A Discharged Mental Patient Teaches Our Gospel Doctrine Class / Lloyd

This morning we were assembled in Gospel Doctrine class working through Jesus healing the daughter of a woman of Canaan (Matthew 15), when our instructor was suddenly called out to assist with a medical concern.

We were deciding what to do next when a tall black man sitting in back of the class stepped up to the front and continued leading us through the scripture. He had lots of confidence, but it was clear from his street clothes and manner that he was probably not a member of the church. He said he was Lutheran but was making the rounds of other churches today. Eventually, our teacher returned to resume her prepared lesson.

We later learned that Joe (not his real name) had recently been discharged from the maximum security, state psychiatric hospital in the area. His current domicile was a sleeping bag on the banks of a river that ran through the city, he was getting showers twice a week at the local Baptist church, and he was looking to see what assistance might be available until his Social Service benefits kicked in.

Joe volunteered that he originally went to the psych hospital from county jail because he was considered incompetent to stand trial. He said he eventually stood trial, was convicted, and served his time in several California prisons. He was sent back to the psychiatric hospital as a Mentally Disoriented Offender (MDO). In other words, California Corrections thought Joe was too dangerous to be paroled directly to the community. After several months, however, a Judge decided otherwise and paroled him to the street.

According to Wikipedia the cost of caring for patients at this state psychiatric hospital is over $200,000 per year in contrast to about $50,000 a year to house prisoners. But a man cannot be arbitrarily kept in prison after he’s served his sentence.

_________________________

comment: In previous blogs I’ve written that the goal and reality is that the majority of the patients at the state psychiatric hospital where I work will eventually be released to the community. This is the first time that a man who claimed to be from this maximum security facility has appeared at church on Sunday, certainly the first time one has stepped up to help teach the Gospel Doctrine class. The experience has demonstrated more than ever the need to be successful in treating the men at the hospital where I work.

Parental Affection Must Transcend Institutional Concerns / Lloyd

Recently a friend asked if a Facebook posting might not be part of a preface to an Abbott Family Chronicle. It wasn’t and I referred him to She Says, He Says to find our thoughts and experiences organized by subject matter. A quick review of our blog, however,  revealed a hodgepodge organized only by posting date.

To rectify the tangle I gave each post a subject label and built a first cut index that readers can see as a pop-up on the right edge of the screen.  In that process I took time to read, scan and cull the 334 posts that started in Oct 2008 when we began our blog, and to a degree I relived our documented challenges and concerns.

observations

As a result of that review and reliving I have several observations and three questions.

1. Our struggle with California Proposition 8 for me converted a lifetime of close interrelations with gays and lesbians to an uncomfortable institutional confrontation between Mormons and the LGBT community.
2. As I worked through my theological framework since 2008 I've became more convinced than ever that a samesex relationship is absolutely at odds with an eternal family pattern, wherein Heavenly Parents (a male and a female) conceive us spiritually and earthly parents provide mortal, physical bodies for our spirits.
3. That physical chain began on earth with the conception of our first parents Adam & Eve. They were born to immortal parents and raised in a family setting until they were joined in marriage and given the opportunity to transgress God’s commandment. Through transgression, Adam & Eve gained the ability to conceive children of their own within a mortal setting.
4. So much more than resurrection and immortality, eternal life is the state of married men and women with immortal, physical bodies. With these immortal, physical bodies husbands and wives continue the conception of spiritual beings within a family setting. Immortal parents then provide those children a mortal experience to acquire physical bodies of their own and eventually live in an expanding eternal family.
5. Consistent with this theological understanding, I find the fundamental gay and lesbian variance to this eternal pattern truly overwhelming.
6. And I’m amazed at the many gay and lesbian children I’ve encountered in the Mormon community.
7. I’ve been even more amazed and dismayed at the knee jerk shunning and ostracizing of these gay and lesbian children born in the covenant within our religious community that throws them into the hungry and waiting arms of the most tragic and harmful elements of society.

questions

Now the questions:  

