Mental Illness and the Bible

Biblical distinctions of Jesus' healing

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Matthew 24:4   NKJV

For those of you who still struggle with the idea that mental illness exists wthin the Bible (as I did) , this verse really sums it up for me.

It is very clear from this verse that all of Jesus healings of sick people were put into 3 categories:

1) Spiritual -  - Demon possession  - this is obviously spiritual and while I do not believe a Christian can be demon pssessed since they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit - we still have spiritual problems that only Jesus can heal ( like "pride" for example... thats what I struggled with)

2) Mental or Brain-related - Epiliptics ( translated "lunatick" in the KJV, the greek word refers to epilipsy)  - although epilipsy is not usually classified as a 'mental illness" , it is in fact a disorder of the brain - and the brain is largely synonymous with the mind...." a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures.[1][2] These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.."  Wikipedia

 When we speak of "mental illness" , we are not just talking  about feeling down in thee dumps - we are talking about a clinical brain disorder.  There are literally malfunctions happening in the brain to cause this - this is proven beyond doubt by science.

In the case of OCD,  a part of the brain called the "Caudate Nucleus" is seen to be abnormally overstimulated when observed and is the primary cause of why some of us have excessive obsessive thoughts and compulsions - its like there is no built in  "shut off" button like a healthy brain would have.

We are also very aware of Alzheimers and other diseases that affect elderly people. We rightly understand and readily accept that this is a deterioration of the brain as the body ages- not demon possession. This would apply to Autism and Asperbergers as well.

While there are gross misunderstandings in psychology and especially psychiatry - we cannot throw the proverbial "baby" out with the bathwater. Psychology is simply the study of the mind ( i.e. brain and social and social and emotional  behaviour) and can therefore is a necessary thing and cann indeed be a godly thing.

3) Physical - Paralytics - while the brain is definitely physical it also a lot more complicated than we can fully understand and malfunctions there affect our cognitive orr mental abilities.   This speaks of something morre directly physical, quite separate from what we think of as the "mind".  If someone is paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury - we again rightly and readily understand this as a physical problem to be prayed about but also a case to be taken to a medical doctor.

The causes of any of the above types of illnesses could be sin-related or "for the glory of God" as Jesus said about the blind man in John 4.

They are most often simply a result of a fallen imperfect world. 

To read my perrsonal story of struggling with mental illness please read this article:  A Beautiful Mind

P.S. Emotional well being is also of  the utmost importance and is validated firmly by the Lord Jesus who "came to heal the broken hearted". (Luke 4:18)