Introduction
In their pastoral practice, the clergy often meet with mentally ill people. 14% of the population have mental disorders; depression may become the leading cause of disability in the coming decades (Benyah, 2021). In the world, more than 700,000 people die every year as a result of suicide, which is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 14 to 30 years (Benyah, 2021). Ten million people in the world develop dementia every year (Exline et al., 2021). At the same time, according to modern research, the loss of religious and family values contributes to the increase in the number of borderline mental disorders and addiction diseases (Exline et al., 2021). The purpose of this paper is to present the position of the charismatic church on pastoral care for people suffering from mental disorders and the principles of working with the above category of people.
Currently, there is no single view on the nature and causes of mental illness. Moreover, there are often disagreements about the nosological affiliation of a particular disease. Various currents and schools offer their own treatment approaches, which often turn out to be mutually exclusive. The antipsychiatric direction suggests considering mental illness as a way of being a person (Osei-Tutu et al., 2021). All these theories and concepts are doomed to one-sidedness since the phenomenon of mental illness is extremely complex and contradictory, and none of the theories, taken separately, can explain this phenomenon completely (Kpobi & Swartz, 2019). This research paper will consider the problem of mental health and human illness in the context of the anthropology of the charismatic church, which offers a holistic view of human nature in all aspects of its being.
Conceptual Framework
Paradigms & Theories on Mental Illness
At the moment, there is a fierce struggle between two paradigms in the approach to the classification of mental disorders, which reflects important trends in the sciences of mental health and pathology in general. Behind this struggle are the positions of prominent modern scientists who give important arguments in favor of each of the paradigms described below. The phenomenological or holistic typological paradigm corresponds to a holistic, qualitative approach. It is criticized for subjectivism and lack of sufficient objectivity in the form of material, biological mechanisms of a mental illness by analogy with other fields of medicine (Osei-Tutu et al., 2021).
The positivist or analytical dimensional paradigm promises the possibility of objectification of measurement (Benyah, 2021). However, it is fraught with the danger of simplifying and reducing mental disorders to brain biological mechanisms since most of its defenders are representatives or adherents of neuroscience.
The charismatic church considers mental illnesses as arising from the nature of a person and their individual biological properties. There are certain signs by which the pastors advise distinguishing between mood disorders of spiritual origin that arise, against the will of the monks, from the same moods that are not inferior to prayer and the power of the cross sign (Exline et al., 2021). Speaking about psychiatry, representatives of the charismatic church point out that there are states of the soul that are difficult to define in terms of moral theology and are not included in the concepts of good and evil (Kpobi & Swartz, 2019). These states do not belong to the ascetic realm but to the psychopathological realm and develop from human nature.
Definition of Charismatic Church
Charismatism, or neo-Pentecostalism, is one of modern Protestantism’s most active and numerous branches. The Pentecostal movement, the hallmark of glossolalia, originated in the USA at the beginning of the XX century (Oyewole, 2023). In the terminology of charismatic theologians represent the so-called first wave of the Holy Spirit (Dein, 2020). Then, in the late 1950s, the second wave followed, as a result of which charismatic groups emerged that practiced glossolalia within already existing Christian non-Pentecostal Churches, including Protestant ones (Exline et al., 2021). The third wave, which appeared in the 1970s, is charismatics who came out of their confessions and a number of local communities that created their own denominations (Benyah, 2021).
Charismatic churches are currents of radical Protestantism characterized by faith in the visible manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian (Benyah, 2021). It is a gift of tongues, prophecy, healing, miracle-working, and others. The teaching of the Charismatics about spiritual gifts, especially the gift of tongues, is in many ways similar to the teaching of the Pentecostal denominations.
Literature Review
In the case of natural mental disorders, representatives of the charismatic church pay attention to the following important circumstances. Psychopathological syndromes and symptoms are not a violation of the soul itself but of its bodily, somatic expression, and manifestations of mental processes (Oyewole, 2023). Thus, violations concern the form of manifestation of the soul.
This circumstance justifies the appointment of psychotropic drugs to the patient for therapeutic purposes, the main purpose of which will be the effect on the biological component of the manifestation of mental dysfunctions (Oyewole, 2023). Representatives of the charismatic church believe that the unrestrained growth of psychological diseases is caused not only by stress but also by scientific and technological progress with its information overload (Osei-Tutu et al., 2021). First, its cause is spiritual factors and circumstances, as well as the enslavement of the human soul by sinful passions.
Research Methodology
Research Design
A structured clinical interview will be conducted with the parishioners of the charismatic church suffering from psychological diseases and their spiritual rector. Interviews will be conducted on how patients’ relationships with the church affect their intrapersonal conflicts, including those with neurotic symptoms (Exline et al., 2021). The interview will also highlight the value and semantic conflicts accompanied by neurotic disorders and the consequences of working on psychological traumas in the church. In interviews with spiritual abbots, issues related to assistance in church formation, preparation for confession, escort to the temple, and the specifics of meeting with a priest will be covered.
According to this plan, a conversation will be held with each study participant, assuming direct contact between the interviewer and the respondent. An interviewer will record the answers to highlight particularly important notes. When interviewing, it will be possible to consider the level of culture, education, and the degree of competence of the respondent (Osei-Tutu et al., 2021). In addition, during the interview, the interviewee’s reaction, attitude to the problem, and questions will be monitored. The sociologist will change the wording and raise additional clarifying questions if necessary.
