Image by Evelyn Chong, Article written by Dr. Michelle Strydom MD

To understand the spiritual and physical dynamics of schizophrenia, there are chapters with essential background information that you need to read through first:

1. The introduction in this chapter on pages 449 – 453.
2. The section on psychosis on page 470.
3. “How Long Term Fear, Anxiety and Stress Affects Your Body” on page 180 – pay close attention to the discussion about 1 John 4 v 18 on page 191.
4. “Genetically Inherited Diseases” on page 153.

Schizophrenia does not mean a split personality as many people think. This myth probably comes from Hollywood movies. However the movie called “A Beautiful Mind” which starred Russel Crowe was a very accurate portrayal of paranoid schizophrenia. A person who has schizophrenia experiences a loss of contact with reality.

Schizophrenia is diagnosed according to the following criteria (These criteria are called Criteria A) :

1. Hallucinations – explained in the section on psychosis on page 470.
2. Delusions – explained in the section on psychosis on page 470.
3. Disorganized speech
4. Disorganized behaviour.
5. Negative symptoms

The above symptoms must have been present for at least one month.

Disorganized speech can involve:

Giving irrelevant answers to a question, for example if I asked the person how they are doing today,
they may reply, “Bananas and door knobs”.

• Derailment – deviates from train of thought while trying to tell you something.
• Tangentially which is where the person never gets back to the point for example – “This morning I had eggs for breakfast…eggs come from chickens… chickens are birds… birds are animals that can fly… I once flew on an aeroplane etc”
• Circumstantiality – delays in reaching an answer.
• Incoherent speech – the person is not understandable.
• Their speech can be filled with neologism which means they make up words that don’t exist.
• Their speech can be like a word salad which is a mixture of words that are not sentences that make sense.
• They can have verbigaration which is the meaningless repetition of words.
• Echolalia – the person repeats words spoken by others.
• Blocking which is an abrupt interruption in train of thinking.

Disorganized Behaviour can involve:

• Aggressive, violent outbursts.
• Bizarre clothing appearance.
• Inappropriate social or sexual behaviour.
• Catatonic behaviour ranging from extreme excitement to stupor – Catatonic behaviour is when, for example, the person keeps a part of their body in a rigid posture or they may have peculiar purposeless movements such as repetitive grimacing.

Negative symptoms can involve:

• Blunting of affect – this is where they display an expressionless face.
• Alogia – relative absence in amount or content of speech.
• Avoliton – inability to initiate or persist in activities.
• Anhedonia – loss of enjoyment for activities.
• Attention impaired.

A person with schizophrenia can have obsessions and compulsions as well as suicidal or homicidal ideas or attempts. This is where psychiatric drugs are important for the moment otherwise the person is dangerous to himself and others. Because of their loss of contact with reality they cannot cope in interpersonal relationships, they cannot function in society or hold down a full time job.

There are five main types of Schizophrenia which are classified according to the combination of the above symptoms that the person has.

Schizophrenia is a fear based disease that involves the fear of man, fear of rejection and fear of abandonment. This fear comes from relationship breakdowns and dysfunctional families where there is often abuse involved which can be verbal abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse or sexual abuse. There is always an atmosphere of strife, victimization, fear and not feeling safe.31 1 John 4 v 18 says that he that fears is not made perfect in love. So the home is filled with a lack of love and therefore fear comes in the door. That fear puts the person into stage 2 and 3 of stress, there is an over production of stress hormones in the body, including the over production of noradrenalin in the brain and that is what causes some of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

The other half of the profile of schizophrenia is the overproduction of dopamine which is the pleasure chemical of the body. This involves rebellion. Rebellion is an altered state of consciousness in values and in environmental positioning of thought. For example, let’s say you are growing up as a child in a home that is not safe – you don’t feel safe in love with your father or your family. While you are little you are under their thumb but as you get older, you go more and more into rebellion. This is what rebellion says, “I don’t like what you represent or what you are doing. I don’t feel safe in this environment, so I am going to withdraw into a world of my own which is a safe place where I can protect myself from you. I am really sane and you are not.” That is the mindset of schizophrenia. The fear behind that mindset causes the over production of noradrenalin and the rebellion causes an over production of dopamine which then causes the disturbance in the person’s thought processes.

The insanity comes as a result of involvement in occultism as explained in the section on psychosis. Schizophrenia can be genetically inherited as a result of fear, rebellion and involvement in occultism upstream in a person’s family tree (the basis of this was explained in the chapter on genetically inherited diseases which I initially referred you to).

As you saw in the testimony on page 193, the best way to help somebody with schizophrenia is to love them in a practical way and on a level where you can meet them. The person may need ministry of the Father’s love as explained in the section on page 46 under the heading “Separation From God’s Love”. When fear is removed and a person feels love, a neuropeptide called oxytocin is released which enables restructuring of the nerves and development of new nerve pathways in the brain. As a result the person is able to respond more strongly others and exhibit more appropriate social behavior.

Consistently demonstrating love to a person with schizophrenia may take perseverance as improvement in the person’s condition does not always happen over night. When possible, the person needs to be discipled so that he/she can come to a place of repentance, for example for fear, rebellion and involvement in occultism, personally or generationally.

As a born again believer you can go to the person with schizophrenia and take authority over the evil spirits causing the insanity. For example, you can say: “I take authority over the evil spirit of fear and insanity causing schizophrenia and command you to be cast out in Jesus’ Name! I break the power of the iniquity of occultism and command all spirits of occultism to be gone in Jesus’ name! In the Name of Jesus I release you from the fear that torments you. In the Name of Jesus I release you from the fear of man, the fear of rejection and the fear of abandonment. I release you I release you from horror and the fear of evil now in your life in the Name of Jesus. I release you from the fears and insecurities that have come from broken relationships and rejection for it is written in Romans 8 v 15 that God has not given you to bondage to the spirit of fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby you can cry out Abba Father! I release you from hardness of heart that will not let you trust and be vulnerable without fear. I release you from the fear of giving and receiving love. Father open (person’s name) heart right now to receive Your perfect love which casts out all fear. I release you to the love of your Father and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ as a work of the Holy Spirit for God has not given you a spirit of fear, but power, lover and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1 v 7).

Schizophrenia is a fear-based disease that involves the fear of man, fear of rejection and fear of abandonment.

Lord, deliver (person’s name) of all their fears, for it is written in Romans 10 v 13, “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered” and in Psalm 34 v 4 it says that You will deliver us of all of our fears. Lord, deliver (person’s name)! In the Name of Jesus I command your hypothalamus to be at peace. In Jesus’ Name I command the levels of dopamine and noradrenalin and all the other chemicals to normalize. In Jesus’ Name I command thought to be ordered and for the brain to function as it was designed to by God.”

For the person with schizophrenia who returns to a normal frame of mind, in order to maintain your victory, you need to renew your mind. I encourage you to lay down your protective mechanisms, stop withdrawing into a house of fear and come out from the shields of fabricated personalities that you are hiding behind. Allow God to strip away your defence mechanisms that you built because of fear coming out of victimization and rejection. As a work of the Holy Spirit, may you be released to be the man and woman that God created you to be from the foundation of the world. Turn to the chapter “Who You Are In Christ” on page 498, where I want to help you to begin to see yourself as God sees you so that your identity can be firmly rooted in Him.

I also recommend that you read through page 429 to 537, “Dealing with Deeper Fears”.

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