The Christian Approach to Schizophrenia

In this article, Jay Adams addresses the issue of schizophrenia. He treats “schizophrenia” as a descriptive term for bizarre behavior, not an explanation or diagnosis. Adams points to two contributing causes: forces that distort a person’s ability to perceive reality (e.g., organic factors, needing both medical treatment and counseling) and self-induced forces that cause one to misread or mislead self or others (e.g., distorting effects of sin, needing counseling, sometimes accompanied by medical treatment). Adams gives a series of case studies of how a bizarre lifestyle develops and how counseling helped bring about change.