Schizophrenia And Spirituality

Schizophrenia And Spirituality – These two concepts have more in common than you might think. But to understand the connection between the two, we have to analyze them. First of all, Schizophrenia is psychiatric disorder, which alters one’s perception of himself and world around him. The symptoms of schizophrenia are often mistaken with spiritual experiences or Spiritual Growth. But why is that? Well, let’s see.

Schizophrenia And Spirituality – Mental Disorder or Spiritual Enlightenment?

To deeply understand why schizophrenia is often confused with spiritual awakening, we have to see the symptoms of the mental illness, which match the symptoms of a spiritual awareness experience.

An altered sense of self – schizophrenia patients described how they sometimes see themselves differently. They see themselves being only a spirit, they have no body or physical properties.

A loss of sense of self – the patients often describe experiencing a lack of self sense. In other words, you don’t feel that you exist.

A lack of knowledge of self – many patients experience memories loss. There are moments when they can’t remember who they really are.

Feeling body-less – other patients feel that they are just pure spirits, floating. They don’t have a physical body. Therefore, they have no physical limits.

Hallucination – it is another very popular symptom. The hallucinations can be sounds, visions or sensations. Many patients hear voices in their heads or outside. Other see creatures, situations, lights, or others. Others feel a touch or poke.

Delusions – most properly described as beliefs. The patient is sure of his/her beliefs and nothing can change them. Even real facts will not be able to convince them of the contrary of their beliefs. The most common delusion is being watched or followed.

Schizophrenia And Spirituality

Many spiritual people experience these symptoms. When they reach Spiritual Enlightenment. Some of these symptoms are even signs of a successful meditation session. Therefore, many people confuse schizophrenia with a spiritual experience.

And we have to mention that the symptoms of schizophrenia convinced many people that schizophrenic patients were in fact possessed or having other spiritual experiences. But this happened before the appearance of psychology. After the diagnosis of schizophrenia as a mental illness, people started to look at its symptoms with different eyes. But still in our days, there are many cases of misunderstanding of a schizophrenic episode. Resulting in exorcisms or the false idea of enlightenment.

In conclusion, Schizophrenia And Spirituality has in common a list of symptoms. Which make you to doubt every guru that ever experienced spontaneous enlightenment. Without any meditation, prayer or spiritual practice or any kind.