Reply To: Mental illness in the frum community- take 2

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#732455
Pashuteh Yid
Member

The Goq, that is not what I meant. First of all, I wish you a refuah sheleima and may your life get back to normal with good health, parnasa and hatzlacha. Second of all, I am very close with someone who has such a disability, so I know first hand, and would never minimize it.

My point is that sometimes stress pushes people over the edge, and can cause a breakdown is susceptible individuals. Unfortunately, some broke down during the holocaust, etc. Sometimes today people may feel they are going to have a break down because of an impending foreclosure or other tragedy.

I am not at all implying that it is not organic, as it definitely is. However, I think that great stress or tragedy or fear can exacerbate it, and be the final factor that causes somebody to get sick.

I think the message for the klal is to let people know that no matter what situation, we will be a safety net for you. One must always maintain contact and do whatever he can to help someone in trouble, as that can prevent him from going over the edge. The worst thing is if somebody feels his problem has no solution, and nobody will be there to help him out. Chessed can literally be a lifesaver.

Imagine if instead of going on fancy vacations, those who are able to would donate enough money for an emergency fund to help those with severe parnasa problems who fear the lights may be turned off at any moment or they may be evicted. At least we can help in such situations.

Unfortunately, I know of people with certain diseases who are in fear that their eyes may get worse to the point where they will not be able to see. Nobody has any clue how frightening this is to somebody. I wish we could help people with all types of sicknesses. But this requires years of research. I often wonder why research is not the number one focus of any baal chesed. Why are more frum people not going into science?

Anyway I am getting off topic, but being able to be nosei b’ol with suffering people is the least we can do.