OCD and Christianity
Martin Luther knew OCD. For ten years he suffered it severely. Sometimes in his writings, he seems to be directly speaking to those affected by this disorder. Such is the case here, in this quote from his Commentary on Isaiah: “God sends a variety of trials, heresies, and the cross in order to train His […]
“I’m in a major OCD crisis,” the young homemaker said. She had experienced contamination fears since adolescence. Now, however, obsessional doubts had struck her religious beliefs, and she was in worse shape than ever. It started when she attended a new church. The pastor had preached a sermon in which he forcefully stated, “Anyone who […]
Matt, the engineering student with the “street preacher obsession,” had proven himself a really hard-boiled OCDer. Even after asking his minister and several friends whether they thought the Holy Spirit was calling him for a special ministry, and despite hearing them all say ‘No, I don’t think so,’ he still could not gain peace on […]
Occasionally I would meet with Matt, a nose-to-the-grindstone engineering student and committed Christian with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Occasionally only, because for an extended period of time he had been doing very well. OCD had struck when he was in High School, at its worst characterized by tormenting fears of violence and endless mental rituals. Since those […]
Nothing is more important than to trust in the Lord. We are saved by faith, and faith’s highest form is trust. It figures that OCD would come in and try to mess it up. A thoughtful, hard-working student suffered from pedophile obsessions, and we worked together on methods of dealing with them. We focused on […]
A stay-at-home Mom voiced her disappointment with the counseling she had received for her OCD. Her main obsession had centered around contamination fears from a dead mouse her husband removed from the house. “My therapist wanted me to soothe myself when the fear hit,” she explained. “So I tried to employ good reasoning. I would […]
Few obsessional fears are as appalling and offensive as the one that says, “Oh, my God, maybe I’m a pedophile!” Immediately, the unsuspecting OCDer is besieged by every negative feeling possible in OCD: fear, guilt, uncertainty, and disgust. Confidence and self esteem are left in shreds. This particular obsession is, in fact, the only one […]
A patient of mine, a college student, became discouraged with his church. It seemed he couldn’t accomplish what they wanted, no matter how hard he tried. Raised in a very Christian family, he had suffered from obsessional fears since age 13. A picture of Jesus had hung on his bedroom wall, and one night while […]
“I just don’t understand why God allows OCD to happen,” the young woman said. “He’s supposed to be a God of love! Why do I need to have these terrible thoughts that I don’t want to have? This can’t be God; it has to be the devil. I try as hard as I can to […]
Recently, a young woman with OCD described to me her experiences in a deliverance ministry. Her pastor, after hearing a full account of her symptoms, had explained that in his opinion she suffered not from a medical problem, but rather from a spiritual one. “It’s not God’s will that you should be mentally disabled,” he had […]