1. Why is this great Mormon Community finding it so difficult to put aside the institutional concerns and encircle our gay and lesbian members, especially our own children, in an interpersonal embrace that heals wounds and provides these family members optimum mortal development?
2. Is our theology so narrow that we can’t recognize the value and potential for contribution of family members whether or not they are interested in or bound toward eternal family life?
3. Can we admit to no common ground within a current family relationship whether or not a family member is in full Church fellowship?

perspective

I have been working with men and women in violation of the doctrine and principles that lead to eternal life since my mission in 1964. Actually, since I began home teaching with my father when I was a teacher and a priest. He showed me it was possible to engage members, and men and women generally, in interpersonal relationships of respect and service. He showed me it wasn’t my place to be judgemental or punitive.  He was absolutely realistic of what was, but he never let that get in his way of extending a caring outreach. And he accepted rejection without rancor.

Every day I work professionally in a maximum security setting to provide wellness and recovery support to incarcerated men who have broken every commandment. And with the fewest possible exceptions, mostly among the seriously mentally ill who are yet to stabilize on medications,  we have found common ground for safe, respectful, and productive relationships.

I’m not so naive to ignore the importance to safety of the highly structured security measures in place. However, I’m still surprised at the caring stability that can be achieved even with the men who were most dangerous and destructive when they lived outside of security. And actually, the goal and reality is that the majority of these men will eventually be released to the community.

Therefore, I really don’t understand our own people that seem so ready to jettison their own children who are caught in such an anomalous disconnect with eternity. How can we cut them off, those little children we ourselves conceived and bore with such hope and love, waiting for the institution to get things sorted out?

Safety for Our Children in this Society / Lloyd

safety in a society unraveling

I began working with marginal groups in the early 70’s as a New York City methadone maintenance counselor -- and later during the 90’s in Maryland as an out-patient mental health worker and as a volunteer in state prison facilitating non-violence groups.

Currently I work in California as a licensed Senior Psychiatric Technician in a maximum security, state psychiatric hospital, and for a 5-year period I volunteered in state prison facilitating a pre-release group for inmates incarcerated for sexual offenses.

I’ve witnessed that those who violate fundamental moral and ethical principles defined within the Ten Commandments disproportionately find themselves working through episodes of intense unrest, contention, and anger.  Also, defeat, hopelessness, and despair. This observation is dramatic among the marginal groups but also holds within the general population.

A society unraveling morally demonstrates many unhealthy, emotional behaviors. We have all witnessed over-the-top rage and intense ridicule, sometimes with vengeful retaliation, whenever religious leaders publicly encourage adherence to the Ten Commandments and scriptural values. We ask ourselves, where is there safety in such a society, and how do we prepare our children and grandchildren?

principles of safety for our children & grandchildren

I believe we need to teach our children to fear God more than man and what society can do to us. They must experience early in life that their truest validation comes from God himself and that personal revelation from God is very real and open to them.

I believe it is essential that as parents we not only model in plain sight what we teach as our children walk with us, but also that we include them when we have course corrections to make in our own lives. Children need to behold the tenderness of a merciful God in action especially during the repentance process.

I believe that parents and others who honor their faith provide a natural, positive contrast in society when they live fundamental moral and ethical principles.

One of the most tragic lessons I learned as a drug addiction counselor in New York City was the destruction of hope and personal value among the children of hypocritical adults who publicly espoused one set of values and secretly lived -- but never secret enough to hide from their children -- the opposite lifestyle.

And most important perhaps for the blessing of those around us, I believe we need to teach our children to acknowledge virtue in others whatever their belief system and to thoughtfully validate that goodness. I am especially encouraged that our grandchildren are wonderfully inclusive at school.

not an academic exercise

This year Judy & I will have in our immediate family 20 adults and 40 grandchildren. The principles above have come hard learned and daily refined.

The Essential Hard Edge in My Life / Lloyd

Hard-Edge Painting (June Harwood, Bull's Eye, 1965)

 Abstract Expressionism (Jane Frank, Crags and Crevices, 1961)

The writers of two articles in the magazine Art in America, Feb '09, expressed concerns that artistic truth has been seriously compromised in their areas of expertise. Their comments illustrate the need and difficulty of identifying a reliable standard of truth in our life.

