How does your religion explain mental illness?

I'm Jewish. We simply believe that mental illness is - well - a mental illness.

There was a time when those who committed suicide were not buried with Jews who died "normally." However, that was in years gone by, and that's no longer true.

By and large, I think that most Jews would say that people with some forms of mental illnesses are not responsible for their actions. Certainly, one of the stereotypes concerning Jews is that there are lots of Jewish psychologists, doctors and psychiatrists; if anybody understands mental illness, I'd say we would. I've definitely NEVER heard anything negative spoken about someone who was mentally ill as it relates to Judaism.

Is Religion A Mental Illness

You seem to assume that "religion" must refer to the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, not all faiths subscribe to those scriptures, or even to any. As a Pagan I believe that the Gods created the Universe and the Natural Laws by which it runs, those laws include chance and luck. Mental illnesses, like any other kind, or, for that matter natural disasters, occurs through chance not design and dealing with them is a part of the human condition.

The Gods also gave us free will, so we are accountable for voluntary actions based on what we know or believe, that means that mental illness is a factor in the consequences of those actions. Science is a tool for understanding how the universe works, spirituality is a means of exploring your relationship with the Gods, the two cannot in any way conflict since they address two separate issues.

Committing suicide is NOT an unforgivable sin . It is a sin like any sin can be forgiven if God wants to .That is what Quran says.

I believe that God is wise and merciful and He is the only one knows very well all the most inner feelings of each one of us , He knows why he committed suicide so he might forgive him , I can't see why not . It's not an easy choice for one to kill himself , some might really have very strong reasons which seem strong for them and those Allah might forgive them , we never know , we can't judge that .

We look at God as if we're more understanding and more merciful than Him , which is not right.

Mental illness is a disease when the person lose the ability of sound judgment and actions so they are not accountable at all for any action they do.

In Catholicism, mental illness is seen the same way that the medical community sees it 99.999999999% of the time. VERY rarely it is demoniacally induced, but let me stress that it is very very very very rare. If you were a Catholic and you went to a Priest about it, he would probably tell you to go to a psychiatrist and get it treated (and also would tell you to go to Confession regularly and pray more often). Things like mental illness are seen holistically, so that both the inner problems (brain chemistry and thought problems) and the outer problems (sin and other issues) are treated.

Suicide is a mortal sin if the person is in their right mind when they do it, which most people are. Depression doesn't mean that you are also insane. God judges each person on what they did with what they were given in this life. If you are insane or mentally handicapped He will go easier on you.

First of all I completely blame my mental health issues on my CHILDREN!!!!! LOL - j/k

But beyond that - how accountable we will be for what we've done in this life as it relates to our mental stability is certainly something only God can judge and I trust He will do so with all fairness and mercy. Suicide is in that same category as far as I'm concerned. I honestly doubt FEW people commit this horrendous act while they are in their right mind or are functioning at full capacity.

I think we are accountable for what we do based on what we know and also what we fail to do. There is much we can do nowadays for depression and other mental health issues and I think we need to get the help that is available so that we are thinking as clearly as we possibly can and being the best people, best parents, best partners etc that we can be. Medication is certainly acceptable to the Lord - surely He inspired many who many discoveries for such things in the medical world, right? So we should take advantage of such things.

As far as a scriptural basis for this - well I think they didn't suffer so commonly with the same mental & emotional ailments as we do today - so finding a scripture to back up such things is a stretch no matter how you look at it....

Everything in life is about choice & accountability

Justice, grace & mercy - and God has it all in order even if we don't

How does "religion" explain it ? I don't care how religion explains it, I care about the how the "Word of God" explains it. We all are in a fallen state and each and everyone of us has something wrong with us. Even the Apostle Paul (once an fervent enemy of God) had a life long sickness of some kind, it bothered him much, he called it "A thorn in his side', and he asked God to cure it, but God said "His grace was sufficient" and did not heal Paul of his disorder. I think He was trying to teach Paul something about suffering and how to carry suffering through life to build Godly character. Some have sickness that is apparent, some have something wrong that isn't so apparent. Just know that it was written into our lives and is no mistake, there is a purpose for it and sometimes only knows what that purpose is, in the end it serves His good purpose.

I don't know if there is really an "explanation"... we all have our trials and having a mental illness is one of those trials because we live on this earth we are subject to everything - disease, sickness, illnesses, death, and of course all the good there is too...

I have my own theory about people with mental illnesses - which I have also heard stories about - that those with serious illnesses, especially ones like down syndrome, were so valiant in the premortal existance, that they were given this illness so they couldn't be tempted by satan.

I have a younger brother who has a mix of ADD, Autism, OCD and Social Anxiety. He is very concrete in what he is taught and is told. In my opinion, he is one of the most spiritual people I know and I believe he will be different in the life to come. He won't have those disabilities, but will still have his wonderful testimony.

I believe the Lord has a special plan for all of us, especially those with those types of disabilities.

My path doesn't have an opinion on it.

My personal belief is that mental illness either passed down through the genes, substance abuse, sexual abuse etc. Many reasons. But to say the the 'devil' or 'sin' causes it is another way to make someone feel guilty or that they deserve this illness. That's so wrong.

In general, we leave it up to God to judge how accountable someone is. I put more faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ to cover the vast majority of the sins in the world. The 10 Commandments were there for a reason, and I think the thing Jesus Christ condemned most while He was alive on earth was offending little children. In the Bible we don't have enough information to really determine why Judas Iscariot hanged himself, but we can rely on God to judge. I once knew a talented musician who committed suicide, and his mother worried for a while that her son would not be forgiven by God, but later with prayer and counseling she was sure that it would work out. In the Book of Mormon there was a people called the Anti-Nephi-Lehites whose entire culture was more like the Mayas with ritual killing and murder, but they repented of that completely and even buried their weapons so as not to fall into that way of life ever again. The thing is the Book of Mormon does not indicate exactly how long it took for that entire people to repent. It may have been weeks, months, or a few years. Now I do believe that you can go through a depression if you have committed sin, because the Holy Ghost will withdraw and let you know that you need to repent, but sometimes depression is caused by stressful events, or even "tapping into" stressful events that relatives-even distant ones-are also experiencing. I also believe that evil spirits will do their best to take advantage of mental instability and push people to do much worse things than they would have thought of on their own. I had a great-uncle with schizophrenia, but I think the worst thing he ever did was steal a typewriter or some money or something like that from a man who had refused to pay him for work he had done. He also had a problem with "inappropriate" language when not on medication, and sometimes even when he was taking it. Another relative has had closed head injuries and has some unpredictable behavior once in a while. Our family used to know a lady who wrote a book called "Prozac: Panacea or Pandora?" who documented cases of people doing horrible things while taking Prozac for depression or mental problems, including committing suicide, but since none of us can "see" true causes or mixed causes of depression, including evil spirits ganging up on people, again we have to leave it up to God. I have been following the case of Elizabeth Smart in the news and am curious to see if Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee will ever be fully "competent" and accountable. My guess is probably not in this life. We may be surprised after the Second Coming how many people with very bright minds and hidden talents there are in mental hospitals. I'd like to see them all healed, but it is up to Jesus Christ, who designed the human body after God the Father's pattern, to fix that.