From the Archives: When the Healthy Becomes the Unhealthy
When does a community cross the line between healthy and unhealthy? And what things characterize unhealthy, sectarian environments? Arne Tord Sveinall from the Institute for Mental Health in Norway gives numerous lectures about it every year.
Communities are good. But a community can run off track, so that the healthy becomes unhealthy. Arne Tord Sveinall, head of the Norwegian Institute for Mental Health, can talk about this. In his work he has met hundreds of victims of sects and sect-like environments, and in the book Believers to a Little Bit of Everything - On Religious Sectarianism and Soul Grief he describes typical features of a sectarian community. The essence of the book he tells about at numerous lectures around Norway - here is a transcript of one which was broadcast on the Norwegian state television, NRK:
In a sectarian environment, there are permissible and impermissible emotions. Mentally, the members of such an environment find themselves in an aquarium, where one does not relate to the reality outside. Everything is either black or white. You are inside or outside. Hear where it's storming out there, here it's peaceful and quiet, we sing in a hymn. In a sect, these words take on a new meaning, where you easily come to demonize them out there, while there is reassurance and genuine spirituality within the group/congregation.
For there to be a sect, it must be a religious - or political - minority, which is led by an authoritarian person or group. But sectarianism can also arise in a pocket of, say, a church, in that an unhealthy leadership style sets the agenda within a demarcated area.
Another characteristic of a sectarian environment is the pressure of conformity. The pressure, which will force everyone to think, think and believe the same thing and behave in the same way, is one of the unhealthy elements of a sect. And if one expresses doubt or dissenting opinions, it is interpreted as rebellion or even as an expression of demon possession. If you then want to opt out, you may find that there will be strong reactions from the management. Threats and rejections are not abnormal.
In many sectarian environments, guilt is an employed method of manipulating people. You get to be in a kind of mental debt position in relation to the group/congregation, which is why you feel guilty if you start to consider leaving the group/congregation. Some have had great help from the group/congregation - it might be financial help, for example - while others have been subjected, briefly and well, to what is known as law bombing: being showered with care and attention, which is then listed on some kind of unwritten debt note. But proper care never puts people in debt.
You may also find that previously meaningful tasks within the group/congregation become unattainable demands - and then you feel guilty about not reaching out. Guilt is the royal road to all manipulation. That is what Sigmund Freud said, and on this point he is undoubtedly right. By making people feel such mental debt, you can gradually get people to say and do almost anything.
But what is it that characterizes an unhealthy leader? First, let's look at what characterizes a healthy leader/leadership:
* The leader is aware of his power and sets limits on it himself
* The leader is predictable and one is allowed to disagree with him
* One is understood by the leader and not just given ready-made explanations
By an unhealthy leadership style, on the other hand, one can see that: The leader is not psychologically integrated. The leader himself has needs that must be met, and it is the group/congregation that must meet these needs. This can be visible in many ways, but can eventually also express itself in the economic and sexual spheres.
It is also normal to use prophecies to suit one's own needs. In this context, it might be useful to recall what the Church has practiced in the past. A scripture from the year 160 reads as follows: If the one who produces a prophecy has an interest in its fulfillment, then it is a false prophecy.
Some unhealthy congregations are led by mentally ill persons. Often it can be a person who has difficulty distinguishing between reality and fantasy. Such a person needs psychiatric help.
How is it that members of the congregation do not see through that their leader needs help? They don't because they choose a different interpretive space. One senses that something is not as it should be, but one chooses the spiritual space of interpretation instead of the psychiatric one. The person is therefore interpreted as being in some way very spiritual, and one does not see the symptoms of an ordinary mental disorder.
Another explanation is that one often gets tired and worn out in a church, with a high level of activity. And when you're exhausted, a depression easily pops up on the horizon - and the first thing you lose by just a lighter depression is imagination and perspective. Therefore, you cannot even realize that there are other ways of thinking.
It takes a lot of energy to be able to see everything outside of yourself.
God is the one who has given medical science knowledge of His creation. He has created the conditions of interpersonal relationships. But in a sectarian environment, there is no place to be human. Here, on the other hand, one finds a gnostic mindset in which the created/material is less valuable. The corporeal aspect is set aside in favor of the spiritual aspect - and the correctness of this becomes very easy to confirm: if only you concentrate strongly enough - then it will become such and such... If only you read this, if only you pray the right prayers - then you will achieve this and that.
Incidentally, none of those who have sought Arne Tord Sveinall for help have ever spoken the following words. In fact, he has never, ever heard anyone at all say: I'm a member of a sect.
Watch the full lecture here. Read more about Institutt for Sjelesorg at esorg.no
Photo: Kuzma