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CHAPTER III
THE MENTALLY DISEASED
IT is of great importance that Christian ministers and spiritual
advisers should be well informed about the nature of mental
disease and the religious symptoms that often accompany it. It
is too often assumed that an insane person is beyond the reach of
spiritual help. Some patients no doubt are; but there are many
more who need and are capable of receiving both comfort and
constructive encouragement from religion. Moreover, a
wellinformed spiritual counsellor can advise and assist the relatives
of mentally ill people in many ways, not least by ensuring that
their own attitudes towards the patient will not adversely
affect him. We can never afford to forget that the average man
and woman’s behaviour towards the insane is still governed by
fear and shame rather than compassion; and for this reason
the friends of a mentally ill person are not seldom his worst
enemies.
The effects of this kind of ignorance are especially clear in
those cases of depressed insanity where religious brooding or
speculation is one of the symptoms. Relatives of such patients
often suppose that religion as such is the cause of the religious
preoccupation, or even of the patient’s illness. They therefore
warn the patient or try to divert his mind from religious matters,
and of course increase his distress. In such a situation the
position of the spiritual adviser is peculiarly delicate. He must
know what to do and how to do it if he is to give positive help to
the patient directly and through his friends. Other forms of
insanity, of course, present different problems. Only
knowledge can protect the spiritual adviser from making mistakes
that can be disastrous for all concerned.
Classification of Mental Diseases
The psychoses, insanities or mental diseases are of physical
origin: bodily disorders presenting mental symptoms. They are
usually classified in four groups, as follows:
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