The End Of Madness
- naftali bilig
- Jun 18
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 20
Tradition, the Body, and Personal Experience in the Treatment of Schizophrenia
Why Some Treatment Money Should Be Used to Study a Traditional Jewish Approach
Introduction
Schizophrenia is a serious mental health condition. It can affect the way a person thinks, feels, understands the world, works, studies, and connects with other people.
Modern treatment may include medicine, emotional support, family help, therapy, housing support, and help with work. These treatments are important and should not be stopped without speaking with a doctor.
But medical treatment should also listen to the person receiving care. It should ask:
What does the person feel?
What is important to them?
What helps them feel safe?
What do their family, culture, and faith mean to them?
What kind of life do they want to build?
This article suggests using at least 20 percent of research and development money to carefully study a traditional Jewish approach. This approach is based on stories and teachings from the Babylonian Talmud, together with the personal experience of people living with mental illness.
This does not mean that meat, wine, or fire are already proven treatments for schizophrenia. They are not. It means that these old ideas may contain useful questions and symbols that should be studied in a safe and honest way.
The Story of “Kordyakos”
The Talmud speaks about a condition called Kordyakos. It describes a person who is confused for a certain period of time and cannot think clearly.
The Talmud does not say that Kordyakos is the same as modern schizophrenia. We should not claim that they are exactly the same illness.
Still, the story teaches several important ideas.
First, a person’s ability to make decisions can change over time. A person may understand things clearly at one time but become confused later.
Second, the person should not be judged only by one answer or one moment. The Talmud says that the person should be asked several questions. The questions should sometimes require a “yes” answer and sometimes a “no” answer. This helps show whether the person truly understands what is being said.
This is an important idea for modern care. A person should not lose all their rights only because they have a mental health diagnosis. Doctors should check what the person understands at that exact time and about that exact decision.
They should also remember what the person said and wanted when they were feeling well.
The Story of King Solomon
Another Talmudic story tells about King Solomon and Ashmedai.
In the story, Solomon loses his place and walks from door to door, saying that he is the king. At first, people may think that he is simply confused. But the wise people do not accept or reject his words too quickly.
Instead, they investigate.
They speak with people who know the king. They look at changes in behavior. They compare the person’s present actions with the way the real king behaved before.
This teaches an important lesson: a person should not be understood only through a short meeting in a clinic.
It is also helpful to learn about:
the person’s normal behavior;
their relationships;
their work;
their family life;
sudden changes in their actions;
and what people close to them have noticed.
Of course, this must be done while respecting the person’s privacy and rights.
The story also says that even after Solomon returned to his place, he was still afraid of Ashmedai. This may teach us that recovery is not only about ending the crisis.
After a serious mental health crisis, a person may still feel fear, shame, sadness, or worry that the crisis will happen again. Good treatment should also help with these feelings.
Feeling “Cut Off from the Heart”
Some people describe mental illness as feeling cut off from their own heart.
This does not mean that the physical heart has stopped working. It is a way of describing an emotional experience.
A person may feel:
far away from their feelings;
unable to understand what they feel;
disconnected from their body;
emotionally cold or empty;
or unsure whether their thoughts truly belong to them.
The idea of being “cut off from the heart” can therefore be used as a simple picture of emotional disconnection.
Modern science studies something called interoception. This means the way we notice signals from inside our body, such as hunger, warmth, breathing, heartbeat, pain, or tiredness.
Scientists are studying how body feelings are connected with emotions and with a person’s sense of self.
Science has not proven that a certain food reconnects a person to their heart. But it is reasonable to study whether warmth, food, safety, routine, and human connection help a person feel more grounded and emotionally connected.
Warm Food and “Digesting Feelings”
The main idea can be explained in this way:
When a person feels cut off from their heart, eating warm and nourishing food may give the body a feeling of safety and stability. As the body digests the food, the person may also feel more able to understand, hold, and share emotions.
This should not be presented as a proven medical fact. It is better to call it a personal and emotional theory.
The theory can be studied by asking questions such as:
Does a warm meal help a person feel safer?
Does it help the person notice their body and emotions?
Does preparing food with another person reduce loneliness?
Is the helpful part the meat, the warmth, the protein, the routine, or the shared meal?
Does the traditional meaning of the meal help the person speak about difficult feelings?
Does it help the person ask for support earlier?
These questions can be tested in research.
The Meaning of Meat, Wine, and Fire
In this traditional interpretation, meat is not only food. It may also represent pain, strength, responsibility, and the ability to carry a heavy burden.
The suffering of a prophet, especially Moses, can be understood as the pain of moving between a private personal life and a much larger responsibility for the community.
This does not mean that psychosis is the same as prophecy. Mental illness should not automatically be called prophecy.
But religious language may help some people describe experiences that feel very powerful, frightening, or full of meaning.
The watered-down wine may represent balance.