I have found such a standard in the Gospel of Jesus Christ found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and you can view the most recent General Conference of the Church via the internet Here.

honest brokers

In "Revision Number Five: Quality," Dave Hickey notes that art critics have failed to address the quality of art pieces, to be "honest brokers" regarding certain artistic verities. They subordinate their training and professional insights to market forces--whatever the public will pay, that is the value.

Why? Because they don't want to offend art dealers and thereby lose their advertising profits. Consequently, art critics have failed to educate the public about artistic merit. In the current economic down turn, when art buyers especially need to understand cultural and economic value, the "great art is diminished by the junk that surrounds it." The only way to shakeout the junk is for art critics to expose themselves to financial risk and take a stand on value.

reportorial truth

In "The New Real: Photoids," Peter Plagens points out that ". . . pre-digitalization, there was in force a bedrock assumption that what appeared in a photograph once materially existed in front of the lens of the camera that took the picture. In theory, the images in photographs existed before they were taken."

But now with digitalization, "The surface of the art that the machine produces can be printed so precisely that there's no trace of retouching. . . Nowadays, it's not just possible, but increasingly standard operating procedure, for some photographs to be majorly fictive while maintaining their customary insinuations of reportorial truth."

[To better appreciate the significance of Plagens' assertion that we can no longer just accept photography as truth in the traditional sense, consider the Dartmouth College study of mischief done in its exhibit at "Photo Tampering Through History."]

This concern about truth is not just academic. I feel uncomfortable and incomplete unless I am in contact with a "hard edge." I can't systematically define what I mean by a "hard edge;" it's just the term that seems to describe what I feel when I find something I trust.  Clearly David Hickey and Peter Plagens feel that important truths in their lives have been greatly diminished, and that makes them uncomfortable.

hard-edge feelings that help me

keep oriented

Here are examples of a "hard-edge" that bring comfort to my life.

At night I can sense Judy's presence just across from me; and without having to touch and disturb her rest, I can feel her warmth and reality. When I'm in a dream state (not always pleasant), Judy's presence is an important mooring to reality.

I can place my back up against the firm sea wall and hear and feel the wonderful continuity of waves rolling in and receding, rolling in and receding — punctuated by gulls and little kids running and laughing up and down the beach.

When I've passed through the veil in the temple I find Judy and other family and friends to hug in greeting. And in the Celestial Room of the Washington DC Temple I walk round the room touching through soft slippers the design sculpted in the carpet. This physical hugging and touching seem to strengthen my contact to the spiritual dimension of my temple experience.

I have come to recognize promptings, feelings whispered so quietly but so surely. After 68 years of ignoring some and heeding others and having to deal with the consequence of each choice, I've come to recognize their certainty.

When I was an in-patient on the psychiatric ward of our community hospital, remembering the hard-edge feelings listed above got me through the especially hard times. They were the realities I used in working my way back to productive functioning.

hard-edge painting versus

abstract expressionism

Just before writing this post I searched "hard edge" on the internet and learned that Hard-Edge painting was a style attributed to certain painters in California beginning in the late 1950's. It was a reaction to the abstract expressionism that was dominant in New York and featured sharp delineation of color and shapes. You can see examples of the two styles above.

I find abstract impressionism more interesting but feel a greater sense of certainty in hard-edged painting. Each week on Sunday I find it helpful to renew my focus on family and basic values and beliefs, the certainties in my life, before meeting the more abstract and challenging demands at work.

Lloyd's Job / Judy

Lloyd sure has an interesting job. Last night he had to wrestle a patient to the ground, then with the help of a couple other staff members, held him there nearly 20 minutes. As you can imagine, poor Lloyd is pretty sore today. He says he can keep this job as long as he can physically do that when necessary.

I think he's amazing; he can do things, not only physical things like that, but dealing with all kinds of people, that very few people can do. Last night Michael and Yvonne came to visit and they said several people at their party last Saturday mentioned Lloyd and what a great guy he was.

