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Mania induced spiritual experiences



Anyone else had a religious or spiritual experience during your mental health crisis? What was it like? It’s surprisingly common, especially among bipolar one sufferers. Religious delusions come at the top of the www.BipolarUK.org mood scale indicating severe mania. I had psychotic mania which made me believe and to understand that there must be something “out there”.

I became a Christian after I left my first hospital admission in 2013. It just seemed to make sense. Before I was an atheist - I didn’t believe anything at all. Now I am a firm believer. 

I don’t criticise or judge people from other religions - religion can be important for everyone no matter if you’re a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist or anything else. 

When I was in hospital with hypermania I would say 80% of my illness was focused on Christianity. The first thing I did when I left hospital was to buy a bible and start going to church..




3 comments

3 Comments


Guest
Aug 13

Thanks for sharing this post. I would enjoy hearing more from you on this topic. Religion and spirituality plays a significant role in my psychosis too. I think it would be therapeutic for our community to share more about our experiences. We are often taught to ignore our delusions rather than explore the deeper meaning behind them. I personally don’t see the harm in exploration. I don’t see the harm in trying to understand our unique relationship with God.

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Guest
Aug 20
Replying to

Thanks for the comment. Sorry I haven't got back to you for a while. I'm not sure why it is relatively common to have religious experiences when suffering from mania / psychosis. This is a very helpful website:


Bipolar Disorder and Spirituality: Helpful Tool or Manic Symptom? (psychcentral.com)


I was in a hospital and read the new testament about 10 times..


Best wishes

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Guest
May 28

It's your honesty in sharing your experiences that shines through, L

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