Who has mental illness in the Bible?

One thing is certain -- King Saul was a long time sufferer of mental distress, whatever its cause. David had his moral weaknesses, but mental illness does not seem to have been a problem for him (at least not until much later in his life). He did, however, feign mental illness to get himself out of a bind.

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There is considerable debate about mental illness and how society and the health-care system need to be dealing with it. There is considerable debate about mental illness and how society and the health-care system need to be dealing with it. Depression is rampant, even among young people and schizophrenia, dementia, personality disorders and phobias have a huge debilitating effect on those suffering with them and on their loved ones.

But there is nothing new about mental illness.

It was certainly present in ancient times and the Bible makes specific reference to several cases. King Saul, the first king of Israel, was repeatedly afflicted by what we would probably term clinical depression today. In scripture, it says "an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him" -- a rather unsettling description, but it was considered common to ascribe the torment of mental illness to an "evil spirit" in those times. Saul's advisors recommended that someone who could play the harp be summoned to ease his mental distress and David (the future King David) was appointed to the task. Samuel writes, "Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play and the evil spirit would leave him." It is somewhat ironic that music therapy, which often uses harp music today, was employed 3,000 years ago. King Saul's hostile behaviour towards David would seem to confirm severe depression as he became extremely paranoid and directed his rage at him. Both paranoia and anger are symptoms of clinical depression. Saul even tried to kill David on several occasions. One thing is certain -- King Saul was a long time sufferer of mental distress, whatever its cause. David had his moral weaknesses, but mental illness does not seem to have been a problem for him (at least not until much later in his life). He did, however, feign mental illness to get himself out of a bind. When he was being pursued by King Saul, he decided to flee to the territory of the Philistines. Achish, the Philistine king of Gath, was prepared to take him in, but his advisors reminded him that David had a history of slaughtering Philistines by the thousands. David, hearing that Achish might be persuaded to take revenge for all the Philistines he killed, pretended to be mentally ill, acting "like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard." Achish said, "Look at the man. He is insane! Why bring him to me?" Another high-profile example of mental illness was that of King Nebudchadnezzar. In the book of Daniel, Nebudchadnezzar has a vision and calls upon Daniel to interpret it for him. Daniel predicts a time of madness for him, which comes to pass a year later. The king became insane, eating "grass like cattle [and] his hair grew like feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird."

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Nebudchadnezzar was in the throes of insanity for seven years. Certainly, some of the chronic schizophrenics on the streets today would seem to match this description. The symptoms of depression include despair, hopelessness, despondency and a desire for death to ease all the suffering. Some of the Psalms (attributed to David) would certainly appear to meet the criteria for a severely depressed person. Consider Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer . . . I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax . . . I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me." It is a Psalm of lament and there are many like this one, pleading for release from mental torment. Many believers use the Bible to find relief from their mental distress and, as a former Christian counsellor, I would use some of those verses in my counselling. Paul's letter to the Philippians contains a good example: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." There is a remedy for mental afflictions, but it requires fervent prayer and expressing gratefulness for the many blessings you already have. God's peace is always available to the faithful. There are some afflictions for which a pill is not the answer. Spiritual healing requires spiritual remedies, but sadly, many mental-health practitioners ignore the spiritual dimension of healing altogether.

True peace of mind is healing that comes from God alone.

KTW welcomes submissions to its Faith page. Columns should be between 600 and 800 words in length and can be emailed to editor@kamloopsthisweek.com.

Please include a very short bio and a photo.

kamloopsthisweek.com - Faith: Talking about mental illness in the Bible - Kamloops This Week

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