22).

Reader, are you in that state of mind right now? Do you compare yourself to the wicked or even to other Christians and it seems like they are getting along just fine while you are not? Others’ kids appear to be close to perfect and their parents imply this in their end of the year letters. The wicked seem to prosper when you have little. You serve God and still just get by financially.  This distorted thinking has been a problem to the people of God throughout history. A quote from another psalm is fitting. The psalmist in Psalm 37:1-6 writes, 

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.3Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun (NIV)

And what about the Apostle Peter? Do you remember his backsliding? His love had failed, and he denied Christ and cursed God. His faith had not failed. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane prayed that his faith should not fail (Luke 22:31-34 NIV). He felt like he was such a failure so he went back to the only vocation he knew, fishing. But His Lord was going to restore him to ministry; this is the same Lord who had prayed for his faith. Luke 22:31-32 tells us the content of that prayer “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith my not fail; and you, when you once have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (NASB). 

Now back to Psalm 73,where is the turning point of this outcry?  

It lies in verses 16-19:

When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God, then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!

If you are viewing your life through present circumstances or past failures, or if you feel cheated by God, then you need to come into His presence with thanksgiving and understand that the unsaved, though they are doing well now, will one day be forever cast into Hell. The Lord Jesus conquered the grave. He is coming again! Look at the changes that occurred in Asaph's present walk with God.

You can find what we have been discussing in Psalm 73:23-28:

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.