The brain is an organ of the body, and just as any other organ of the body can get sick or be injured, so, too, can the brain.
There are many illnesses that damage the brain and cause great suffering and premature death. A few of them are: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and other seizure disorders, tumors, stroke, and traumatic injury. As a church, we have great sympathy for the persons who suffer from these illnesses. We pray for them, and we provide caring presence with them and those who care about them. We understand that their illnesses originate in the brain and are not illnesses that persons bring upon themselves. We do not expect persons to cure their illnesses by willpower or, by changing their thoughts.
Yet there is another set of brain illnesses that are as common as those listed above but about which there is not the same level of understanding and compassion. These illnesses have commonly been called “mental illnesses.” Persons who suffer from these illnesses suffer not, only from the effects of the illnesses themselves, but also from misconceptions about their illnesses, social stigma, isolation discrimination, and punishment–simply because they have an illness.
Hence, we have the Mental Illness Network, UCC. Those of us in the network do not for a moment minimize the devastation and suffering caused by other brain illnesses. But we do believe that those with a mental illness who are our family members, our neighbors and friends, the person in the pew next to us, the pastor at the altar-and we ourselves- and we ourselves suffer greatly and need the special understanding, attention, and compassion of the United Church of Christ. It is to that understanding, attention, and compassion that we who are the network call the whole UCC.
What Are the Brain Illnesses That Are Called Mental Illnesses?
The 2.4 million Americans who suffer from panic disorder have uncontrollable panic responses to ordinary, non-threatening situations more than four times in a four-week period. Anxiety disorder and panic disorder are not, the result of fears that need to be faced, and efforts to encourage or force a person with anxiety disorder or panic disorder to confront their irrational or panic responses are more harmful than helpful. There are effective medicines that can help, although they do not cure the illness. Helpful persons need to be supportive while a person works with a physician to find the appropriate combination of medicines.
While there are many illnesses that affect the brain or cause symptoms in other parts of the body because of malfunctions in the brain, the Mental. Illness Network, UCC, is especially concerned about five serious brain illness that have traditionally been called mental illnesses. They have been so named because their symptoms are cognitive emotional, relational, or behavioral. While we in the network are very aware of childhood brain illnesses, degenerative illnesses, dementias, developmental disabilities, palsies, and other illnesses of the brain, we have focused our attention on the following five illnesses because of the misunderstanding and discrimination that exist around these illnesses. Anxiety and Panic Disorder. Sufferers of anxiety disorder experience “pathological doubt” compounded by obsessive, negative thoughts and, sometimes, by repetitive rituals.
