Friday, December 21, 2012

CAMI Online, It is finally here!

Copy right All Rights Reserved, 2008
This may not be photocopied for distribution without the permission of Steve and Robyn Bloem
The idea of CAMI and it set of precepts are also copyrighted.


















CAMI (Christians Afflicted with Mental Illness) Online is a support group for those who are afflicted with depression, bipolar disorder  or some other type of mental illness. It also ministers to people who are care givers of those who suffer these afflictions.  
 Mental Illness is a disease that begs for community and it is often more subtle and much more prevalent than we imagine. We offer a safe environment, a listening ear, practical help for treatment and the hope of deliverance.  There should be no shame or embarrassment; these illnesses are the result of faulty brain chemistry We believe also in spiritual depression but it has a different remedy than biological. It is important to make a distinction. Come, be encouraged and helped because we care about you! All you need is a computer which has a camera (usually a lap top.


It is been extremely difficult to convince pastor's in the U.S.A. that Christian people who have a mental illness need a support group. Much of this is because of the stigma of mental illness. It is also because a number of evangelical groups who believe in  that Scripture is God breathed and without error,
do not believe in the biology of mental illness.  This has caused huge problems for people who have mental illness  and are in a church or looking for one.

One way we can bring the group to the Christian mentally ill person is to offer an online group. We have already started one and it is working well.  We use an Internet provider which allows us to see one another on our personal computers.  There is a group leader who uses the CAMI Leader and Study Guides.
The leader using this study guide asks questions and the other group members discuss them. We pray online in real time with one another.  The group is without charge and the study guide is $6.00 a person. The present online group is using U.S.A. Eastern Standard time.  Please contact us at the link below.
form.http://www.heartfeltmin.org/#!contact/cito .


If you would like to know more about our steady selling book which has personal narratives and also biblical principles that deal with mental illness, please go to http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Losing-ebook/dp/B004EPYNLE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0


Thanks, SB
 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Asperger's Syndrome














Asperger's syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder. It is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of a distinct group of neurological conditions characterized by a greater or lesser degree of impairment in language and communication skills, as well as repetitive or restrictive patterns of thought and behavior. Other ASDs include: classic autism, Tourett’s syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Unlike children with autism, children with AS retain their early language skills.
The most distinguishing symptom of AS is a child’s obsessive interest in a single object or topic to the exclusion of any other. Children with AS want to know everything about their topic of interest and their conversations with others will be about little else. Their expertise, high level of vocabulary, and formal speech patterns make them seem like little professors. Other characteristics of AS include repetitive routines or rituals; peculiarities in speech and language; socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and the inability to interact successfully with peers; problems with non-verbal communication; and clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements. Children with AS are isolated because of their poor social skills and narrow interests. They may approach other people, but make normal conversation impossible by inappropriate or eccentric behavior, or by wanting only to talk about their singular interest. Children with AS usually have a history of developmental delays in motor skills such as pedaling a bike, catching a ball, or climbing outdoor play equipment. They are often awkward and poorly coordinated with a walk that can appear either stilted or bouncy. 

Aspergers not a culprit in murder

There isn't really a case to be made that the school killer did so because he had Asperger's syndrome.
If you have a mass shooting it does not automatically mean that mental illness is the culprit.
The killer was an anomaly, he was an evil person.  Perhaps the leaders in this nation should pray for revival.  If a person knows Christ as Savior he had a higher code than many.  If a person has the Holy Spirit in his heart, he is not likely to murder someone.

www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/asperger.htm  

Please see our website, http://www.heartfeltmin.org

Monday, December 17, 2012

September 11, 2001 and now, Did God turn His head?

 








Jack Pinto and Noah Ponzer buried today on December 17, 2012
by Robyn Bloem  Co-founder - Heartfelt Counseling Ministries

What they did not teach him at seminary
Our daughter who was 8 months pregnant, was killed by a drugged driver on 9-11-01, returning from a prayer vigil for the nation and the family members of the terrorist victims. I had to work through many issues in my own Christian heart. As I was still meditating, praying and weeping my way through life, a seminary professor came to teach a summer SS class of adults. In his meandering lesson, he mentioned that Sept. 11 is what happens when God just turns his head for a moment.

