Does the Buddha ever address how people can prevent or overcome insanity? I know sometimes in the vinaya insanity is addressed but its treated as a temporary thing.
For someone suffering from say borderline personality disorder, could mindfulness and meditation actually be helpful to them considering they suffer from things like manic episodes (which might be considered a form of temporary “insanity”)? Since theres no real mental stability, it seems like there isnt a good foundation to build mindfulness off of. Do you think a spiritual practice could alleviate or cure a mental illness like BPD?
The Buddha encourages people to take medicine if their feeling ill, which I assume would apply to mental illnesses as well. However, sometimes I’m skeptical of psychology and medicines that are prescribed by psychologists. For one, there is a pharmaceutical industry that has a profit incentive to prescribe medicine to people rather than focusing on addressing the root causes that may cause a mental illness. Another reason is that sometimes the prescribed drugs don’t help much and can just make the situation worse.
So could the Buddhist practice be a useful tool to genuinely help someone with a serious mental health disorder (like BPD or schizophrenia), or does a sort of baseline of mental stability need to be established before practicing can really take place?
Hi Jusnic,
Please use the search function with some keywords in your post. This and related issues have been discussed before, and relatively recently. You may find what you are looking for amongst a couple of different threads.
trusolo
I’ve posted about this recently, but I think it bears repeating: Please be very careful with discussions like this. There are Buddhist practices, like breath medication, that are contraindicated with certain mental health conditions. People have been harmed!
Also, a lot of people who would greatly benefit from seeing a mental health professional aren’t getting in and getting the help they need. Two factors that keep people away from professional help are misinformation and stigma. We want to do everything we can to make sure those people are supported in getting help from a mental health professional.
There is already a lot of stigma around mental health, seeking treatment, and using medications. Please don’t add to it by posting opinions.
Note: Psychologists don’t prescribe medicine. There is no particular reason you would know that. But if you aren’t aware of such basics you aren’t in a position to post opinions that might mislead people.
Whether someone should take a medication is a topic to be discussed between the patient and a professional.
@moderators - Any thoughts about adding discussions of treatment of mental health conditions to the list of topics that are not allowed on the Forum? I just feel they often end up containing misleading, potentially harmful, opinions. And they are always going to tend toward non-expert opinion because no mental health professional is going to diagnose or recommend treatment online. Thank you for considering. I respect whatever conclusion you come to on this.
