I was asked if I believed I was God in hospital. Opinions?

Originally Posted by SlayerOfLight

Being spiritual doesn't mean you have to reject the existence of mental illnesses and shrug everything off as demonic possession and/or bad karma. Psychiatrists on the other hand are trained to be objective, regardless if they are spiritual or not (which I assume most aren't).

No it doesn't mean you have to, but how often does it happen anyway?

And I know what psychiatrists are trained to do, I used to work with them.

Originally Posted by sky123

The shrink will need a shrink after your Appointment I'd love to be a fly on the wall...

Your probably more ' Well Versed ' than any of them.....

Thanks, I think lol


It's like most things in Life, when you understand how the system works you work with it and not against it. Then it becomes a little more fun.

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

Greenslade's advice is the best to follow.

Shrinks have powers even the police and Courts don't - to lock you up indefinitely - with no route of appeal usually.

Be very careful. Shrinks are unable to deal with Spiritual matters, as he says. They can be gung-ho at times.

Thank you


Once a shrink 'sections' anyone under the mental health act, that person is considered a danger either to themselves or others. Depending on how the person reacts they can be doped up to the eyeballs to the state where they are completely non-functional. Just like the movies. This is what's bothering me about the OP, frankly, because if they object too enthusiastically they can be seen as a danger to themselves and end up in a psyche ward. Really.

[Heatherkey]

Originally Posted by Shivani Devi

What actually led to my diagnosis of Autism, was my inability to understand or to learn how what I say or do, has the potential to affect other people. For all my theories, the one I lack the most is called the 'theory of mind'.

The reason why I lack this, is because it seems no two people will respond the same to any given stimuli, so how would I know the emotional state of another when saying what I do? Some may break down in tears...others may laugh...others may shrug it off with a "whatever," so why should a label like "lack of empathy" apply to me? But I am digressing.

The problem over here, is that we don't have enough medical resources for the growing population...I guess that is the same in a lot of countries world over with a very high immigration rate, but they don't adjust their facilities and utilities to be able to keep up with the demands of it.

Last month, my local hospital was shut down for the whole day, due to industrial action over the sacking of a security guard...even though we have a conservative government in Australia, this country is still run by the Trade Unions (and it has been that way since the 1970s).

I also think some people are scare mongering, because legally (in a LOT of countries) a person cannot be institutionalised or incarcerated without being first sectioned by the courts...they don't come around with their little white coats and straight jackets anymore, because even the mentally ill have this thing called "human rights" and Starman is totally correct when he says that everyone on this PLANET has a mental illness according to the DSM 5...there aren't enough hospitals on earth and nor could they ever build enough to lock up all of these "crazy folk".

And with more people waking up and discovering unity of consciousness, a better question needs to be asked than "are you God?"

I mean, you could always lie...if you would rather not be true to yourself. The demands of society and social norms does not force me to say or do anything I wouldn't normally do...a priest could ask me...a doctor could ask me...and BOTH would get the same answer...but this is because I am Autistic and I can understand that not everyone is Autistic at least. I just totally lack the ability to keep changing my personal story according to whom I am speaking with for egoic preservation like all neurotypical people can do.

Here, the financial problem is that there are so many conditions that have a treatment now, the NHS cant afford to treat them all and its a constant moral dilemma to decide which conditions to treat and which not to.

Most mental health conditions lie on a spectrum which is why it would appear that everyone on the planet has a mental health disorder. There are 2 difference between common symptoms and a mental health disorder or illness: one is that a mental health disorder diagnosis usually requires a specific combination of symtoms, not just one or two. The second and most significant is how a person is responding to experiencing those symptoms.

As you say, men in white coats dont go around the streets asking people about their beliefs and sectioning anyone that says that they believe they are god. Here, a person would have to either make the choice to visit a doctor and tell them about the symptoms they were worried about. Or, they would have to be behaving to such an extreme that they were considered a risk to their own health or others.

In relation to the op and the other posts here, when the question 'do you believe you are god' is asked, it is asked in order to try to determine what inner mental processes are causing the symptoms that are occurring. If there are no other symptoms occurring, then it is unlikely that the person would inexplicably find themselves in acute psychiatric inpatient care, which is the context that the op was asked the question. Also, if a person is asked that question, it is unlikely to be a single question, but would usually be part of a series of questions to determine the way self perception and perception of others may be affecting behaviour.

