What Is "detraction"?

[theculturewarrior]

Ok, but this is not detraction.

 

I agree.  It's not detraction unless it's true.  And on an Internet forum, how can you know?  Does that the possibility of committing a grave sin likelier?

Off-topic, but this isn't true. I've worked in a psychiatric hospital and I've seen plenty of patients with bipolar disorder who were far more ill than those with schizophrenia, and plenty of other patients who didn't have either of these conditions and yet were more severely unwell than any of the patients who did. There is no way to tell just how ill someone is by the diagnosis they have. I can see that you're keen to put a stop to stereotypes, but be careful you don't accidentally end up perpetuating some more.

 

Bottom line is, if you are not qualified to make a medical diagnosis, then you really don't whether someone with a mental illness is dangerous or not.  Even then, you would need medical history and time for screening.  Over the Internet that is not very likely to happen.  Thanks be to God!  It feels like my work here is drawing to a close.

[theculturewarrior]

But I am viewed by some as a 'good advertisement' for sufferers since nowadays I am quite stable and well - a contradiction to stereotypes of sufferers. 

 

I have been told the same thing.  I have had my share of success and have stayed out of trouble (by and large, tee hee).  The best thing about this condition is that there is no stigma in my family.  I destroyed it when they saw me as I really am and realized my worth.  My wife.  My mother (who has been lurking here for close to ten years).  My father to whom I say I love you instead of goodbye.  Everyone I know, even my inlaws and friends.  I can wig out online or in person and they get it.  A lot of people don't have that.

[BarbTherese]

Off-topic, but this isn't true. I've worked in a psychiatric hospital and I've seen plenty of patients with bipolar disorder who were far more ill than those with schizophrenia, and plenty of other patients who didn't have either of these conditions and yet were more severely unwell than any of the patients who did. There is no way to tell just how ill someone is by the diagnosis they have. I can see that you're keen to put a stop to stereotypes, but be careful you don't accidentally end up perpetuating some more.

 

What you state above is spot on! 

However, when I first fell ill, I was very seriously ill with almost back to back serious psychotic epsides (without violence and bizzare type violence as content howeven, yet extremely bizzare nontheless). This prevailed over probably a 20 year period. My episodes of 'normality', were shorter than my episodes of psychosis and I was well and truly ensconsed in the revolving door of a psychiatric unit and my medical prognosis for the future offered no hope

 

There is always something of a risk that in trying to accomplish some good, it all blows up in one's face.  One goes on trusting in The Lord doing the best one can "Lord, give success to the work of our hands" (Psalm 117 [25] O Lord, save me: O Lord, give good success) - success is always in God's Hands and failure is always a possibility.  This latter belongs to the Permissive Will of God who never permits an evil unless He brings a greater good out of it.

 

I had a psychiatrist state to me "Humpty dumpty sat on a wall and had a great fall and all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty together again".  I replied "Don't discount The King".

Mental illness of every kind can be somewhat mild to extremely severe and varies from sufferer to sufferer.  Schizophrenia and Bipolar are regarded as the two most serious mental illness (schizophrenia regarded as the first altho it depends on what scale is used: http://natashatracy.com/bipolar-disorder/whats-worst-mental-illness/) and can have a range of seriousness and sometimes the Bipolar sufferer is far more ill than the person with schizophrenia.  Sometimes even, a person with neither of these illnesses can be far more ill in than those suffering both schizophrenia and bipolar. Some can suffer both schizophrenia as well as bipolar.  All mental illness has a range from somewhat mild to extremely severe - and a given, or goes without saying I thought - and wrongly and shall amend my concept.

 

_____________________

 

273 Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power.¹¹³ The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God", and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name."¹¹⁴

 

311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil.¹⁷⁶ He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:

• For almighty God. . ., because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.¹⁷⁷
•  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[theculturewarrior]

And throw a misdiagnosis or psychiatric malpractice into the mix and things can get quite uncomfortable, as is my story.  I don't expect people to understand anymore, for the most part, people don't even remember.  I do find myself explaining myself sometimes though.  Usually I just want to be with my family and live a quiet life.  God provides.  He's been very merciful and kind to me.

