28. About Mental Illness

Another question is: “What is the theosophical view of mental illness? Modern science denies that anyone can fall into mental illness through an erroneous, wrong train of thought. At most, overwork in relation to mental work can make the nervous system and brain ill, but not the mental content. Does theosophy also agree with this?”

Answer: Modern medical science is certainly not aware of the lawful connections in higher worlds; but as far as the assertion mentioned is concerned, there is a truth underlying it. What is called mental illness and what is a disease of physical organs can only have its immediate origin in physical facts. A wrong sensation, a mistaken thought, has its harmful effects first in higher worlds, and it can only indirectly affect the physical world. Therefore, anyone who speaks only of the laws of the physical world and does not know of others would make a mistake if he were to admit an influence of the spirit on the brain in the direction indicated. Thus, from its point of view, contemporary medicine is quite right. In their view, insane thoughts can only be the result of a diseased brain, but not, conversely, can a diseased brain be the result of erring thoughts. However, the connection between the brain and thought does not lie in the physical world. It lies in a higher world. And although the physical brain, which our eye sees in physical space, cannot be directly influenced by the content of the thought, as the mind, which is also bound to the physical world, knows it: there is nevertheless a connection, hidden from physical observation, between the higher (mental) laws from which the brain on the one hand, and the thoughts of this brain on the other hand, originate. And for those who can see this connection, the following statement is absolutely correct: Man makes himself insane, that is, brain-sick, through his wrong thoughts. But one must first understand such a statement before criticizing it. And contemporary medicine – not all physicians, of course – lacks the means to understand it. As a theosophist, one should be tolerant in such cases. Merely condemning the medical profession and its materialism does not accomplish anything. The theosophist should understand why today's physicians cannot understand him, while he is perfectly capable of understanding these physicians.