For example, if a person believes that we are all god because they have some awareness of consciousness, then that wouldnt be considered as effecting mental health. But if, as the questions continued, the person believed that as god, they were able to control peoples minds, or that they knew people were out to kill them and they needed protection, or that they knew they had to cleanse the earth of the devil by killing.... then that belief that they are god is a driver that makes that person a danger to themselves or others.

I do think that many posts on this thread miss out context. Doing so creates fear in people that neednt fear their beliefs or being themselves. But also, its detrimental for those that do need psychiatric help. It can be scary to be mentally unwell and it takes courage to seek help. Some replies here could make it more terrifying for that person by demonising those that do help.

[Heatherkey]

Originally Posted by Greenslade

Thanks, I think lol


It's like most things in Life, when you understand how the system works you work with it and not against it. Then it becomes a little more fun.

We perhaps understand the 'system' from different perspectives and even from different countries. So Im not challenging your truth, but hoping to develop awarenss of there being different perspectives of the same system. So can I ask which experience of the system your views come from?

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by Heatherkey

Here, the financial problem is that there are so many conditions that have a treatment now, the NHS cant afford to treat them all and its a constant moral dilemma to decide which conditions to treat and which not to.

Most mental health conditions lie on a spectrum which is why it would appear that everyone on the planet has a mental health disorder. There are 2 difference between common symptoms and a mental health disorder or illness: one is that a mental health disorder diagnosis usually requires a specific combination of symtoms, not just one or two. The second and most significant is how a person is responding to experiencing those symptoms.

As you say, men in white coats dont go around the streets asking people about their beliefs and sectioning anyone that says that they believe they are god. Here, a person would have to either make the choice to visit a doctor and tell them about the symptoms they were worried about. Or, they would have to be behaving to such an extreme that they were considered a risk to their own health or others.

In relation to the op and the other posts here, when the question 'do you believe you are god' is asked, it is asked in order to try to determine what inner mental processes are causing the symptoms that are occurring. If there are no other symptoms occurring, then it is unlikely that the person would inexplicably find themselves in acute psychiatric inpatient care, which is the context that the op was asked the question. Also, if a person is asked that question, it is unlikely to be a single question, but would usually be part of a series of questions to determine the way self perception and perception of others may be affecting behaviour.

For example, if a person believes that we are all god because they have some awareness of consciousness, then that wouldnt be considered as effecting mental health. But if, as the questions continued, the person believed that as god, they were able to control peoples minds, or that they knew people were out to kill them and they needed protection, or that they knew they had to cleanse the earth of the devil by killing.... then that belief that they are god is a driver that makes that person a danger to themselves or others.

I do think that many posts on this thread miss out context. Doing so creates fear in people that neednt fear their beliefs or being themselves. But also, its detrimental for those that do need psychiatric help. It can be scary to be mentally unwell and it takes courage to seek help. Some replies here could make it more terrifying for that person by demonising those that do help.

Oh yes!

Over here, we call those K10 forms.."answer the next 30 questions on a scale of 1-10 how you've been feeling since we saw you last"....you have to fill one in every fortnight when I go to see MY shrink who has got me working on "COMPASSION FOCUSED THERAPY" and NLP right now...which proves one CAN find them (after years of looking).

But yeah, it always boils down to how high/low functioning one is and the potential risk they would pose to self and/or other, basically...other countries may be different...I would hate to live in America...maybe not Denver, Colorado...

Originally Posted by Heatherkey

I do think that many posts on this thread miss out context. Doing so creates fear in people that neednt fear their beliefs or being themselves. But also, its detrimental for those that do need psychiatric help. It can be scary to be mentally unwell and it takes courage to seek help. Some replies here could make it more terrifying for that person by demonising those that do help.

I have to agree with this as well. I can understand that some people have their own tales to tell but certainly in the UK it's not all bad. Mental health often attracts 'bad press' and the movies don't help either. It's difficult enough to admit to having mental health issues and I can't help but wonder if sometimes people are looking for Spiritual solutions as avoidance rather than seeking professional help. No I'm not going to offer any diagnoses but sometimes people say things that make you wonder, and I have seen enough posts where members have strongly recommended seeking professional help.