Have we forgotten the children who were lost before penicillin and other medical treatments?
As the bobble head class members bobbled, I started to fume. Finally, I raised my hand and said, As a mother and grandmother who lost my children on 9-11-01, I'd like to know why you think God turned His head that day...why would you say that?I   had been praying and reading old Puritan works like Samuel Rutherford, Thomas Boston-men from periods in history when Christians had to grapple with the loss of children and God's Hand in tragedy. Their children and children of their flock were dying of strep and TB, plagues...they had to deal with what most of Americans do not have to deal with.

When suffering we want to fix it.
When we face these tragedies, we want to fix blame, sue people, do anything we think will prevent suffering...well, there is no end to pain on earth. Horrible things happen to innocents and we cannot keep everyone in our parental view all the time. Well, we were actually 20 feet away from our daughter, following her home-I saw then there was nothing we could do to save her.

The Children of Connecticut
These precious innocent children were victims of life on a sinful earth and the pain these families will experience for years to come is very real. BUT God is God, we are clay, vapor, dust, and helpless. He walks among the children of men, enters any building, any home, any heart and He was there that day allowing this for some reason. He is not weak, bored, disinterested or distant. He is sovereign, wise, loving and powerful. Why and when and why not are not questions we get answers to. He is the great I AM and someday we will be so glad that He did and allowed everything exactly the way He did. I believe that one day I will say, "I wouldn't have changed a thing." Then it will be sight-- now I say it by faith.
 Robyn and Steve are in the process of writing a book about their tragedy on September 11, 2011. Please pray that we connect with the right people.
If you would like to take a peek at our book, Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It, please go to http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187.  It is also available on Kindle at this sight.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Favorite Blogs visited in 2012



Hello to all my friends!
As we are coming to the end of the year I would like to give you links to some of our most popular blogs.  This is no way takes away from any other blog; they all have been a result of prayer, study and just plain work.

The blog which has been visited the most in the last two and a half years is: Is God with You in the darkhttp://sbloemreflections.blogspot.com/2011/10/is-god-with-you-in-dark.html

Another very popular blog has been A young man's letter to his parents about his depression. http://sbloemreflections.blogspot.com/2011/02/young-mans-letter-to-his-parents-about.html

Another popular blog is http://sbloemreflections.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-training-with-marsha-linehan_03.htmlA

A blog which talks about alternative treatments for depression is Feed the Brain God gave you.
http://sbloemreflections.blogspot.com/2012/03/thinking-outside-box-i-have-been.html

Finally a recent favorite has been, http://sbloemreflections.blogspot.com/2012/11/you-can-be-sick-and-be-in-will-of-god.html

If you do a google search, sbloemreflections, blog spot, google will give you itemized listings of the blogs.Go to https://www.google.com/search?client=qsb-win&rlz=1R3GGIH_enUS343&hl=en&q=sbloemreflections,+blog+spot




Thursday, December 13, 2012

Holmes Rahe Stress Chart


















What about stress and mental illness?   Many experts tell us that stress is a key factor in major depression and other other maladies of the mind. There is strong clinical evidence that the first episode of a mental illness is more than likely to be triggered by extreme stress.
What kind of stress am I talking about.  Here is a great quote.
Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that "demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize." In less formal terms, we feel stressed when we feel that "things are out of control."
Richard S. Lazarus
I will show you by this chart what my stresses were when I had my first episode at age twenty nine.  You then can go to the web site, read more about stress. You can also take the test that is below on the link I am going to give you.

