Comments on: Oooh! You’re Bipolar?

By: Rev Andy Little

Rev Andy Little — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:31:46 +0000

Mat, I really hate to say this but your Christian leader has a really simplistic and undeveloped theology. To say that you wouldn’t feel this way “if you had enough faith”, is to blame you for the physiological problem that you have. That is exactly the same as saying that Aunt Gertie got breast cancer because she didn’t have enough faith. It’s ludicrous! God created and creation is good. All creation, including modern medicine. Work with your doctors and find a Christian leader who will help you keep your faith intact while dealing with the issues in a sensible, mature, and modern, way.

By: MAT

MAT — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 07:23:27 +0000

So were just the same, my leader told me just yesterday that I just need a complete faith in God to be healed, well i have faith now that I just finished my encounter, but at times I still feel emptiness with no reason, she said God’s treatment is better than people’s treatment,I just don’t understand her, will God come here to talk to me out of this horrible state? Oh I’m Catholic by the way, and our Christian leader just invited me to her church. She said if I had enough faith in God I won’t feel this way.

By: Mad God Woman

Mad God Woman — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:26:33 +0000

Found my way here from another blog and glad I did! Hello from another BPII/NOS minister who, being less brave and wise than you, never ‘came out’ to her former church. Thinkin’ I might come out to the next one, tho’. The “perfect pastor, perfect church” ministry didn’t work out so well.

By: willohroots

willohroots — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:41:10 +0000

As of this date I too will define my over 50 self as a curmudgeon and an eccentric, however I have no doubt my adult children will continue to call me weird.

By: Rev Andy Little

Rev Andy Little — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:50:07 +0000

I, too, thought the percentage was low – especially for bipolar II. It is so frequently misdiagnosed, though, that who knows what the real numbers are.

Amen on arguing against the sickness equals hidden sin stuff. It doesn’t take much to find a works righteousness attitude lurking underneath that. So many Christians find others objectionable just because they choose to sin differently than they do.

My explanation of choice, since I hit fifty, is that I used to be wierd, now I am a curmudgeon and an eccentric.

By: willohroots

willohroots — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:38:55 +0000

That 2.6% seems like a low number, but I would think that is the diagnosed statistic, there are probably many more that have not sought treatment, yet. The church needs to learn that so many creative marvelous people have been bipolar. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, would have diagnosed manic depressive.
I remember when I went for my cancer operation a group of Christians came to pray for me, and try to find the hidden sin in my life that made me sick. Whatever.
If hidden sin led to physical illness i would have died long ago, fortunately my Savior is more loving than His bride. My church has a lot more than 3% bipolar, does that say something about me? I have always found normal boring. I have told many people that I am not bipolar, I am just wierd, so far no pill for that.

By: bipolarchic

bipolarchic — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:14:23 +0000

I found this blog to be bang-on. I, too, am a Christian with Bipolar II Disorder. I know what it is to be treated as a 21st century leper–in particular by the church. When Job was going through his depression, his Christian friends were quick to criticize and judge him. He was so frustrated, as you know, that he called them “worthless physicians”.

When it comes to the matter of my mental illness, I have been hurt more by my Christian friends, than by anyone else. I have been told that I don’t have enough faith–ie that I am to blame for my illness because of unbelief on my part. I’ve had people look at me with fixed, plastic smiles on their faces, and rhyme off that familiar verse, “Well, ‘all things work for the good of those who believe in Him and are called according to His purose.’” I suppose that the suggestion here is that if I’m God’s child, and I really love Him, my situation will be magically resolved.

But hands-down, most hurtful of all, is the accusation that I am demon-possessed. I believe that Christians can be OPPRESSED by Satan, and that this can be manifest as a depression. The response to such a situation is prayer. However, we live in a fallen world, and as such, we have to contend with illness–even mental illness. Some depression is organic, plain and simple. This depression is best treated with medication. I am a child of God. I am inhabited by the Holy Spirit–not demons.

I truly pray that attitudes such as these will change in the church.