Diagnostic Criteria

I wrote this over a year ago and apparently never actually put it up on the blog, so, here it is:

For all intents and purposes, the DSM-IV is the Psychiatrist's bedside Bible. It's the manual that the American Psychiatric Association publishes listing all recognized disorders, and the criteria with which they may be diagnosed. This criteria is given in terms of recognizable symptoms such as the ability to sleep, or how you feel about yourself, or how well you process and retain information. I recently received a diagnostic "checklist" from a friend who is a psychiatrist as we seek treatment for my daughter's pervasive developmental disorder. This checklist is easily a hundred questions long (we are still slogging through it with our daughter), and all of them are scored in such a way that if the person is honest about the answers it should give the attending psychiatrist a good idea as to what's going on in and/or with their head.

In a previous ramble, I wrote about the spiritual disorder with which we are all afflicted, I labeled it as "spiritual autism". It is the deficiency or inability to socialize with, communicate with, or experience the spiritual realm. Some have described it as a spiritual blindness. I have already discussed the treatment of it, but here I would like to discuss the disorder itself as it relates to those who have already begun treatment through union with Jesus Christ in His death by way of baptism.

As human beings, we are composite entities. What I mean is that we are the sum total of our biology, our experiences, and our own conclusions. The physical makeup of our brains, the information and interactions we have with others, and the decisions we make as a result of the previous two factors all contribute to who we consider ourselves to be, and should one of these factors fail or change, it can be said that we are no longer the same person. All of these things, largely governed by our physical bodies (in particular our physical brain), are centered on the physical world, and the brain as a physical entity, reasonably, uses its own existence as the frame of reference with which to interact with the rest of the world around it as it receives and processes incoming data from the five senses. But as the brain is only a physical entity, it can't process spiritual information because it has no direct source of input for that kind of information. Inferences can be made, reasonable conclusions can be drawn, but it remains speculation only as far as the brain is concerned, and as long as the physical brain remains the sole governor of the human being in question, it will remain in this state of spiritual disorder.

This isn't a moral description or conclusion, nor should it be discussed in terms of morality or the subsequent judgments which follow any more than physical autism should be. One does not condemn a man unable to function socially because his brain isn't capable of it, neither should one condemn a man for being unable to function spiritually because his brain isn't capable of it. If his physical being is doing the best job it can under the circumstances, then it is doing the best job that it can, it is just unable to perform the task which it is called to perform and is therefore deficient in this area. As St. Paul wrote "all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God." This could literally also be translated as "all are disordered and are deficient from the glory of God." The appropriate response to a person with a developmental disorder is compassion and treatment, not moral condemnation.

For those of us undergoing treatment we have been given an enormous gift, the Holy Spirit and the ability to sense and perceive the spiritual realm. More specifically we have been given the ability through the Holy Spirit to experience God. This ability grows from small steps to larger steps incrementally through the course of treatment as we move away from our state of spiritual autism to real spiritual communication and the ability to spiritually function in a social way.

It is not always clear at first, and sometimes even after years of treatment, when we are functioning in a normal spiritual way, and when we are still functioning with our physical being only. This is where useful diagnostic criteria comes in. We are fortunate that St. Paul gave us not only good descriptions of our disorder, but also diagnostic criteria so that we would be able to diagnose ourselves as well as be able to diagnose others.

He wrote in Galatians 5:19-21: "And the actions of the physical being are apparent, such things are illicit sexual behavior, impurity, sensuality, devotion to inanimate objects, sorcery [or drug use], animosity, discord, zealotry, rages, selfishness, dissensions, divisions, envy, bouts of alcoholism, excessive partying and things like this, the things I am foretelling to you just as I had told you about beforehand that those who are practicing these things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (translation mine)

What St. Paul is giving here is a list of diagnostic criteria for all those who are operating according to their physical being, or "flesh" (Greek, "sarx"). This is a list of symptoms used to diagnose the underlying disorder of the person not cooperating with their treatment by the Holy Spirit, that is, the person not operating according to the Spirit and being controlled by the physical being.

St. Paul also gives a list of what to expect from the person who is cooperating with their treatment in verses 22-23, "and the produce of the spirit is caring, joy, peace, patience with others, kindness, goodness, trust, humility, self-control..." (translation mine)

When we turn spiritually inward and operate according to our own physical natures and experiences we are unable to "inherit the Kingdom of God." It is my opinion that what this phrase means, along with Eternal Life, is the "normal" experience and interaction with God through the dominant operating force of the spirit, rather than the inference, speculation, and role-play of the physical being. When we use the physical being (including the psychological component) as our spiritual point of reference and use this as our dominant operating force, we are unable to do this. It is my opinion that it is referred to as "inheriting" in the same sense as a person inheriting the genetic traits or "life" of his family. In this case we inherit the traits or life of the Eternal. In other words, this spiritual trait get passed on to us by way of our union with Jesus Christ.