I have been following with interest the posts that Michael Spencer has been making concerning mental illness and demon possession. You see, I have had first hand experience with both, in two very different settings. Here is a look at the first.
When I was growing up, my Grandmother, who lived just a couple of miles away, suffered from Schizophrenia. It would manifest itself most when people, usually family, would come to visit. If she misplaced something, she would accuse whoever had visited last of stealing it from her. The incident I remember most clearly was being accused of stealing her piano music to support my non-existant drug habit. Bet you didn’t know that there is a black market for sheet music! It seems pretty comical now, but back then it was anything but. Eventually my parents started cutting back on our visits, as they were just too difficult.
The Schizophrenia that my Grandmother experienced was related to the interaction of dopamine with the dopamine receptors in the brain. I don’t claim to understand all the science behind it, but drugs that act to inhibit this interaction are very effective for those who suffer from this particular malady.
This story hits a little closer to home however. This dopamine condition in the brain is hereditary. Guess who was the genetic recipient? Me!
The way domanine effected me was outwardly quite evident. Some of the things that I experienced growing included suffering from school yard taunts, being mocked by a teacher , and denied any part in a Sunday School play (until my parents intervened). Later in life, if my condition became evident in a job interview, it would always ensure I did not get the job. Upon graduation from seminary, one district superintendent told me that if a church received 100 resumes for a pastoral position, my application would go to the bottom of the pile. Over the years, and especially in my younger years, I saw a parade of psychiatrists, psychologists, hypnotherapists, and speech therapists! Speech therapists? Yes, you see the way that the dopamine condition affects me was not the same way it affected my Grandmother! For whatever reason the dopamine problem that I have in my brain did NOT give me Schizophrenia, instead, I suffered from a severe stutter. The two conditions are in my case definitely related and have a hereditary genetic relationship. Although I have never taken them, the anti-psychotic drugs that are used on Schizophrenia patients also work on many adult stutterers as the drugs deal with the dopamine conditions that exist in the brain.
Now here is the interesting part and how it ties back into what Michael Spencer has been talking about. I have heard or read many people speculating about the relationship between mental illness and demon possession. Yet in my forty-six years on this earth, including several years in pentecostal and charismatic circles, I have never had a suggestion made to me that there might be a demonic cause to my stuttering. No one. Not even hinted at.
Why is this? Probably because the most common form of stuttering, developmental stuttering, occurs among younger children, who grow out of it, and it is seen as a normal developmental process. Even among adults who stutter, the individuals are seen as normal rational non-delusional people who have a bit of a disability.
So my question then is, if no one is trying to make a connection between my stutter and demon possession, then how can anyone make the connection between Schizophrenia and demon possession, especially since they are so closely related genetic mental issues? My Grandmother’s illness and my own difficulties are so tied together that to say that there was demonic influence causing her problem becomes totally ridiculous unless you are willing to claim the same for me.
Furthermore, dopamine naturally decreases with age. My Grandmother became a fairly pleasant lady in the years before she died. My stutter has all but disappeared aided by a strict regimen of no caffeine (a stimulator of the dopamine receptors.) If Schizophrenia had a demonic cause, then we would not see so many patients have natural reductions in their illness as they aged.
So my plea is this: Please think twice being trying to make a connection between mental illness and demonic influence, because in the case that I am most familiar with, that link just does not exist. I look forward to reading your responses.
Michael Bell
Joshua Hearne
Tim Melton
Joel Black
