GBFSV SPIRITUAL ABUSE VICTIMS' RECOVERY
For The Victims Of Spiritual Abuse And Authoritarianism At Grace Bible Fellowship Of Silicon Valley And Victims Of Other Churches ©MtnShepherdess 2016, 2017, 2018
(This is more a journal entry than a blog post. I sometimes post them because in my convoluted mind it makes me feel more accountable.) On Saturday I did something I swore I was never going to do again. I brought up the abuse in general conversation with someone I’d only just met. I did […]
via PTSD, Friends, and That Voice — The View from the Other Side
There is a public health epidemic in the United States of alcoholism and drug addiction, including in the Christian church among clergy and the people in the pews. There has been a significant increase in women alcoholics, including among older Christian women in Christian churches. Many of our churches and Christians still lack the knowledge to discuss this epidemic and to offer proper support.
“According to the U.S. Surgeon General, Nearly 21 million Americans – more than the number of people who have all cancers combined – suffer from substance use disorders.
‘Alcohol and drug addiction take an enormous toll on individuals, families, and communities,” said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. ‘Most Americans know someone who has been touched by an alcohol or a drug use disorder. Yet 90 percent of people with a substance use disorder are not getting treatment. That has to change.’
U.S. Surgeon General’s first-ever report on addiction in the United States: https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/
Former pastor Matt Bays, a recovering alcoholic, has powerful words about this secret that is rarely talked about in our churches. Help is needed for those addicted and their families.
Matt has a great blog http://mattbayswriter.com/ Matt Bays also has a great book called Finding God in the Ruins about his journey.
Another important article about handling the epidemic of alcohol (and drug) addiction in the Christian church. We are facing a public health epidemic. And we must do more to help problem drinkers get medical care (if they are willing) and other help, help for their spouses, and help for their children.
In the United States, the U.S. Surgeon General declared alcohol and drug addiction as a public health epidemic. https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov/ According to the U.S. Surgeon General only 10% of addicted people get help and 90% do not get any care for their addictions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kuibZtt5ww
Addictions are complex, with genetic underpinnings that predispose people to become addicted, combined with other factors like childhood trauma/abuse that sets people on a course to drink and take drugs to numb pain and shame.
There are other factors that cause people to become addicted including: untreated mental illness (bipolar, depression, and anxiety disorders), adult trauma, loss, grief and other stressors. In the beginning, the substances do work to calm the addict and give them relief. And then they don’t work and become more and more destructive in a person’s life.
Bishop Heather Cook, an American Bishop, has recently been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for a hit and run death of a 41-year-old cyclist. The incident has led to much discussion about alcoholism in the church and especially among the clergy. This is an important issue which the church needs to face more realistically than it is at present. Fr Chris offers some thoughts on this important issue:
You may know the jokes about seeing pink elephants, and the popular views about the delirium tremens and hallucination which occur during alcohol withdrawal. In my case, during detox, I didn’t see pink elephants but mice flying around the room and attacking me. It’s a weird phenomenon – you know it isn’t real, but it feels and seems real.
We also often refer to the “elephant in the room” as the thing that we all know is there, but no one will dare…
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Living with Trauma Memories is a presentation (available on youtube) by Dr. Diane Langberg, a Christian psychologist who we have featured in the past. In this presentation she discusses two phases …
Source: Living with Trauma Memories — video presentation by Diane Langberg
GBFSV SPIRITUAL ABUSE VICTIMS' RECOVERY 