Mental Illness--leave myths at the door / Lloyd

Alexander B. Morrison of the Seventy became acquainted with mental illness through an afflicted family member. He speaks widely in the Church and is published in Church Magazines on the subject.

In "Myths about Mental Illness," Ensign, Oct 2005, Elder Morrison introduces the subject of Mental Illness and then discusses and sets straight 7 common myths and misconceptions that increase the burden for sufferers of mental illness and often impede treatment.

mental Illness

"In the Book of Mormon we read that the Nephites, who had been obedient to God’s laws, "lived after the manner of happiness” (2 Ne. 5:27). What a wonderful and insightful thought: if we are obedient and follow God’s commandments, we will be happy.

"It is important to understand, however, that happiness does not imply the absence of endurance: “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Ne. 2:11).

"Among the most painful trials an individual or family can face is that of mental illness. By mental illness I do not mean the temporary social and emotional concerns experienced as part of the normal wear and tear of living. Rather, I mean a disorder that causes mild to severe disturbances in thinking and behavior. If such disturbances are sufficiently severe and of sufficient duration, they may significantly impair a person’s ability to cope with life’s ordinary demands. These illnesses may even threaten life itself, as in severe depression, or be so debilitating that the sufferer is unable to function effectively.

". . . We still do not know exactly how the brain works nor exactly how and why parts of it may malfunction. One thing is certain, however: no individual, family, or group is immune from the effects of mental illness. Furthermore, we are learning that many mental illnesses result from chemical disorders in the brain, just as diabetes results from a chemical disorder in the pancreas. Why, then, is there still such misunderstanding and fear surrounding mental illness?

myths and misconceptions

"Myths and misconceptions about mental illness unfortunately are found among Latter-day Saints just as they are in the general public. These harmful attitudes include the following (see the article for the complete discussion):

1. All mental illness is caused by sin. 

2. Someone is to blame for mental illness.  

3. All that people with mental illness need is a priesthood blessing.  

4. Mentally ill persons just lack willpower.

5. All mentally ill persons are dangerous and should be locked up

6. Mental illness doesn’t strike children and young people.

7. Whatever the cause, mental illness is untreatable."

More recently, in "The Spiritual Component of Healing," Ensign, Jun 2008, Elder Morrison clarifies the roles of medicine and of faith in the healing process for both physical and mental illnesses.

the role of medicine

"We should not believe that all who suffer from illness, whatever the cause, need only receive a priesthood blessing to have their burdens lifted, perhaps permanently. I am a great advocate and supporter of priesthood blessings. I know from  many personal experiences that Jesus Christ, and He alone, has ownership of the precious “balm in Gilead” (Jeremiah 8:22) needed for final and complete healing. But I know also that God has given us wonderful knowledge that can be of inestimable assistance in dealing with suffering. We must, I believe, take every advantage of such God-given information.

"Some persons who are ill, who have received a priesthood blessing and have prayed fervently that their burdens might be lightened, may feel that they suffer from a lamentable lack of faith if they seek professional help for their affliction. They may even stop taking prescribed medication, thinking erroneously that their faith will replace    the need for it. Such thinking is quite simply wrong. Receiving and acting upon professional advice and the concomitant exercise of faith are not in conflict. In fact, exercising faith may require following the advice of experienced health professionals."

the role of faith

"Faith on the part of the recipient is the great prerequisite of healing (see  Nephi 26:13; Mosia 8:18; D&C 35:9). Faith—“the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)—is a gift of the Spirit, bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness (see 1 Corinthians 12:9; D&C 46:19–20). Without faith, the miracle of healing cannot occur. “For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith” (Ether 12:12).

". . . Faith in a loving Heavenly Father and in His Son, our Savior—coupled with  the understanding that we are literally God’s children, with a divine opportunity to strive to become as He is, and a realization that His love for us is eternal and unchangeable—brings peace to our lives. That peace persists even if the medical, psychological, or social dimensions of illness—be they physical or mental in origin—remain as “a thorn in the flesh.”