| Schizophrenia (excerpted from the book Pigs in the Parlor, by Frank and Ida Mae Hammond) Schizophrenia is a very common problem. Some authorities in the field of mental illness estimate there may be as many as fifty million schizophrenics in the United States. This is about one out of eight persons. Schizophrenics account for half the population in psychiatric hospitals. Of course there are varying degrees of schizophrenia. Some cases are acute while others are quite mild. Many schizophrenics have never been treated professionally. Schizophrenia has remained a very baffling problem to mental health professionals. The cause and cure has remained shrouded in uncertainty. The disturbance and disintegration of personality known as schizophrenia or dementia praecox is frequently encountered by the deliverance minister. I would estimate that as many as one fourth of those who come to us for deliverance are found to have the schizophrenic pattern. The Lord has graciously given us a special revelation on the problem which enables us to deal with such cases more effectively. Since the revelation came to my wife, Ida Mae, I have asked her to write the remainder of this chapter. The Schizophrenia Revelation Ida Mae Hammond We were working very closely in deliverance with a person who did not show much improvement after repeated ministries. This person was very earnest about wanting deliverance. She loved the Lord very much, she believed with all her heart that deliverance was the answer to her problems, and she cried out to the Lord in desperation. She was completely cooperative with the ministry. Nevertheless, the over-all results were disappointing. Time after time we felt that the victory was gained. For a few days her personality would show signs of stability, then suddenly everything would go into upheaval. We would be right back where we started. Then one night after an especially violent upheaval I was awakened from sleep. The Lord was speaking within my spirit. The Lord said, "I want to give you a revelation of what is Sarah�s problem. The problem is schizophrenia." Now, I was not knowledgeable on the subject. In college I had studied some psychology � enough to be familiar with such general terms as manic depressive, schizophrenia, paranoia, psychosis and neurosis. I reached back in my memory to recall that schizophrenia is sometimes referred to as "split personality". The Lord gave me this definition: "Schizophrenia is a disturbance, distortion or disintegration of the development of the personality. You will no longer call her Sarah but �Sarah One� and �Sarah Two�, for she has more than one personality in her" I was still in bed � still had sleep in my eyes � as the Lord continued giving the revelation. He instructed me to put my hands together, palms facing with the fingers laced together tightly. He said this represented what the schizophrenic nature was like. Each hand represented one of the dual personalities within the schizophrenic, neither of which was the real self. They were tightly interlocked. The Lord said, "Your hands represent the nest of demon spirits that make up the schizophrenia. I want you to know that it is demonic. It is a nest of demon spirits, and they came into this person�s life when she was very, very young. I will show you how it operates." |