Psychiatric Assessment

(from Tuesday, January 15)

Last month the American Psychiatric Association dropped Asperger’s Syndrome

From its diagnostic manual.

Now, it’s just one relatively mild level in the broader range of disorders classified as autism.

Mental conditions, and what to call them, and how to deal with them, are an age-old problem.

We see in today’s Gospel that there’s a lot that hasn’t changed in 2000 years.

We’re told that in the synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit.

Unclean or evil spirits often indicated what we now call mental health or behavioral problems.

It’s not clear what the man’s tone was when he addressed Jesus.

What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?

Was he aggressive and belligerent?  Or meek and cowering?

Maybe he had a persecution complex, maybe he was paranoid.

Whatever his problem was, Jesus recognized it immediately.

And just as quickly, cured it. 

He had that absolute power and authority over nature.

We don’t.

So how can we deal with people who have significant mental health and behavioral problems?

It seems that, as a society, we’ve made a lot of progress.

At least in comparison to the snake-pit asylums and lobotomies of the not too distant past.

We’re now able to fix or treat a lot of problems.

With counseling or drugs or both.

It’s harder to tell how much progress we’ve made in comparison to those biblical times.

The man in the synagogue seems to have been somewhat mainstreamed.

He’s there with the rest of the people.

And we hear of others with evil spirits who seemed to remain part of their families.

Like the boy who would throw himself into the fire and into the water.

But there were others who were ostracized, like the demoniac who was chained to the tombs.

Perhaps, like today, there were many among the beggars lining the streets.

There’s clearly a broad spectrum of problems; a vast range in the degrees of disorder.

While society struggles to find cures and to find ways to deal with the afflicted,

What can we do as individuals?

We can be more aware and understanding.

For the clearly needy, we can offer a kind word and try to help them find support.

For the offensive, we can reserve judgment and not write them off as being evil themselves.

We can give time or money or votes to support programs to find cures and to aid the afflicted.  

Jesus saw a person in need, and he used what power and authority he had to help.

We can do that too.

Tuesday Week 1 of Ordinary Time

Mk 1:21-28                                   Read this Scripture @usccb.org