Posted on 06/12/2005 8:07:03 PM PDT by hiho hiho
Spiritual OCD There was an interesting series on Focus on the Family this week dealing with addictions and obsessive compulsive disorders. Today, the guest, Dr. Archibald something-or-other, was talking about how OCD can manifest itself in an unrelenting quest for new spiritual highs. OCD, he said, differs from addictions in that the former are rooted in some sort of insecurity or fear, whereas the latter are often rooted in biology and/or sinful desires. He spoke about how he has known some people who feel that if they do not have an ecstatic religious experience each week, they feel as though God has left them. These people, therefore, tend to bounce around from church to church, always looking for a greater high. Eventually, many of them leave the Church altogether.
I see elements of this religious OCDism more in Protestant lay people, though, than in catholic (small "c") lay people. Many of these huge mega churches have to constantly morph and adopt new tactics (such as use of special effects in worship) to keep people "interested" and "satiated". But to me, an older liturgy, like the Anglican liturgy, is more conducive to helping people grow spiritually in a measured, sober way. Sure, it is not always "exciting", but that is not what worship is supposed to be about. I think the repetative nature of it, done over years and years, helps people develop more of a deep, sober, "interior" life and spirituality. And the simplicity of it, especially the 1928 BCP, helps this happen without the people becoming obsessive compulsive or too weird in other ways.
But I guess I can kind of see the point he's making
OCD, in religious experience, is not confined to one denomination. There's plenty of it in Roman Catholicism.
1928 BCP? 1928 vintage could be very good. Nothing quenches spiritual thirst better than a gradual but continuous increase of both proof grade and the quantity of the spirits consumed. One should also pay attention to the spiritual food. The syncretism [i.e. mixing the spirits] should be religiously avoided, so as to prevent sickness...
there is spiritual OCD among Catholics as well. In fact when I saw the title of this article, I thought that was what it would be about. It's called scrupulosity, and I've known several folks who suffer or have suffered from it. Many years ago, I started to become borderline scrupulous myself, mainly due to the influence of a close friend who was severely scrupulous and the fact that I have some other OCD tendencies in other areas of my life.
It seems to manifest itself in two ways:
In one, the person suffering from it has an abnormally sensitive conscience and has the need to go to Confession nearly everyday. Some people will deliberately hop from parish to parish, priest to priest, throughout the week so to keep their constant Confession a secret.
The second, and probably more serious, way scrupulosity manifests itself is that when the person receives the sacrament of Confession, he or she does not feel forgiven afterwards. They live in doubt and agony over whether they have "really" been forgiven of their sins. It's very sad.
In my experience, these folks have a strong desire to love and serve God, and to be as holy as possible. They see their scrupulosity as part of a disciplined spiritual life, not as a perversion of true Christian discipline. Ironically, their problem ultimately stifles their spiritual lives. Some become so full of despair that they give up on God entirely.
There's a very strong connection between scrupulosity and OCD - in fact, the former is probably a manifestation of the latter. Once scrupulous people recognize their problem, often it is very helpful for them to get psychiatric and/or psychological help in addition to spiritual guidance.
here is spiritual OCD among Catholics as well. In fact when I saw the title of this article, I thought that was what it would be about. It's called scrupulosity, and I've known several folks who suffer or have suffered from it. Many years ago, I started to become borderline scrupulous myself, mainly due to the influence of a close friend who was severely scrupulous
You seem to be using "scrupulous" as a technical term, a usage unfamiliar to this protestant Christian. Care to clarify what it means in a C. of R. context?
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Scrupulosity is indeed a term of art for Catholics. "An unfounded apprehension and consequently unwarranted fear that something is a sin which, as a matter of fact, is not." (from the Catholic Encyclopedia).
It really does resemble OCD very closely. Much as a sufferer from OCD may "have" to keep returning to the house to make sure the stove's turned off (even though he knows it is because he's already checked it 2-3 times), someone suffering from scrupulosity "has" to confess frequently because he "knows" that (1) he is committing sins all the time and (2) his last confession may not have been "good". There may also be an element of spiritual pride (although it's probably just the compulsive aspect of OCD), because the scrupulous person trusts his own feelings or beliefs over the assurances of the confessor that he has made a good confession, etc.
Those of us who are just learning how to examine our consciences on a regular basis, to recognize when a sin may be mortal or when an accumulation of venial sins is becoming dangerous, and to make a good confession, are getting a lot of guidance from our priests and are unlikely to mistrust them. But I am a bit OCD myself, and I can see how this could easily become a problem if I started second-guessing my confessions in the same way I second-guess whether I left the porch light on!
Thanks for posting this. My wife and I have discussed this syndrome for 4 decades. We didn't realize that it had a name.
We have seen people leave the parish/church for the lastest hip and happening movement and return after the movement died or they got bored.
This leave and come back syndrome was discussed last May with our best friends, 3 couples, who like us are long time members of our parish and have never left the church.
We talked about some couples who have left and returned to the parish at least twice to as high as 5 times.
One of our friend/couples has a son who is an E member in a church 60 miles away and is a detective. He described these leavers and returners in his church as those who were addicted to "Happenings in Church". He spent 5 years as a narc detective and has a good fix on addictive personalities.
The Cursillo movement in the Episcopal Church, in my wife's eyes and mine falls into this syndrome. We went and enjoyed it, but it wasn't really our thing. Other couples have gotten addicted to Cursillo's and live for the welcoming weekends, the return parties, reunions and meetings of fellow Cursillo attendees. If they went to the 10 am service,(our full traditional service) before their Cursillo, they would soon stop coming and would attend the Saturday nite (no traditional service or the 8 am quicky on Sunday, traditional service, lite.)
Another addiction was pointed out to me by a retired priest. He called this addiction, "Infection by the Diocese Virus". He was of the old school of moving to another parish about every 3-4 years and if possible in a different diocese. By the time he had retired, he had served in 11 parishes and 7 dioceses.
Yet, he saw the same infection/addiction in every parish over his 40 years as a priest. Lay people and other priests would be elected or volunteer to serve in a Diocese role. Then, they became addicted to the power they perceived that the Bishop and the other lay people working in the Diocese had. It was where the action was. The beautiful people were there. It was where the real word/sermons were said from the pulpits. The services were spectaculiar. Once infected/addicted the lay members and priests lived to be in the power clique of the diocese. Often their spouse shared this addiction and perceived power sharing.
hiho hiho, thanks again for posting this. Now my wife, my friends and I have a name for this syndrome, Spiritual OCD syndrome.
I forgot to ping you to my reply #13 above.
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