Mental illness is a profound crisis of personal meaning'

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Mental illness is a profound crisis of personal
meaning.
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The persons life is changed as they are thrust
into a state of altered health and functioning
ability.
Strange land marked by Chaos Confusion Crisis
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Crisis
Dangerous opportunity
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Spiritual Emergency.Spiritual Crisis
This is a time when .....the experiences ..the
physical states , ..the insights come very
rapidly,
and a person sometimes in that situation has
trouble coping with their everyday life, and for
a while may even need to step away from some of
their daily responsibilities to give attention to
this inner process that's become very
overwhelming. Christina Grof
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It entails a loss for the person of their sense
of place and belonging in world,
their connectedness with others.
Old purposes and meanings no longer exist.
It raises questions of identity, self-worth,
values, belonging, trust, purpose and direction
in life.
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You know, if I wasnt made in Gods image and
likeness I dont know what I would be like.
So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him male and female he
created them RSV Genesis 1 27
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We are not human beings on a spiritual
journey. We are spiritual beings on a human
journey. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
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Who am I?
Why am I in this world?
What is going to happen to me my friends?
How can I save the situation?
How can I atone for my mistakes and sins?
Boisen,A. The Exploration of the Inner World
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Some forms of Mental Illness are the persons
attempt to resolve a problem of the soul.
Boisen,A. The Exploration of the Inner
World.
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Just as symptoms like fever cough are not
diseases but rather the bodys attempt to fight
an infection, so too psychiatric symptoms like
anxiety depression are not themselves diseases
but rather the souls attempt to resolve an inner
conflict- by forcing us to pay attention to the
unconscious
Frattorelli, E. Healing the Soul in the Age of
the Brain

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What gives this persons life meaning?
What is it that sustains them amid this crisis?
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Our Pastoral Response To enter the lived felt
situation
Art work by Noel Factor
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In Psychosis, the continuing recollections of
the mental and emotional events seem to express
something of a deeper yearning a longing to
understand the heart and mind, however
disordered, to find the thread of meaning that
can be woven into the fabric along the
way. Conroy,C. Spirituality and Mental
Health - Breakthrough