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Who took the spirit out of madness?

by Odette Nightsky
Sensitive Services International

Treating those with mental health issues has been in practice since early 400bc From Hippocrates all the way to Freud and further on down the line to the modern medicines of today, we have improved treatment in some form. We are medicated rather than locked up but still the stigma is huge. To be mad is to be unwelcome, to be feared, to be judged, to be misunderstood.

All the crime scene TV shows still continue to show those who are sensitive as violent and not a trustworthy or valued member of society. Madness no longer has a sanctuary in which to be cared for and protected. Madness now has the streets as its home. When the government hears the cries of the people it does two things. Puts money towards new beds in hospitals and bumps up the pharmaceutical lollie bin for more sedatives to keep the natives from being restless! We keep hearing about brain issues, brain chemicals, brain dysfunctions etc. For more than five hundred years now science has been beating its head against a brick wall and still has no answers, but yet there needs to be more research, more funding to go into this continual probing that for 500 years or more hasn't solved a thing. Interesting that none of these funded research programs looked at any alternative options.

People have been told that they will be like this for the rest of their lives, that the condition is chronic and that they will be medicated for the foreseeable future. They are instructed how to manage their medication (hopefully it's the right one?) and told to go out back into life and function 'normally'. This is more often than not the extent of the therapy and support available to most 'acutely sensitive' people. In some rare cases a sensitive may find themselves fortunate enough to be part of a halfway house or funded accommodation program that offers activities like art, carpentry, outdoor day trips. This however is not very common and is the most that is offered. Majority of sensitive people are not financial and have trouble affording a massage let alone any therapy that might be of comfort.

With the increasing assault of pharmaceutical answers, our society is now 'brain trained' to ask for their issues to be 'fixed'! No longer are we seekers on the journey of life discovery all that lurks within, we are now educated to 'fix' things.

Children as young as four are being 'fixed' because their behavior is out of control. Over a million people in Australia are on antidepressants and the world just keeps getting more intense. Religion has taken a beating with all the pedophilia and wars between the three great faiths; Christianity, Judaism and Islam-people are losing faith and trust, in not only humanity but also their own connection to spirit.

As the world turns and releases itself from negativity and the shadow path, people are also losing their connection to spirit rather than increasing it.

We are increasingly becoming a faithless generation. Pills are now the religion of today. And no wonder the sensitive people of this world are starving for spiritual comfort. Not surprisingly their spiritual needs are IGNORED. Their need to spiritually understand what's happening is IGNORED. Their need to spiritually deal with what occurs is IGNORED.

Much of the challenge of madness is experienced in the spirit world. Whether they are referred to as hallucinations, visions, delusions or figments, they are often otherworldly and many acutely sensitive souls see this as their primary experience, a spiritual, psychic challenge. None of these aspects are addressed. To talk about the experience is seen as encouraging the hallucinations to continue. So the spiritual view of what's happening is ignored. You can believe in a god or a faith but you are not to deal with your illness from a spiritual, psychic standpoint. You are to deal with it IN THIS REALITY ONLY!

The church alone once governed the spiritual relationship to madness. After many years of Spanish inquisition, tales of Salem's witch trials and stories of horrific exorcisms many found the church was more frightening than helpful.

We don't need to blood let or do demonic terrifying exorcisms or fast and purge the soul, like in the days of old, however we do need to give equal time to the importance of looking at this 'acute sensitive' nature and supporting it from a spiritual standpoint as we have done medically and psychologically.

Interesting to note that Exorcism is on the rise with more people feeling a lack of faith and spiritually disconnected. The church has said that the reason some are possessed is that they have strayed from the path of their faith. In a way, I think they are right. We have become so fast paced, so computerized, so televised and so separate from what is important, we have lost our way, and our connection to OUR spiritual home, whether that be a religious faith, and animistic faith or any sense of faith for that matter…we are in a crisis. A spiritual crisis. More and more people are feeling disconnected from a sense of spiritual wholeness.

If we don't look after our spiritual well-being we loose contact; we separate from spirit, from earth, from our inner selves and from the community as a whole.

An acutely sensitive person has an innate connection to spirit, however it is not balanced and they need spiritual support and guidance as much as they need the other modalities that may assist their journey.

Its time to broaden our education of mental illness from a grounded spiritual perspective, we need to honor the journey of the 'acutely sensitive soul'.

This journey may take a week, a month, a year or a lifetime. No one knows how long and no one can 'fix' it. It is spiritual quest for balance. And like any other quest there are hardships, challenges, labyrinths and trickery along the way.

Sensitive souls need guidance in the world of spirit. The statistics of those with 'mental health issues' is increasing by the day. Therapist and practitioners need to be educated, informed and trained to be a helpful guide to those that are lost and those that are on the knifes edge waiting to fall.

I call on all therapists and practitioners to educate yourself and to be prepared for more sensitivity to come. And believe me it wont be long

Odette Nightsky is a trained Shamanic guide and an advanced member of The College of Past Life Healing and associated Therapies UK. She is an accredited Flower Essence Practitioner with The Flower Essence Society of Nevada California, and works with CATF (Community Awareness Task Force) to assist in bringing more awareness to Mental Health care. Currently residing in Byron Bay Australia, Odette' main goal is to see that Sensitive Services International fills a gap in the industry that is sorely needed.

© Odette Nightsky
Author of The Bridge Between Two Worlds. A Shaman's View of Schizophrenia & Acute Sensitivity Available for Educational Seminars
Phone: 0438 239 127 (Australia)
Sensitive Services International

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