Edited December 22, 2012 by theculturewarrior

[BarbTherese]

I still suffer Bipolar Disorder and probably will for the rest of my life - nowadays I have learnt to recognize very early warning signs of a potential episode and rather than hope it will pass, I immediately put into place those coping measures to avert the episode (as discussed with my psychiatrist).  I always take my medication quite religiously.  Having been well over such a long period, I spoke with my psych about going off medication.  She replied "I am now having an anxiety attack"  Hence, my resolution is to leave medication as it is, if she is having an anxiety attack, then very real anxiety is called for, I know.

I have come to recognize medicine in all its forms as a Gift of God to mankind in the struggle against suffering.

However, to stay on topic, coping with stereotyping and detraction is extremely difficult and the cause of much suffering.  Once a person has lost a good reputation hence the respect of others, it is probably going to be difficult to impossible to re-establish it and patience will be asked if one can ever re-establish it, patience and quite hard work over a very long period.  One will need to have insight and compassion, empathy, on others and their false notions and, in my case, to view any suffering in a positive light with a guaranteed positive outcome even if it is not what I wanted in the re-establishment of a good reputation and the respect of others.

Not that this is a signal necessarily, of necessity, to give up trying to re-establish that good reputation.  Suffering is an evil and we are asked to engage in the struggle against all evil - in fact the re-engagement of the struggle in the face of failure may be the very good that God intended to bring about in the first place in a strengthening of Faith and fortitude.  Very often, we do not know the precise reason why one suffer's as one does -  all will be known in Heaven.  Life does not end with the death of the body, it is merely the final doorway through which everyone must pass prior to Judgement and the fulness of eternity.  We are in eternity now in other words.

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[theculturewarrior]

Sadly, sometimes the only way to clear your name is through litigation.  It is a difficult moment in a Christian's life.

[BarbTherese]

In the case of misdiagnosis, this is probably very true.  I am sorry to read that you had to go through what you surely must have gone through.

In the case of an accurate diagnosis, the person is ill and mental illness is an illness like any other such as heart disease, cancer etc.  Organs in the body can become diseased or misfunction; hence, why not the brain.  One does not expect a crippled person to walk unaided in some way.  One does not expect a prfoundly hearing impaired person to hear nor a severely speech impaired person to speak in the common fashion.  Sufferers of mental illness very often cannot 'think straight' (effect of their illness) and cannot be expected to do so and the result of illness not culpability and never warranting a 'put down' or detraction by others.  After stigma, the next major problem sufferers will probably face is isolation and loneliness and the result of false stigma, false stereotyping and detractions often.  Sometimes, I have experienced, mental illness can even be viewed as the result of some sort of spiritual reprobatedness (if that's a word!) and by those who really and truly should be better informed with accurate information.  With one in five and it may be now one in four experiencing some form of mental illness in their lifetime, it is well and truly time to for society and all communities within society, including religious faith professions, to have accurate information and very often not so.

I read an article by a missionary priest stating that only the mentally ill have insight into devil possession.  This was absolutely ridiculous in the extreme and false.  He refused to correct his sweeping generalized statements despite senior mental health workers also being quite taken aback at the article.

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[theculturewarrior]

That might turn me Anglican.

[BarbTherese]

That might turn me Anglican.

 

I sure hope not.  You may receive better treatment on the human level as I am told sufferers of MI do in the Anglican Church without my personal experience to suppport such a position, but what a tragic loss spiritually.   And if one turns Anglican to be better treated on the human level, Faith is not invested, I dont think anyway, in God and Truth...........although not necessarily so.  One's Faith might be invested for self gain on some quite human and worldly level.

 

Look at what happened to Jesus and the very best of human beings, Second Person of The Blessed Trinity.  Ideally The Cross is at the centre and heart and soul of our Faith and a stumbling block often.

 

I read somewhere that to stay on the inside of an institution is to strive for revolution and to fight from the outside of an institution is re-formation (re forming) elsewhere. The Catholic Church has a long history of mistreating the very best of its members sometimes.  I read somewhere else that a true revolutionary will stop for love but for romance, never.  I mused to myself that the sole love of a revolutionary is the revolution.  Hence, the true revolutionary simply will never give up, never stop.  And every revolution needs its martyrs, those willing to go all the way come what may.  :)  And Jesus, to my mind, was both prophetic and a non violent revolutionary and a martyr to His Cause, The Gospel. 

