Even in the deepest darkness, the deepest hells of mental illness, God is with you. My wonderful therapist Frank Lanou once referred to mental illness as one of life's hells. It is indeed that. Many of the aspects of the hell of mental illness are the same as those depicted by Catholics in their books about what hell is like in the spirit world.
However, God created us so even if we find ourselves in the hell of mental illness, certain things are still possible while we're there.
1) Friendships grow. We develop significant enduring friendships with people we live through these years of our life with. People we share mental health housing with become lifelong friends. People we meet in mental hospitals become friends and inspire and enlighten us. Caregivers, caseworkers, therapists, psychiatrists, and everyone who aids our journey during these dark, frightening years become permanent parts of our lives, and who we become.
2) There is a way through. Even with the ability to live a normal life out of our grasp, there is a path through mental illness that requires creativity. We create daily routines that enable us to survive our housebound years. There is a way through that requires us to find our way through the dark. Simple faith makes healing possible. Over time, it may lead to a fully healed mind, one that is sound and strong, and correct in its thinking. One no longer suffering from "voices," delusions, paranoia, and the terrible shame that accompanies a mental illness.
3) We still feel love and kindness and can give and show them, as well. While many of the good feelings we enjoyed before getting ill left and were replaced with physical and mental discomfort, love and joy still break through. They remind us that they're still in us and have not died away. We are enduring an illness that removed the good feelings and left us searching. Searching for a return to the life with an abundance of good, pleasant, and wonderful feelings. Feelings that will return in time in new and better ways. God works in us, using our illness to increase our capacity to feel, love, and show compassion to others.
4) We still dream. Our dreams are often dreams of healing, and living a life free of mental illness. These dreams, like any dream you had before you were sick, that you pursued, do come true. As long as you take action to help them come true, they do. We eventually find ourselves, after years of mental illness, living a life we couldn't even dream of when ill. Life becomes so much better than we thought it could be. We win, and we're given a level of mental health we didn't know exists.
5) Needs are met, and God never stops working on our behalf. He provides for our needs. Housing is given if you seek it. Money, even if it is just an SSI check, will be provided. If you find yourself having to ask or panhandle for money, people will give to you. You will have food, clothes, and transportation even if it's a bike or the bus. The key to all things working in your favor while you are ill is the same for someone who is not ill. You must come to God and have faith that He exists. Christ spoke to us and said, "come to me." That simple command holds the key to enduring and emerging from, your years of mental illness. The simple belief that Christ is there, and that you can approach, and press into Him. He is, and you can. He lives, and through a simple relationship with Himself, you can heal your mind and spirit.
6) You can develop faith in the depths of mental illness. In it's painful and dark hell. Faith in God is still possible, and that faith will lead to the healing of your mind, to your whole life. You will be led into a mental health and soundness you didn't know was possible. You will be led back into the light of a joyful, wonderful life.