Wine can stand for joy, love, openness, and connection between people. Watering it down may represent the need for limits. A person should not completely close their emotions, but they should also not be overwhelmed by them.
The fire and coals may represent steady warmth.
A strong, steady fire can symbolize:
safety;
love;
a stable home;
human closeness;
and the strength to continue living and caring for others.
In treatment, these symbols may help a person feel understood, especially when Jewish tradition is important to them.
The symbols should be always need to be used in this specific way.
Why Personal Experience Matters
A person may say:
“I tried this several times, and I felt that it helped me.”
This experience is important, but it is not enough to prove that the treatment works for everyone.
There may be other reasons for improvement:
medicine;
better sleep;
family support;
natural recovery;
reduced stress;
hope;
or several treatments working together.
Still, personal experience should not be ignored.
People who live with mental illness often notice things that doctors may miss. For example, a treatment may reduce symptoms but still make the person feel powerless, ashamed, lonely, or unable to work.
Another treatment may not immediately remove every symptom, but it may help the person trust others, keep a relationship, return to work, or ask for help.
These are also important results.
People with personal experience of mental illness should therefore help design, teach, and evaluate mental health services. They should not only be invited as guests. Their work should be respected and, when appropriate, paid.
Why 20 Percent?
There is no scientific proof that exactly 20 percent is the perfect number.
The number is suggested as a serious level of investment. A very small amount of money may create only a symbolic project without enough staff, research, safety checks, or long-term study.
The 20 percent could be divided into four parts:
1. Five percent for planning
This part would bring together:
Talmud scholars;
psychiatrists;
psychologists;
dietitians;
rabbis;
ethics experts;
family members;
and people with personal experience of schizophrenia.
They would build the program together.
2. Five percent for better assessment
This part would create a respectful way to examine:
what the person understands;
whether their answers are consistent;
what they wanted before the crisis;
what their family has noticed;
and what goals matter most to them.
3. Five percent for safety studies
This part would test whether a warm meal, emotional support, body awareness, traditional language, and spiritual care are safe and helpful.
Early studies should not include alcohol or burned food.
4. Five percent for a controlled study
This part would compare different groups and measure:
symptoms;
quality of life;
work;
relationships;
trust in doctors;
emotional awareness;
hospital visits;
side effects;
and cost.
However, this money should come from research, innovation, or additional treatment budgets. It should not be taken away from essential medicine, emergency care, housing, therapy, or other necessary services.
A Possible Research Study
A study could begin by speaking with people who have schizophrenia and with their families.
Researchers could ask what words such as these mean to them:
“being cut off from the heart”;
“warmth”;
“digesting emotions”;
“balance”;
“giving”;
and “returning to myself.”
The traditional model should only be offered to people who connect with it. It should not be forced on anyone.
Later, researchers could test a program with people who are in a fairly stable condition, not during a severe emergency.
The program might include:
a warm and healthy meal;
food chosen together with a dietitian;
a non-alcoholic drink instead of wine;
safe cooking without burning the food;
a guided conversation about body feelings and emotions;
a trusted family member or supporter;
and spiritual support for people who ask for it.
There could be three groups:
regular treatment;
regular treatment together with the traditional program;
regular treatment together with a similar meal and emotional activity, but without the Talmudic explanation.
This would help researchers understand what caused any improvement.
Was it the food?
Was it the warmth?
Was it the company?
Was it the routine?
Or was it the cultural and spiritual meaning?
Nobody should be asked to stop proven medical treatment in order to join the study.
Important Limits
An ancient text is not the same as a medical experiment.
A personal success story is not proof that a treatment works for everyone.
Meat, wine, and fire may also create health risks if used carelessly.
For these reasons, the traditional approach must be studied carefully. It should be tested step by step, with medical supervision and clear safety rules.
If the research shows that the program is unsafe or does not help, the money should be moved to other services.
If it shows signs of helping, larger studies can be carried out.
Conclusion
The strongest claim is not that the Talmud already described modern schizophrenia perfectly.
It is also not that meat, wine, or coals have already been proven to cure schizophrenia.
The stronger and more careful claim is that these Talmudic stories contain valuable ideas:
a person’s ability to make decisions may change over time;
the person should be tested with patience and respect;
one moment of confusion should not erase their voice;
earlier wishes should be remembered;
family and community information may help;
the body, food, warmth, and safety may matter;
and cultural meaning can be an important part of healing.
The idea of being “cut off from the heart” may be a meaningful way to describe emotional disconnection.
The idea that warm food helps a person “digest and give emotions” should be treated as a serious personal theory. It should be listened to, clearly defined, and scientifically tested.
A wise health system does not place modern researchers above the Jewish sages, and it does not place a traditional interpretation above scientific testing.
Each kind of knowledge has a role:
Tradition gives language, memory, questions, and meaning.
Personal experience shows what life with the condition truly feels like.
Scientific research helps discover what works, for whom it works, when it works, and whether it is safe
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