Just last week Malawi News released an article on mental illness. The doctor is an expert seemingly, but this is the first hand account.
What is it? Is it a demon? Is it damage of the brain? Is it an infection? What is it?
I will try to explain its psychology, and touch on the physical and spiritual part of it.
St. John of God about whom the house of hospitality is was a person like you and me. His conversion to Christianity was very strong and dramatic in the society that people thought he had gone mad. They treated him like a mentally ill person. In this treatment he endured much pain and understood the pain these people go through. He started giving then shelter and food taking care of them. If St. John of God lived today he would rather want less patients hospitalized who come for first time but justified and would love those really needing care being treated humanly and with love. Not like animals. For these people too have feelings and experience a lot of heartache and to make it worse they added on all their emotional pain and physical abuse they get, from those who have not understood.
Of all the diseases in the world mental illness is not. For it seems nothing to do with infection or physical damage if it was it would have another name.
Yet it is and begins with emotional pain from emotional abuse. A very grave and acute accusation can bring one so low with guilt that he becomes incapacitated to do anything. His state of mind at this moment to understand why? He might stay as such for long that his behavior is noticed by other people as strange. When a word of a priest, a witch doctor or medical doctor declares it mental illness. All sorts of thoughts and fears come among the community and stigma follows from all the history that has accumulated who mentally ill people are.
The devil it is said is an accuser always accusing us before God but Jesus is always interceding for us before God.
Whenever we curse someone we allow the devil to abuse the person. Whenever we bless someone we deny the devil any action but allow God to resolve the problem.
In the state of accusations from men and / or the devil, these men do feel the guilt. And in their guilt and the dirt they feel inside manifests even in their action. I guess that is why they would rather eat the food from the dust bin than from the plate. They would rather have something dirty than something clean for it is the outward reflection of the guilty they feel and in doing so, an attempt.
At this point when one is labeled mentally ill and the society has registered it. It does not matter what was the cause of initial fear but what surrounds the person shapes the person's behavior and further reaction to society.
It now becomes a disease of a society in terms of emotions like fear from from the harsh treatment he has received on the basis of the label, violence (there is no place he is allowed to stay because of the label he is kicked this way and that) some people around him ridicule him and he has to defend himself, his kind of life becomes whenever I do this action I get peace of mind, whenever I do this, people give me food. Whenever I hold a stone in my hand and stretch the other people give me some money. He might have even the accidental event that brought this combination for begging that he even call the stone my lucky stone. And carries it wherever he goes for it brings him luck and the food to live another day. Is there violence in such a man?
I noticed that after such a long treatment by the society they get to lose the sense of what is right and what is wrong. This would be the reason why Jesus told the mad person he had healed, go and tell your people what God has done. For he has again to learn the ways of the society. This is a form of behavioral rehabilitation.
I have managed so far after overcoming the guilt and accusations to live with confidence among people. An article like written in Malawi News just recently presenting the mentally ill as time bombs can incite such a fear and hatred among the society for the mentally ill that makes life so difficult for them. I met one in such a person. The way he walked, he was in a state of such restlessness may be wondering why is this world suddenly harsh?
Whoever put such an article whatever was his motivation why not just come up to the one person you have a problem with than put so many other people in trouble. (I dreamed about it this day and there was a person who had a problem with me who decided to incite some trouble because of my refusal to associate myself with them). Does such not such a revelation come from God as warning about events of the day?
How do we deal with mental illness? The are cases in which accusing demons keep on following them around for society in cursing such people have given them room. In their own solitary moments they seek to find some truth that justifies the injustice and pain inflicted on them in most cases they dwindle down in self accusations. Because somehow God does not allow it their attempt to relieve themselves by killing themselves fails and they live another day. They survive from day to day pick some food and eat and move on find a shelter to sleep in. Sometimes, in their pain they get some relief from the flashes of interesting memories they have gone through. So yeah, they laugh when they are alone. It's only a relief from emotional pain.
Whenever you find them talking alone, there has been no ear to listen to the emotional hurts and pains from the unjustly harsh treatment they have received from the society.
In defining, which of the actions of the society was right and which was wrong, they to what extent were they wrong from the punishments received, they get relieved of their guilt and they get to understand which of those in the society were just bad and impossible. This justification of their actions shields and insulated them better of future emotional pains and abuses. For at list now they can justify themselves by the truth they have known about the further accusations and abuses. For further rehabilitation its necessarily love that completes the rehabilitation. The mad person benefited much from the peoples trust in Jesus that he really had been healed. It's up to the society to love such people. Jesus himself was called a nazarene and rastamen far the principles of the nazarene. This allows for a fewer of these mad men find love and acceptance in a society. The only mistake of the rasta men is in their understanding of Haile Selas as Jesus(messiah). As much there are messiahs from different oppressions Haile Selas could be categorically put among people like Moses who sets Israelites free from captivity. It is wrong to worship him for he like all other redeemers other than Jesus they are also just servants like also angels who carry messages of God to men. Only for Jesus has it been declared from God, that every knee shall bow and every toung confess that Jesus is Lord. For Jesus, it has been said the lamb of God that takes away our sins. No other root of David has such title. For end redemption is from sin and eternal damnation only this lamb of God, Jesus has been given a task of such messiahood. God has said of Him that we listen to Him. For he Jesus is the only begotten of God. He is the only one who came from God for the purpose of showing the way, the truth, and the light to salvation from sin and eternal damnation.
He give instructions of what is the right way. Among these instructions, he says, whoever does good for such as these does it for Jesus. Whoever does not do good for such as this does not do so for Jesus.
Love is the only cure of such an illness. It takes patience as well for having accustomed to pain and multiple betrayals, an act of love might take time to make a difference. If it is followed by the expected betrayal anyway it widens the gap wider. So when you give love with conditions, such love has many times caused pain already in their lives. When you give further rebuke, its the many rebukes that weighs them down already. So, just love and kindness is all they have been missing in all their lives. No more pain. Physical or Emotional. Just love and kindness.
God bless they that love such people.