Rationale for Choosing the Phenomenological Method
In psychology, a phenomenon represents the most general understanding of objects, phenomena of objective and subjective reality, known or already known. The term phenomenon denotes an exceptional phenomenon given to a person in their direct experience and comprehended by them with the help of feelings (Wahyuni, 2012). In his perception, a phenomenon is something that a psychological patient distinguishes as a whole from the background of a stream of information affecting our senses. Examples of the phenomena they experience may be the similarity of the goals that the members of the religious group of the charismatic church strive for.
Since existential-humanistic psychology focuses on a person who has an individual experience of being in the world, the phenomenological approach allows us to explore what is reflected in a person’s consciousness through a full description of the characteristics of their experiences. Phenomenological research, aiming at an accurate and thorough description of a certain meaningful aspect of human experience, involves the identification of the main semantic blocks of subjective meanings of this experience as a result (Creswell et al., 2007). Validity in phenomenological psychology is determined not by the methods of mathematical statistics but by the analysis of the subject’s experience.
The advantage of the phenomenological method is that it allows you to reveal the respondent’s consciousness in a time perspective: the action being performed and the perspective world is present forms. The past and the future are introduced together with experience and memory, needs, plans, meanings, expectations, and anticipations (Creswell et al., 2007). The rigor of consideration arises from the fact that the starting point of the analysis is the immediate reality of consciousness. All this makes the phenomenological method ideally suited for this study of the peculiarities of the interaction of psychological patients and the charismatic church.
Sample Size to Be Interviewed
The sample size for the interview will be calculated using the concepts of confidence probability and confidence interval. For example, in charismatic churches, 14% of parishioners have a psychological illness (Exline et al., 2021). It is necessary to consider the confidence level and the error margin (Oyewole, 2023).
In addition, there is a standard deviation: a measure of the dispersion of the dataset from the mean. It measures the absolute variability of the distribution. The higher the variance or variability, the greater the standard deviation and the greater the magnitude of the deviation (Benyah, 2021). Therefore, out of the general population of patients who are parishioners of the charismatic church, it is necessary to interview 8%.
Data Collection
When using this method, direct contact between the respondent and the researcher is necessary. The presence of an interviewer during the survey reduces the efficiency of collecting factual material but significantly increases the content of each contact (Osei-Tutu et al., 2021). According to the degree of formalization of the interview, standardized and free varieties are distinguished.
In this study, a free interview will be used to collect data. The ideal way to record an interview is to record the entire meeting and make an audio recording. To do this, it is important to warn the respondent that the interview will be recorded. It is necessary to ask whether it is possible to make an audio recording of the meeting so that the data can be processed correctly and not miss anything (Exline et al., 2021). At the same time, the respondent should be warned that it will be published confidentially without indicating the interviewee’s identity.
Limitations of Research Method
Due to the high cost and the requirements of highly qualified interviewers, the interview can only be designed for a small sample. Therefore, it does not give a mass representative picture of the studied object. The interviewer’s presence creates less anonymity in the interviewee and leads to less reasoned answers (Dein, 2020). With the help of interviews, information can be collected over a longer period than other research methods.
As a rule, interviewing takes place in a more stressful environment than, for example, filling out a questionnaire since the respondent cannot choose the most appropriate time and speed of answers for themselves. This is because they are limited by the time allotted for an interview with each participant. The respondents are interviewed, and the effect of interviewers influences them, namely their socio-demographic and personal characteristics (Exline et al., 2021). The interview should be conducted by highly qualified personnel in psychology to track the nonverbal reaction of respondents, which also imposes certain restrictions on the research budget.
Ethical Considerations & Issues
Ethical considerations and issues that may arise with conducting this research are related to the fact that when conducting research involving persons with psychiatric disorders, it is necessary to pay attention to whether they can reasonably decide to participate in the study and whether their condition will affect this process. Many of the individuals with disabilities affect their ability to judge. In research aimed at studying emotionally sensitive topics, it is important to protect all subjects’ privacy and the information collected’s confidentiality (Osei-Tutu et al., 2021). Many patients want to keep the fact of their treatment to the doctor and the presence of their disease private.
In addition, there is no clear consensus on an acceptable level of risk when involving people with mental disorders in the study. According to one of the positions, a study that entails more than minimal risk for people with mental disorders can be conducted only if it brings direct and significant benefits to the participants of the study (Dein, 2020). Suppose there is a slight excess of the minimum risk when conducting a study involving persons with mental disorders. In that case, it can be allowed only if the purpose of the study is to assess the possible benefits of a certain intervention. One can mention a study in which no medical intervention is useful for the patient, and the risk is more than minimal. The knowledge gained during the study should be crucial for understanding and improving the patient’s condition.
Conclusion
As a basic rule, it is assumed that all adults, regardless of the diagnosis or their condition, should be considered competent to make a decision. Even those who have a diagnosis of mental disorders may well understand what participation in the study as a volunteer is and, accordingly, either agree or refuse to participate (Benyah, 2021). Cognitive impairments should not be the basis for disqualification of an individual and refusal to decide on participation in the study. There should be special evidence that the individual cannot understand and choose, and only then can the individual’s participation in decision-making be considered.
References
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