My own concern as regards the OP is that Tarralb may well have mental health issues which are being exacerbated by Spirituality, and who knows what she's been told by 'Spiritual experts' in the forum. She's obviously 'in the system' and confused as to where Spirituality meets mental health. While psychiatrists don't often know much about Spirituality so Spiritual people tend not to know so much about psychiatry. I remember talking to one member who was told that her psychotic episodes were clairvoyance.

My question is how many 'lurkers' with potential mental health issues are reading this? It's been said that religion is for those that are afraid of going to hell and Spirituality is for those that have been there. How many people can put their hands up to having been through or are going through their own hell?

Originally Posted by Heatherkey

We perhaps understand the 'system' from different perspectives and even from different countries. So Im not challenging your truth, but hoping to develop awarenss of there being different perspectives of the same system. So can I ask which experience of the system your views come from?

It was called the Spectrum Partnership at the time but it's now defunct, but it was an off-shoot of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship. I was based in Coventry in the UK. The aim of the project was to take people who had been through the mental health system and train them in skills which would facilitate their return to employment. As far as I'm aware we were one of only three similar projects in the whole of the OK at the time. My job was specifically jobsearch and computer training but it soon became pretty obvious that the job-search part was a dead duck. What we did though was to set up projects that would give them work-related experience but within the confines of a supportive environment, to cut a very long story short.

As part of that I worked with local mental health professionals whose organisations were referring their clients to our services, and as part of the referral process and on-going and client care I was privy to their case histories and their issues. Essentially. I had to understand their mental health issues for their care and participation, the care of the others with whom they would be interacting and how what we were doing would affect their recovery. And obviously we'd work closely with the clients as well, who'd have their own tales to tell.

[Dargor]

Originally Posted by Greenslade

No it doesn't mean you have to, but how often does it happen anyway?

And I know what psychiatrists are trained to do, I used to work with them.

How often it happens? No idea, it's not like I go around asking people. However, I think it's safe to assume that anyone with a rational mind and common sense, spiritual or not, would acknowledge the existence of mental illness because that's a fact. And no, it isn't some kind of divine karmic punishment.

Originally Posted by SlayerOfLight

How often it happens? No idea, it's not like I go around asking people. However, I think it's safe to assume that anyone with a rational mind and common sense, spiritual or not, would acknowledge the existence of mental illness because that's a fact. And no, it isn't some kind of divine karmic punishment.

Take a look at some of the comments and you'll see why so many don't want to admit to having a mental health issue. People can find it difficult to be honest with themselves sometimes, and admitting you have a mental health issue is as honest as you can get. Admitting you have something like that wrong with you takes more courage than you'd imagine. I don't know what the current figures are but a higher percentage of people hear voices in their heads than would admit to it - Spirituality might call it 'inner dialogue' because there are no objective measures as to what constitutes inner dialogue or a mental health issue. Not only is it a huge grey area in terms of mental health, nobody wants the stigma of thinking they're insane.

Many people won't even walk into a shrink's office because of the perceived stigma, either there own or others' to find out if they have a mental health issue in the first place. And there are those that more than likely have been diagnosed as having a metal health issue but deny it anyway. I've known a few personally. It takes a lot for a mental health issue to be acknowledged as a 'fact' and to be dealt with on that basis. 'Rational' and 'common sense' are relative to one's own perspective.

When your Spiritual Self is eating your Spiritual toast and Spiritual jam, at what point does it become dissociative with the wider reality? Positive thinking is denial because people deny their feelings instead of acknowledging them and dealing with them effectively. In the forum vernacular 'karma' equates to reward and punishment mentality - 'positive' karma means reward and 'negative' karma means punishment. And for some people - Spiritual or not - mental health and so many other issues are divine retribution. It's also called balancing their karma for past misdeeds.

My point is not to discredit beliefs but to point out the understanding of the interconnectedness of Spirituality and what's flying around in pour skulls. It would also be nice to start an open and honest discussion without the inevitable Spiritual techno-babble than doesn't really serve any purpose in that context. Or it could all get pushed into a dark, fear-filled corner as usual.