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  #1  
Old 18-02-2018, 05:57 AM
Crystal Ambassador Crystal Ambassador is offline
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How has spirituality impacted your mental health?

Pretty straightforward; for those of you who have a mental/emotional/personality disorder, how has your spirituality affected it? Do you feel more capable of functioning, has it complicated your perception of reality, or made things worse? In what ways?
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Old 18-02-2018, 07:07 AM
lazydullard lazydullard is offline
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schizoaffective disorder and an addict. spirituality enabled me to gain lasting sobriety, so that's nice. the schizoaffective disorder isn't debilitating when I'm sober.

Spiritual development exacerbated my schizoaffective disorder before I got medicated. I began starving for "peak enlightenment experiences" and started thinking extremely highly of myself. But then I learned to be a bit more humble and the importance of seeking out omens and signs and planning intensively for a miracle that now I can admit probably won't come true became less. That is to say, I don't believe in the delusions as much.

I used to think that I was going to rule the earth as the son of satan and have magickal powers. Now I think that's not going to happen. I'll live a regular life.

Being forced to work on the addiction got me over the hump with my schizoaffective disorder. Addiction is extremely humbling.

Now, I justify that my years of life as an outlaw was a spiritual exploration of self versus society and of good and evil. But that might just be a justification for the crimes I committed to feed my addiction.

I note that in both addiction and mental health treatments, spirituality is a heavily emphasized growth area to pursue. There's literally people walking around cured by God. Amazing. I side with the devil still, though.
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Old 18-02-2018, 08:03 PM
rainbow.sprinkles rainbow.sprinkles is offline
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I have borderline personality disorder and major depressive disorder.

spiritually I'm pagan, I also practice the philosophies of Buddhism.

paganism helps me stay grounded, feel empowered, and helps me to feel that there is a reason for everything which is really helpful when I get to a dark place.

Buddhism has been huge for my BPD. I always struggled to actually put my DBT skills into practice, but once I started studying and practicing buddhism, I suddenly found that I was able to slow down my reactivity and find that mental space between my emotional reaction and my external reaction to step back, take a breath, and re-evaluate my kneejerk reaction. my emotional baseline has come right down, I communicate better with the challenging people in my life, and mindfulness helps me to enjoy the present more and focus less on the past and future, which is good for my depression.

I definitely wouldn't say any of it complicates my perception of reality. spirituality has been a very positive thing for me overall, and especially for my mental health.
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Old 25-02-2018, 08:10 PM
Alice_1 Alice_1 is offline
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I think that people with mental/emotional/personality disorders defintely have problems with their spirituality. Spirit is always affected in a bad way when a person struggles to find the balance inside
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Old 19-03-2018, 04:25 AM
Crystal Ambassador Crystal Ambassador is offline
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Thank you for responding. Rainbow, what parts of Buddhism have helped you broaden the gap between experience and reaction?
Lazydullard, do you feel your spiritual experiences are just az rich, moreso, or less so without substances? I know you mentioned it helping with your schizoaffective; did it help you learn to distinguish reality more easily?
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"Sometimes you will act as an angel to others, perhaps without even realizing it. One day a woman comes up to you and says 'You saved my life'. You look at her astonished, trying to remember the last time you even saw this person before, the meeting meant so little to you at the time. 'Don't you remember? I was standing on the bridge, staring at the water, and you passed and said 'Good morning'."
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Old 20-03-2018, 01:04 AM
rainbow.sprinkles rainbow.sprinkles is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crystal Ambassador
Rainbow, what parts of Buddhism have helped you broaden the gap between experience and reaction?

there was no specific thing, really. I just noticed after I'd been doing lots of reading on it and trying to approach the world and the people I crossed paths with from a generally Buddhist perspective, that I became less reactive. loving kindness meditations were really influential for me, and I went from always avoiding human contact when I was out in the world to being open to it, basically just being open and friendly instead of closed off and ****ed off all the time.
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  #7  
Old 20-03-2018, 01:32 AM
uloDoe Youn uloDoe Youn is offline
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spirituality, normally affects all things as it is digested and injested by the mind/mentality and henceforth virged out in the seclusion of the mind.

i apprehend, that all solutions can be found that way, if in sense the mind which puts effort to the mentality/heart into effect

wherebyt, if you eat correctly, put out/digest correctly for the healing of the heart/effort.
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  #8  
Old 21-03-2018, 01:57 AM
Raven Poet
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Hi Crystal.

I think my spirituality has opened my eyes more. I feel more attuned to others energies.

But being an empath, I also pick up more on the pain and suffering, which affects my own wellbeing. I have to tread carefully to not overwhelm myself. Cuz if I'm out of commission, I'm not very much help in the work I do.

Thanks for starting an interesting conversation!
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  #9  
Old 18-04-2018, 01:13 PM
vinoth vinoth is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crystal Ambassador
Pretty straightforward; for those of you who have a mental/emotional/personality disorder, how has your spirituality affected it? Do you feel more capable of functioning, has it complicated your perception of reality, or made things worse? In what ways?

The benefits one can experience are threefold:

In stressful moments , there is a greater ease in dissolving conflicting emotional states like anger, anxiety or disappointment and returning to a calm inner state. As we continually disentangle ourselves of stressful states, we cease to remain stuck in the past or the future and become more present to life.

In happy moments, there is a greater appreciation of the beauty that surrounds us; a greater ability to feel and connect to the other. As we grow in beautiful states of love, happiness or peace, we nurture healthier brains, healthier bodies and loving relationships. We also witness more synchronicities or favourable situations unfold in our lives.

Overall, a consistent practice of spirituality/meditation expands your consciousness or sense of self. It becomes more and more natural to see and experience yourself as part of a larger web of life, a vast field of consciousness, rather than a limited being stuck to their limited experiences of pain and pleasure.
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Old 18-04-2018, 01:41 PM
Dargor Dargor is offline
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Honestly, I think a lot of so-called ''spiritual'' stuff may actually be the cause of mental disorders...
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