If you would like to read a first hand account of my battle with stress and mental illness, please see Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It. Robyn Bloem is my co-author.  The link is http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187
Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page for my score.
My score for the test was 380.
Now, I will take the test and then you can take it at http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_82.htm




Life EventValue 
1Death of spouse 100 xx100
2Divorce73
3Marital separation65
4Jail term63
5Death of close family member63
6Personal injury or illness 53 xx53x
7Marriage50
8Fired at work47
9Marital reconciliation45
10Retirement45
11Change in health of family member 44xx44x
12Pregnancy           40xx40
13Sex difficulties39
14Gain of new family member 39xx39x
15Business readjustment39
16Change in financial state 38xx38x
17Death of close friend37
18Change to a different line of work 36xx36x
19Change in number of arguments with spouse35
20A large mortgage or loan31
21Foreclosure of mortgage or loan30
22Change in responsibilities at work 29xx29x
23Son or daughter leaving home29
24Trouble with in-laws  29xx29x
25Outstanding personal achievement 28xx28x
26Spouse begins or stops work26
27Begin or end school/college 26xx26x
28Change in living conditions 25xx25x
29Revision of personal habits24
30Trouble with boss 23xx23x
31Change in work hours or conditions20
32Change in residence 20xx20x
33Change in school/college20
34Change in recreation19
35Change in church activities 19xx19x
36Change in social activities18
37A moderate loan or mortgage17
38Change in sleeping habits16
39Change in number of family get-togethers15
40Change in eating habits15
41Vacation13
42Christmas12
43Minor violations of the law11
Your 380 Total                                                                                               

Note: If you experienced the same event more than once, then to gain a more accurate total, add the score again for each extra occurrence of the event.

Score Interpretation


ScoreComment
300+You have a high or very high risk of becoming ill in the near future.
150-299You have a moderate to high chance of becoming ill in the near future.
<150 td="td">



You have only a low to moderate chance of becoming ill in the near future.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Why did the Son of God come to earth?














 
 
The answer to to this question in America and across the western world becomes more obscure every day.  But Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and Forever (Hebrews 13:8).
I celebrate Christmas with great joy because without Christ birth, death and resurrection there is no Heaven, no hope, only gloom and doom. In John 8:12, Jesus Christ said, I am the Light of the world ; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.
 I could say many more things but I would like you to read a quote that I recently came across ,a quote that is found in the introduction of G. Campbell Morgan's book, The Crises of the Christ
 
Christ has come, the Light of the world.  Long ages may elapse before His beams have reduced the world to order and beauty, and clothed a perfect humanity with light as with a garment. But He has come: the Revealer of the snares and chasms that lurk in the darkness, the Rebuker of every evil thing that prowls by night, the Stiller of the storm-winds of passion; the Quickner of all that is wholesome, the Adorner of all that is wholesome, the Adorner of all that is beautiful, the Reconciler of contradictions, the Harmonizer of discords, the Healer of the nations, the Savior from sin.  He has come: the Torch of truth, the Anchor of hope, the Pillar of faith, the Rock for strength, the Refuge for security, the Fountain for refreshment, the Vine for gladness, the Rose for beauty, the Lamb for tenderness, the Friend for counsel, the Brother for love.  Jesus Christ has trod the world.  The trace of the Divine footsteps will never be obliterated.  And the Divine footsteps  were the footsteps of a Man.  The example of Christ is such as men can follow.  On! until mankind wears his image. On!towards yon summit on which stands, not an angel, not a disembodied spirit. not an abstract of ideal and  ideal and unattainable virtues, but THE MAN JESUS CHRIST.

Peter Bayne, A.M.  The testimony of Christ to Christanity.
This was quoted by G. Campbell Morgan .The Crises of the Christ (1936)Old Tappen: Fleming H. Revell Company page 12.

Perhaps you would like to give a copy of our book Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel
Like You're Losing It to someone for Christmas. If you would like to read some reviews and/or order it go to http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187
You can also get it on Kindle from this web site.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Why was the great preacher Lloyd Jones afraid to leave his home town in Wales?


Copy right 2016




Heartfelt (Counseling) Ministries is launching an on-line support group using our CAMI material. It is done through Skype or possibly through Google Plus.  Here is a chance to meet others in the privacy of your own home through the Internet. Please email me at camimovement@yahoo.com if you are interested. You can also go to our website and use the contact us form. http://www.heartfeltmin.org/

 


Lloyd Jones my mentor















One of my greatest mentors is a man I have never met. I feel like I know him because I have read his whole whole set of sermons on the book of Romans. I also read his volumes of sermons on Ephesians. I have read his classic two volume biography Ian Murray. And in fact I have read other volumes of sermons and his lectures on Puritan pastors in England during the Elizabethan period. His name is David Martyn Lloyd Jones.

