The Bible and Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and impaired functioning. Persons with schizophrenia may struggle to distinguish between reality and their distorted perceptions.
What is schizophrenia?
It is a severe mental illness characterized by delusions, hallucinations, trouble with thinking and concentration and in some cases, bizarre behavior. Hallucinations are hearing or seeing things that do not exist outside of the mind, while delusions are unusual beliefs not based on reality. Although it is a common misunderstanding, schizophrenia is not related to having multiple personalities. Persons with schizophrenia experience:
Delusions. They believe things that are not connected to reality. For example, a common delusion is that the government is out to get you. These beliefs are strongly rooted despite evidence and reasoning.
Hallucinations. These are different from delusions. They involve seeing or hearing things. Thought they may be connected to delusional thinking, hallucinations are experienced as you hear voices or see things that others don't.
Disorganized speech and thinking. To go along with their beliefs and experiences, persons with schizophrenia may also have difficulty communicating.
Unusual behavior. They may act child-like, or act different.
Diminished activity. For example, they stop bathing, refuse to make eye contact, or socially withdraw from others.
One person in the Bible whose behavior fits this description is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. In chapter four of Daniel, the king himself writes an autobiographical account of an extended episode that many have described as schizophrenic. He was the most powerful ruler in the world, but pride became his downfall. Let’s take a closer look at his mental condition.
Nebuchadnezzar's thoughts were delusional. He declared, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty” (4:30)? This bold statement from Nebuchadnezzar is incredible in scope. Babylon was massive and the most powerful empire in the world during its time. The king came to believe he was responsible for that power, wealth, and fame. He held firmly to it, even when the prophet Daniel warned, “Your Majesty, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue” (v.27). He was so fixed on these grandiose thoughts that he clung to them despite what came next.
His thoughts became muddled and his thinking disorganized. His mind was "changed from that of a man...[to] the mind of an animal” (Dan.4:16). But his mental faculties were not completely taken from him, because Daniel also informs him “your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules” (4:26). Essentially, he no longer possessed the mental capacity of a healthy person. Instead, his mind functioned like that of an animal, leading him to walk away from his kingdom and live in the wild. At the end of his account, he informs us that his "sanity" (מַנְדַּע, ability to reason, know, understand) was taken from him (v.34).
During this time, he lacked motivation to perform normal daily activities. “His hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird” (4:33). He stopped grooming himself and, we can safely assume, stopped bathing, cleaning his teeth, and cleaning up after relieving himself.
Nebuchadnezzar socially isolated himself. The text makes this a point of emphasis, stating “let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth” (v.15), “let him live with the wild animals” (v.23), and “he was driven away from people” (Daniel 4:33).
It goes without saying, but the king exhibited bizarre behavior, eating grass like the ox" (4:33). Nebuchadnezzar exchanged life as the most powerful man in the world, who regularly dined on delicacies for that of an animal who grazed the wild searching for food. He walked through the wilderness like an animal, with long hair and uncut nails searching for food.
We cannot say for sure that Nebuchadnezzar had an schizophrenic episode (which lasted for seven years, v.16). We can be confident, however, that his behavior matches the symptoms of this disorder pretty closely.
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