Appropriation of Madness *

As a practicing orthodox psychotherapist the spiritual informs my assessment which best lends itself to a comprehensive and unified understanding of the person. It validates the human experience and the great frontier of the person's relationship with God and how it is connected with the development of the person. It is not about the appropriation of madness but about the healing of the person.

When dealing with the sensitive subject of mental illness it is necessary to proceed with care and caution. There is a schism between modern psychology/psychiatry and the church. Those afflicted with mental disorders have historically been criminalized, labeled deranged, dangerous and even idealized attributed as a creative or mystical genius.  Having a healthy and robust discussion on the healing and treatment of such varied conditions and misunderstood behaviors without casting dispersions on those who are afflicted is imperative. It also requires a consensus amongst practitioners as to what is the most effective approach. This is much more difficult to achieve then one might imagine because it requires an informed constituency with a well rounded education. Even a cursory appreciation and acquisition of basic knowledge in the areas of history, human development, psychiatry, metaphysics, sociology and patristics would be a vast improvement. Too often we find those of like mind intellectually stroking one another or disputing minutia which are irrelevant to the individual afflicted. 

How do we have a discussion or present a comprehensive detailed and beneficial position when in reality most espousing any such insight are seldom cognizant of the issue let alone conversant. 

Psychology has yet to agree on the most fundamental 'truths' of the field. Each school seems to hold contradictory positions on ontological causes and treatments for the mentally ill. They have all willing accepted discussing the condition in medical terms referring to behaviors clusters and mood fluctuations and cognitive distortions as symptoms indicative of an illness in a patient sometimes called a client. They tend to be more focused on treating the illness then the person. Most practitioners take an eclectic approach recognizing that rigid adherence to one philosophy is myopic and ineffectual. 

The Orthodox Church has had a long history of discussing the person as a complex being worthy of all dignity and respect. It has never seen the individual as willfully complicit in their condition even in the instances where demonic influence seems to be plausible. The church as aways had a comprehensive understanding of the person and understood that mental conditions may have biological origins, existential underpinnings, extreme narcissism and the saturation of the passions. The complex understanding of the human being postulated by the Orthodox church  is not reductionistic as psychiatry  and therefore is not needlessly one sided so problems facing an individual may have an organic cause but ultimately effect the spiritual state and functioning of the individual. Each area requiring intervention and healing. 

The Orthodox phronima does not seek to place blame and the afflicted person is understood as a fellow pilgrims and sojourners and in some cases as the wounded an unpleasant reality of spiritual warfare. The church is focused on the journey and purpose of the person with their person hood and not with merely masking or mitigating the individuals unwanted circumstance. The church and qualified practitioners understand it is about how we face and confront limitations and short comings that we find our peace. The Orthodox church sees before her the person who has a body, soul (psyche) and spirit (mind).