Lloyd Jones M.D. turned pastor and preacher
Lloyd Jones was a famous doctor and his boss was Lord Horder, who was a doctor to the Queen of England.  He felt a call to the ministry and planted a church in Wales.  He then was called to a famous church in England were he preached in an expository manner for many years.


Answer to the question in the title of this blog.

The answer to the question found in the title of this post is that he had what today would be called separation anxiety and which in his case lasted all his life long. He is quoted in Broken Minds as saying this:

But, in addition to this, I must add that I suffered at the same time from far greater sickness, and a more painful one, which has remained with me all along life's path- and that was hiraeth (Welsh for "a longing for home or homesickness)....What is the reason for this? The psychologists cannot explain it. I believe that... that it is decided in part by the functioning of the ductless glands. Be that as it may hiraeth is an awful thing, as also is the feeling of loneliness, and of being destitute and unhappy which all stem from it. It is difficult to define hiraeth, but to me it means the consciousness of man being out of this home area and that which is dear to him. That is why it can be felt even among a host of people and amidst nature's beauty.
Bloem Steve and Robyn. Broken Minds, Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It, page 141. The above quote is from D. Martyn Lloyd Jones and is found in Ian Murray’s biography of Lloyd Jones, The First Forty Years, Volume, 1899-1939.

Lloyd Jones and Nouthetic Counselors

There are some people who have read his fantastic book, Spiritual Depression Its Causes and Cures, which is published by Eerdmans Co.and have concluded that its author, Dr. Lloyd Jones did not believe that biological or what is called endogenous depression ever existed.


In fact there are many schools of thought that believe that major depression (also called endogenous) is not really a true classification of depression. They are the same people who might like to put Lloyd Jones in the same genre of Jay Adams.
This is simply not true! Lloyd Jones actually distanced himself from Adams saying that his non biological approach to mental illness was cruel. This can be seen his book which consisted of a series of lectures to Christian physicians in England. It is called Healing and Medicine ,Kingsway Publications.

Send your pastor this blog

If you are reading this and should I say that you live in the U.S.A. or Canada your pastor should be aware of this. This especially true if you belong to an evangelical Presbyterian church, Reformed church or many other fundamentalist churches and groups. You can send him this blog.  I pray that God would turn the hearts of  pastors toward the the hearts of the

He is a Savior and the Perfect God/Man who as our High Priest and  Champion  experienced depression in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:33). Please see Broken Minds, page 217,218.

An Irish pastor called me on the phone after he read our book, Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It and he told me of the following quote that I was not aware of at the time.
Adams and Szacz

Referring to Thomas Szacz he says, ".....he (Szasz) goes too far in saying that there is no such thing as mental illness. Unfortunately, too, he now has a number of followers who are writing up his views in popular books. One of the best known is Jay Adams with his widely selling Competent to Counsel. But he is just a popularizer of Thomas Szasz and he is simply affirming, with Scasz, that there is no such entity as mental illness that the patients are really suffering from sin and need to be dealt with purely in a scriptural manner. These writers reprimand those sufferers and counsel them with great severity.

Lloyd Jones on seeing mental illness as a physical reality

It is necessary for us to work with those in this field who have to establish the reality of mental illness; otherwise we are going to be guilty of great cruelty to some of those who come to consult us. Why would I affirm the reality of such illness? I suggest that the familiar (heredity) element in case histories alone is sufficient to establish it. Another factor is the periodicity so characteristic of many cases - clear, lucid intervals, and then recurrence. Not only that, but there are many cases of mental illness which do not respond to all spiritual, scriptural treatment and, indeed, are even made worse by this.

If you would like to read more about Broken Minds which comes in paperback form, Kindle and Ebook, please go to http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187#_

Please visit us at our web site www.heartfeltmin.org