Episode #277 - The Three Doctors

As we navigate the world of mental health, we will need significant amounts of help and aid.  Three of those aids will come in the form of doctors, Mental, Physical and Spiritual.

Transcript

Welcome to episode # 277 – The Three Doctors.  In our desire to be healed and in our seeking for better days, we come to the point of needing help.  Individuals who in their stature have authority over their respective areas of expertise.  We come to the point of the three doctors.  These three doctors hold our respective aid in their capable hands.  Three areas of expertise are needed for us to be made whole.  The mind, the body and the spirit.  We must heal each if we are to succeed in our quest to be made whole again or to regain any of the ground we feel that we have lost.  Now even with the best doctors, knowledge is limited on the subject of mental illness.  Up until the 1980’s mental illness was not even considered an illness.  Research has expanded over time and we certainly understand more than we did then about the brain, body and the spirit.  But the knowledge we do have is still fairly limited in its scope.  We have no magic pill, no psychological method or even a reasonable spiritual path to follow.  Often even with the best medicine spiritual and physical, the act of healing is far more art than science and trial and error than best practices.  The problem is multi-fold.  We know much about the brain but even what we know is limited.  We know much about psychology but even psychology has its limits.  We are even limited in our spiritual nature to understand how mental illness interacts with out spiritual nature.  We have so little revelation on the matter that only three talks have been given in all the general conference addresses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So while we need the knowledge we have already won by research and revelation we still have a long ways to go to fully comprehend and treat mental illness.  This is not to say that we don’t have some good information and medications.  It is to say we are still quite limited in our approaches to healing.  So often when we are limited in our approach, we tend to nullify what we do have and minimize its possible effects in our lives.  Listen to what Elder Holland has to say on the matter of knowledge, doctors and limited information.  

“In that spirit I wish to speak to those who suffer from some form of mental illness or emotional disorder, whether those afflictions be slight or severe, of brief duration or persistent over a lifetime. We sense the complexity of such matters when we hear professionals speak of neuroses and psychoses, of genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, of bipolarity, paranoia, and schizophrenia. However bewildering this all may be, these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor.”

He then continues later.” In preventing illness whenever possible, watch for the stress indicators in yourself and in others you may be able to help. As with your automobile, be alert to rising temperatures, excessive speed, or a tank low on fuel. When you face “depletion depression,” make the requisite adjustments. Fatigue is the common enemy of us all—so slow down, rest up, replenish, and refill. Physicians promise us that if we do not take time to be well, we most assuredly will take time later on to be ill.

If things continue to be debilitating, seek the advice of reputable people with certified training, professional skills, and good values. Be honest with them about your history and your struggles. Prayerfully and responsibly consider the counsel they give and the solutions they prescribe. If you had appendicitis, God would expect you to seek a priesthood blessing and get the best medical care available. So too with emotional disorders. Our Father in Heaven expects us to use all of the marvelous gifts He has provided in this glorious dispensation.”

Let us start our journey by recognizing an apostle has recommended it.  Today I am going to talk about these three doctors and their positive and not so positive help to the multiplicity of problems brought about by mental and emotional illness.  I am going to start with the most controversial although I don’t think that they should be.  Psychiatry and psychology has been around for decades, we hear of Palov’s dogs and Freud’s emphasis on the sexual and the biological needs.  Much good and bad has come from the psychological world over time.  The problem and the advantage of psychology is we know a great deal about how the brain works from a mortal perspective.  The disadvantage is that we can only really study the biological and mortal functions of the brain.  We struggle deeply to understand the spiritual, thus we have another doctor for the spiritual.  This causes men like Freud to see only the natural man and not the spiritual one.  Thus answers to mortal questions tend to follow the natural man and not the spiritual one.  This then causes serious issues when confronted with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When we apply natural man remedies to mental and emotional illness, we tend to leave out the spiritual and that gets us into deeper trouble.  This is not to say that we don’t understand anything about how the spiritual works.  We do certainly understand many things but psychologists and psychiatrists do not generally quote scripture in a diagnosis or in the remedy.  And so they focus on the mortal body.

Focus on the mortal body is not all bad.  There are many good things the brain trainers can do to help ease or pain and suffering.  The mortal brain reacts to certain stimuli in particular ways and we can use these methods to better understand how our brain is working from the mortal perspective and yes our brain can be broken in the mortal perspective. The problem begins to occur when commandments such as the law of chastity and other commandments are spoken against during treatment.  The key to a good brain trainer is to match one with your personal beliefs rather than simply believe the first one you find.  Finding a good therapist is nearly the entire battle when it comes to mental illness.  And I assure you they do not all come equal.  Even many who are members may not match us with your understanding and personal beliefs in the gospel.  Choose wisely the professional you trust.  Do not be afraid to ask the tough questions and to walk away if things aren’t adding up.  Not every professional is created equal.  But I can assure you that one exists that can provide the help you need.

