Repent from Schizophrenia? Which NANC are you?

She was a straight "A" student in high school.  A happy, healthy young women.  Then things started going wrong.  She started to think that the characters on a television show were speaking directly to her.  She woke up in the middle of the night thinking that she was giving birth to a baby and urinated in the bed.  One afternoon, she was certain that God was speaking through the radio and told her to remove all of her clothes and run down the street and if she didn't she was being disobedient.  If her faith was real, she would trust God and obey.  So she did.  A sweet neighbor called her into their house and called her husband, who brought over a robe and took her to the hospital where she was placed on 72 hour hold.  That was just the beginning of a 30 year roller coaster ride.

She was not living in sin or rebellion prior to the onset of these bizarre experiences.  Her mind simply started malfunctioning.  The human brain is a complex thing.   Can someone repent from Alzheimer's?  Is Alzheimer's a result of unrepentant sin.  What about Autism? Can a person repent from Autism? What about Tourette syndrome? Can a person repent from that? Can a person with Tourette's syndrome repent from blurting out profanities which is an outward manifestation of the malfunctioning brain? WAKE-UP church! Sin is the cause of all disease; including diseases that effect the brain! How dare we lump people who's brain is effected into some different category than we would those who have diabetes or leukemia.

My heart goes out to anyone who has had a  Christian family member or close friend develop schizophrenia, who is them left to counselors who seem to think the individual can repent from it.  I am thankful that was not John Newtons attitude with William Cowper.

Does the church understand this?  Some do and some don't--and no wonder.  There is and has been ignorant, dangerous teaching coming from highly respected sources.    What is a Christian to think about all this.  Well, it all depends on who you want to listen to.  Read the two excerpts below.  I, for one, am thankful to read Charles Hodges recent conference outline on the topic. Frankly, Jay Adams' statements should alarm and concern you deeply.


Jay E Adams

Roughly, then we may break down schizophrenia into several categories as Figure 1 visualizes. All of which leads to the Christian conviction that man is largely (or in many instances totally) responsible for his behavior, even when it is of a bizarre nature. Passages such as 1 Peter 3:14 ("Be neither terrified nor troubled by their threat") more fully come alive under such considerations. It is not impossible to command the control of one's emotions. By proper attitudes and actions the Christian without biofeedback controls his bodily functions and states as God intended him to.  Except in those relatively infrequent cases (such as brain damage) that are validly organic at base, the Christian counselor seeks to deal with schizophrenia in the same manner as he would in confronting those who have other problems occasioned by sinful living patterns. In this large measure of responsibility lies hope. What is due to sin can be changed; there is no such certainty if, as some think, schizophrenia is largely due to other factors.

Schizophrenia, for the distinctively Christian counselor, provides no more or no less of a challenge than any other problem involving original sin, personal sin, and the consequences of both. He believes that the resources provided in the Scriptures, coupled with the power of God through His Spirit, are more than adequate. As the Scriptures themselves put it: "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:20b, NASV).

Charles Hodges Jr. MD, is an instructor of Biblical counseling for the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC).

What is it? Most likely a brain disease with four aspects.

D. Who gets it? Why? What is done for them?

1. A disease of young adults.

a. Ratio men to women is 1.4 to 1. b. 10% will recover with no further problems. 55% will be chronically troubled.     35% have intermittent course. c. If the diagnosis is certain, in most the problems will progress. There is no cure at this time. d. The diagnosis is clinical and subjective currently there are no easily usable tests to     make the diagnosis. e. 30to 50% of those with psychosis have no further episodes. Most patients will want to stop     their medication to see and most will no matter what the medical opinion. f. 5 to 10% will kill themselves annually. High functioning paranoid types are more frequent. g. They despair over their loss of relationships, jobs, things, and self control.

E. Who gets it and Why?

2. Should we call it a disease? 3. The changes in serial MRI scan in teens over years. It appears certain that there is significant loss of     brain tissue from the onset of the disease in the frontal and temporal lobes of their brains. 4. The cause for this loss of brain volume is unknown. The best guess is a combination of     genetic disposition plus a viral infection that sets off an immune response that causes the     destruction and loss of the brain tissue. 5. Dopamine theory derived from observation that amphetamines cause psychotic episodes. 6. Substance abuse and schizophrenia.

a. May be a causal relationship with marijuana, hallucinogens, amphetamines and ecstasy. b. 80% of schizophrenics will be involved in substance abuse of all kinds including alcohol,     illegal and prescription drugs. c. Illegal drug use can cause permanent brain damage and change and should be avoided     at all times.

7. Treatment for Schizophrenia is medication.Here is a list of Medications and side effects used to treat Schizophrenia in .pdf format you can print.

1. Positive symptoms: Seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling things that do not exist.

a. Includes hearing voices from God and others. These voices can tell them to believe things that are     untrue and do things that are terrible. b. These symptoms are often the first noticed problem and the cause for the diagnosis. c. They are not unique to schizophrenia and are not diagnostic of it. d. They do respond to medication, but not always completely.