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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Wife suffering from depression?	Francis	Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Question: Dear brother: I wonder if it is the right forum to ask this question?. Bare with me if not. My wife showed symptoms of schizophrenia a couple of years back. She had hallucinations and illusions associated with it. It was treated (mega vitamin therapy) and she was totally (so to say) healed of it. However she did not continue to take the medicine after it, contrary to the direction of the doctor. She has started having illusions and hallucinations by now, all are connected to prayer? She says she has visions.... charismatic gifts etc. She is always found in a praying mood. She refuses to take treatment holding that what she has is manifestation of gifts of Holy Spirit. I am not able to bring her to a treatment. How should I pray to God that ultimately she yields to proper treatment? Please help me how to go about with it? Should it be seen connected to demonic activity? She says she has stigmata etc. yours in christ Francis
Question Answered by Dear Francis: This is the right forum since you are asking about possible demonic connections. I am sorry to hear about your wife. There is not much I can say specifically since you have not given any details, such as the nature and content of your wife's "visions" and other alleged "gift." Speaking generally, a charismatic gift is one the serves and builds up the Church. There is no such thing as a charismatic gift the serves or benefits only oneself. You can learn more about spiritual gifts from our essay entitled, Charism Gifts Building Up the Church. Anyone who believe they are seeing visions and the like needs to read the book. A Still, Small Voice: A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations by Father Benedict J. Groeschel. In addition, it is dangerous to interpret one's own mystical experiences as such experiences may not be sourced in the supernatural. Many alleged mystical experiences are the product of one's own imagination, a product of mental illness, or a product of the devil. Anyone who believes they are having visions and such must find an experienced spiritual director to help discern whether or not the person is having genuine experiences, and also how to interpret them. This is especially needed if your wife thinks she has stigmata. Stigmata is an extremely rare phenomenon. Only very holy people are given this gift. If your wife thinks she has stigmata, absent a positive discernment from the Spiritual Director, the likelihood that all this is coming from psychiatric causes is greatly increased. If your wife is unwilling to do all this, then it is very unlikely that her experiences are genuine gifts from God. Without knowing a lot more details, it would be generally true that medication given for psychiatric illness will not work to stop genuine visions and gifts as such gifts are not dependent upon human effort or talent but are supernatural. If I had to guess, based on what you have said, your wife appears to have some psychiatric issues. Certainly psychiatric sources need to be ruled out. She need to see her psychiatrist and take whatever medication is prescribed. As for you in prayer, you need to pray that she will be open to psychiatric treatment, follow her doctor's directions, and to protect her against any demonic influence. On the last item, the Hedge Prayer for Protection of Others found in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog, linked below, would be a good one for you to pray. Two other prayers for you to pray are the Proxy Deliverance Prayer for a Friend or Relative and Rebuking Particular Spirits-Proxy (if there seems to be particular demons hanging around, identified by their attributes, such as a demon of mental illness, a demon of stubbornness, demon of false visions, etc.). Our specially trained Spiritual Warfare Prayer Warriors will be praying for your wife and yourself on a permanent basis. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Wife suffering from depression?

Francis

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Question:

Dear brother:

I wonder if it is the right forum to ask this question?. Bare with me if not.

My wife showed symptoms of schizophrenia a couple of years back. She had hallucinations and illusions associated with it. It was treated (mega vitamin therapy) and she was totally (so to say) healed of it. However she did not continue to take the medicine after it, contrary to the direction of the doctor.

She has started having illusions and hallucinations by now, all are connected to prayer? She says she has visions.... charismatic gifts etc. She is always found in a praying mood. She refuses to take treatment holding that what she has is manifestation of gifts of Holy Spirit.

I am not able to bring her to a treatment. How should I pray to God that ultimately she yields to proper treatment? Please help me how to go about with it? Should it be seen connected to demonic activity? She says she has stigmata etc.

yours in christ
Francis

Question Answered by

Dear Francis:

This is the right forum since you are asking about possible demonic connections.

I am sorry to hear about your wife. There is not much I can say specifically since you have not given any details, such as the nature and content of your wife's "visions" and other alleged "gift."

Speaking generally, a charismatic gift is one the serves and builds up the Church. There is no such thing as a charismatic gift the serves or benefits only oneself. You can learn more about spiritual gifts from our essay entitled, Charism Gifts Building Up the Church.

Anyone who believe they are seeing visions and the like needs to read the book. A Still, Small Voice: A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations by Father Benedict J. Groeschel.

In addition, it is dangerous to interpret one's own mystical experiences as such experiences may not be sourced in the supernatural. Many alleged mystical experiences are the product of one's own imagination, a product of mental illness, or a product of the devil. Anyone who believes they are having visions and such must find an experienced spiritual director to help discern whether or not the person is having genuine experiences, and also how to interpret them. This is especially needed if your wife thinks she has stigmata. Stigmata is an extremely rare phenomenon. Only very holy people are given this gift. If your wife thinks she has stigmata, absent a positive discernment from the Spiritual Director, the likelihood that all this is coming from psychiatric causes is greatly increased.

If your wife is unwilling to do all this, then it is very unlikely that her experiences are genuine gifts from God.

Without knowing a lot more details, it would be generally true that medication given for psychiatric illness will not work to stop genuine visions and gifts as such gifts are not dependent upon human effort or talent but are supernatural.

If I had to guess, based on what you have said, your wife appears to have some psychiatric issues. Certainly psychiatric sources need to be ruled out. She need to see her psychiatrist and take whatever medication is prescribed.

As for you in prayer, you need to pray that she will be open to psychiatric treatment, follow her doctor's directions, and to protect her against any demonic influence. On the last item, the Hedge Prayer for Protection of Others found in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog, linked below, would be a good one for you to pray.

Two other prayers for you to pray are the Proxy Deliverance Prayer for a Friend or Relative and Rebuking Particular Spirits-Proxy (if there seems to be particular demons hanging around, identified by their attributes, such as a demon of mental illness, a demon of stubbornness, demon of false visions, etc.).

Our specially trained Spiritual Warfare Prayer Warriors will be praying for your wife and yourself on a permanent basis.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.