The second doctor you need to seek is a medical doctor.  While their training is very limited in mental illness they can check for different types of mortal problems that might be causing your mental illness issues.  For instance, the thyroid when not in sync can create a host of mental and emotional problems that can only be resolved by operation, medication or both.  The same can be true for a variety of mortal body problems.  Checking with a medical doctor is perhaps one of the first things you should do to make sure that your body is not causing the issue.  You do not have to get medication from a medical doctor although you can.  You can certainly see a psychiatrist who has mental and emotional illness training along with medical training.  The key here is to make sure that your body is functioning appropriately outside of the brain.  With medical doctors, as with other professionals, you need to do your research and I recommend that you search out several reputable web sites regarding mental and emotional illness such as the National Institute of Mental Health,  the Mayo Clinic and several others that have sufficient understanding and authority to publish such information.  Stay away from web sites where only stories are told about miracle cures.  They will do you no good and in the end may cause serious issues you may not be able to fix.  As with and doctor be straightforward as Elder Holland has said.  Ask them about their understanding of mental illness, how much training they have received, are they treating other patients and so forth.  Just be certain you have someone with a good listening ear and an even better understanding of mental and emotional health.

Finally doctor number three and this doctor will be the most difficult to find.  You will need a spiritual doctor, someone who can help you on the spiritual side of things.  It is unfortunate that the majority of our leadership in the church has a very limited understanding of mental health issues and tends to relegate the spiritual and mortal side of things to the Family Services box.  With some understanding and minimal training they could be very helpful to the process.  So as you choose your spiritual guide in all of this, make sure that they have some understanding of the illness and hopefully some experience with it, even if that experience is only a family member.  I will admit that not all bishops, stake presidents or even general authorities are not all made equal when it comes to mental health issues.  It is a tragedy that we do not do better in this regard, given that about 20% of the church population is afflicted with some type of mental health problem.  Given some good training and guidance, I think many leaders could be wonderful spiritual guides to those suffering.  Nonetheless, the church is what it is and one must be careful with spiritual leadership as they can cause deeper wounds and greater problems with their naysaying, pioneer just get over it attitudes.  I have had some deeply troubling experiences with leadership when it comes to mental health so just be cautious.  Even though many will simply relegate you to the Family Services box, understand that family services may be able to also provide some spiritual guidance.

Spiritual guidance is something that will be troubling as you navigate the world of mental health.  I don’t know a person who has not had a bad experience with leadership in some senses.  This is not to say that the leadership does not want the best for the individual.  They just don’t understand the nature of the illness.  And you can’t fully understand something you haven’t experienced on some level.  So often the answers are pray more, read scriptures more, go to the temple more and these things will pass.  I have even heard it said that sin is causing the issue rather than mental health problems causing the sin.  While these answers seem viable, they often do not produce the results that are desired.  Not because doing more spiritual things won’t help, it is because they see them as the only answer to the problem.  So one must seek out good counsel, good spiritual counsel.  One of the main reasons I started this podcast was the lack of good leadership skills and guidance when it comes to mental health.  We are loosing a good portion of the church that need not be lost with just some careful understanding and guidance given to leadership about how to help those who are suffering beyond the Family Services box.  We need bishops and stake presidents with some understanding of the issues and problems that often accompany the illness so that a greater understanding and compassion can be reached and the spiritual light needed at the time can be given.

Now having said all of that, you can choose whether to inform your bishop or not regarding your mental illness.  There does exists a prejudice within the church against mental and emotional health problems.  The minute you say something you are branded and relegated to an outsiders life in the sense of callings, service and other church engagement.  I don’t know a general authority who has the illness who has been willing to admit to it and that says something about how the church membership in general sees the illness.  We must do better and talk more often about emotional and mental difficulties in our classes in our meetings and in our conversations.  We need more empathy, understanding and mercy and far less judgement.  That is my soapbox about leadership and I will step down now with only the caution that when you speak with someone who does not understand the illness you must try the words with the spirit to see if they are correct.  This doesn’t mean that I can just go about breaking commandments because I have an illness and the leadership doesn’t understand my problems.  We are to still live the commandments no matter how tough they are to live right now.  Our efforts will be rewarded when the final judgment is laid bare and I promise you that the leadership who caused such pain in you lives will feel foolish and ask your forgiveness for their lack of foresight and their pride.  The Lord loves those who suffer deeply and he does understand fully your pain have experienced it himself in ways I am not sure I can explain here.  He knows how to succor you and to provide that which you need.  So turn to him and try the spirits as the Lord has said in the Doctrine and Covenants.  You are valuable to the Lord and he needs you in his house to help others who are suffering.  You could be the angel that rescues another with your understanding of mental illness.  And so when you find yourself wallowing in the mire of self-pity and that the leadership does not understand.  Turn to the Lord and he will plead your cause.  

Now that I have sufficiently dictated the problems with spiritual doctors.  The question still stands as to how do I find one.  I shall give a simple answer.  You need to find someone who has experience with mental illness and then seek counsel as to how they have navigated particular difficulties that you face.  You might need to find more than just one person.  The key is that this person could be a counselor in the bishopric, a counselor in the Elders Quorum or Relief Society.  They could be a dear friend or someone whom you might make a friend.  Two clear standards must be met.  They must have experienced the illness on a reasonable level and they must be spiritually minded.  Only that person can really help you in your quest.  Now can a bishop by inspiration give you good counsel.  I believe so but I have seen good counsel as very limited among our leadership as they simply lack understanding of the illness.  So in some senses the Lord is really the only good answer to the question.  However, there are many like me willing to share my experiences physically and spiritually to help those seeking answers.  I hope that today you have found some of those answers.  Until next week.  Do you part so that the Lord can do his.