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[cappie]

Seems to me under the definition of detraction, it is ok to reveal about yourself.  For those to whom you reveal it to go ahead and reveal it to others who did not know may be another matter.  Detraction strikes me anyway as 'murky waters' as moral theology can be.  If someone reveals something wrongful about themselves, it might be best to keep silent on the matter and treat it as confidential and according to the moral definition, this would depend on what is actually revealed.  Murky waters.

My experience (limited) is that those who do engage in gossip type matters usually have a rationilization why they are revealing it justifying their actions.

 

Canon Law: #. 220 No one may unlawfully harm the good reputation which a person enjoys, or violate the right of every person to protect his or her privacy.

[theculturewarrior]

Confidentiality is part of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Does canon law give violating that the prohibition of sin?

[BarbTherese]

Cappie -  Of course, I do not disagree with Canon Law.  The 'murky waters' are in the word "unlawfully" - i.e. what is lawful and what is not lawful.  The very word "unlawfully" implies that there may be quite "lawful" reasons.  Canon Law can be another minefield which is why we have Canon Lawyers so that we can fully understand what is and what is not being stated by Canon Law.  We all have a God given right to privacy which may need to be violated under very serious circumstances.  To violate the privacy of another human being is a very serious move indeed and never to be undertaken without very serious reasons.

 

TheCultureWarrior - We are to obey lawful authorities in all matters that are not sinful.  Would it be sinful not to reveal to authorities that a psychiatric patient with violent tendances has access to a weapon/gun - were I a psychiatrist  in the USA(or any psychiatrist anywhere), I would be consulting a moral theologian.  Also I dont know what the USA Disabilities Act has to say about such a circumstances (patient with violent tendances has access to a weapon).   I think here in Australia they have to make such a report - although I am not at all sure of this point in any way.  Other members may know.  It might be a good question to raise in Apologetics or Q and A.  I do know here in Australia that the homes of psychiatric patients can be searched for weapons if the authorities have cause and they don't seem to need much cause really.  A woman I know with MI hit a security guard in a hospital around the head with her handbag because of something he said to her she took unkindly.  Her home was thoroughly searched for weapons.

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[theculturewarrior]

Another tragic thing for a disabled American is that sometimes discrimination ends in violence, whether you stand up for your rights or not.  For that reason, I have learned in life that if God is on my side, I will not remain silent and I never say die.  I will always stand up for my rights.

[BarbTherese]

"If God is with us, then who can be against us?" (Romans 8 V31).  The battle, the struggle, to erase false stereotypes of sufferers of MI and all the injustices that can go with having such an illness will eventually cease - probably not in my lifetime for sure nor even soon after the proverbial bucket is kicked perhaps - at least here on earth. "The poor you will always have with you" - hence our responsibility and accountability towards poverty of every kind remains with us as responsibility and accountability before God.  The question at Judgement I dont think will be so much "What have you believed?" but "How have you Loved?"  But we know in Faith that Justice will prevail; meanwhile, it is for some to struggle and battle against injustice of every kind until "every tear is wiped away" certainly in Heaven as guaranteed.  The Kingdom of Jesus is established in Love of God and neighbour and in Peace, Joy, Justice and Truth.  And in an ideal sense and for one only, this is what religious communities of all kinds are meant to witness to us and for us and to the whole of mankind - i.e. a reflection of Heaven or The Kingdom .    "The Kingdom of God is within you" from which Love of God and neighbour, Peace, Joy, Justice and Truth flow.  Ideally again, this is what our parishes and our Catholicism is meant to witness to to the world.

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[BarbTherese]

My next reading assignment I've printed for myself is "Salvifici Doloris" by Pope John Paul II on "The Christian Meaning of Suffering".  After that, I am going to tackle the social doctrine of The Church again.  All documents etc.- out of Rome make absolutely invaluable and totally rewarding reading - and handy to have a Dictionary and Catholic Dictionary on hand as one does, at least for me.

True Love of God is always without fail evidenced in love of neighbour.  In Grace, in Jesus, we share in the very life of The Blessed Trinity and God Loves every single person without any descrimination whatsoever.  In Grace, in Jesus, we are sharers in that Love.  "How can you say you Love God whom you cannot see, if you do not love your neighbour whom you can see".

Edited December 23, 2012 by BarbaraTherese