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Psychiatric
Nonadherence
A Solutions-Based Approach
Victor Fornari
Ida Dancyger
Editors
123
Psychiatric Nonadherence
Victor Fornari • Ida Dancyger
Editors
Psychiatric Nonadherence
A Solutions-Based Approach
Editors
Victor Fornari Ida Dancyger
Northwell School of Medicine Northwell School of Medicine
North Shore Long Island Jewish Health Sy North Shore Long Island Jewish Health Sy
Hempstead, NY Hempstead, NY
USA USA
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Foreword
v
vi Foreword
the infant to go home, the mother was apprehensive and asked for a few more days
of inpatient care.
Anxious, the couple took their daughter home at 2500 g and had the support of a
baby nurse in their apartment for the first 4 weeks that the child was at home. The
child would be attached to the infant home monitor when asleep. By the sixth month
of age, the neonatologist in the neonatal intensive care follow-up clinic advised the
mother that the monitor was no longer medically necessary; however, the mother
continued to utilize it. By 12 months of age, the neonatologist advised the mother to
bring the monitor back to the clinic. Despite the monthly rental fee, the mother
refused to return the monitor.
With tears in her eyes, the mother described how this child was her last chance
of becoming a biological mother. Nothing would take away her infant from her,
certainly not the neonatologist. I concurred with her decision to hold onto the moni-
tor, recognizing that it was her symbolic life jacket. I suggested that she could dis-
continue attaching the electrodes but simply leave the monitor on the dresser not
plugged in. I saw the woman the following month when she returned to see me for
a follow-up. The woman reported to me that she had indeed disconnected the moni-
tor even though it did not make sense to her and left the monitor on the dresser. I
acknowledged her ability to heed my advice. I told her that I would not return the
monitor provided that she was prepared to pay the rental fee. I suggested that she put
the monitor in its box and put the box in the closet at the top shelf. Smiling, I recom-
mended that when the child would go to college, I would put the box with the moni-
tor in the dorm room closet. The mother smiled and told me that she knew I
understood.
Several weeks later, I bumped into the neonatologist in the cafeteria. He asked
whether I had met again with the “crazy” mom. I told him that I had seen her twice.
I explained that I suggested she keep the monitor and that I told the mother that I
would not have returned the monitor either. Baffled at my suggestion, the neona-
tologist exclaimed that I was “crazier than the mother.”
As this volume was being prepared, I thought a lot about this mother and my
understanding of her and her narrative. I recognized that her doctor did not under-
stand her. I realized that what was misunderstood as nonadherence or noncompli-
ance was actually a physician not listening to his patient and the patient not being
understood.
Acceptance of a psychiatric diagnosis and its subsequent treatment and the patient’s
adherence to the therapeutic recommendations may present significant clinical chal-
lenges. The path to recovery is often in strong opposition to the patient’s desires and
beliefs. Various approaches to engage the patient will be discussed in this book. We
examine the five factors (social and economic, health-care team and system-related,
condition-related, therapy-related, and patient-related factors) contributing to non-
adherence and offer strategies from clinical practice and expertise, as well as some
research findings.
In the first part of the book, “mental health treatment nonadherence”, Martini and
Attallah review the hidden costs of mental illness. This is followed by a series of
five chapters reflecting the range of psychiatric nonadherence across the life cycle.
Blader describes nonadherence in childhood disorders, with attention deficit disor-
der as the clinical example. Subsequently, we review nonadherence in the treatment
of adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Lawrence and Dixon review the challenges of
nonadherence with individuals with schizophrenia, often first manifesting during
late adolescence and early adulthood. Bardin, Cheney, and Braider report on increas-
ing psychiatric treatment engagement and adherence in the college population.
Subsequently, Freudenberg-Hua and her colleagues describe a review of nonadher-
ence to treatment in the geriatric population.
The second part of this volume is devoted to “what makes a good doctor”.
Pearlman and Chou describe communication skills, often lacking in medical educa-
tion, on specific training to enhance patient adherence. Weissman, Fornari, and
Branch report on enhancing humanism for practitioners and its impact on medical
treatment. Marcus and Sharon describe the use of narrative medicine to enhance the
doctor-patient relationship and engage the treatment-resistant patient.
The third and final part of this volume is devoted to “solving the dilemma of
psychiatric nonadherence”. These six chapters present a range of strategies address-
ing clinical practices in order to achieve the desired outcomes. Byrnes and Payne
describe treatment adherence from the dialectical behavior therapy perspective.
Smith and Kaye describe collaborative care, an effort to increase behavioral health
adherence by working directly with the primary care physician. Kapoor and
Goldman outline the technique of motivational interviewing for improving psychi-
atric adherence. Higdon, Eichenbaum, and Delbello report on pragmatic research
trials as a means of developing evidence that can be applied to our real-world
vii
viii Preface
patients in order to enhance adherence. Sengupta and Adragna summarize the bur-
geoning field of technological advances to address psychiatric nonadherence.
Finally, we propose a psychiatric nonadherence checklist as a means to close the
gap and offer future directions of where we go from here.
We are honored that so many leading experts in the field of psychiatry graciously
and generously contributed to this volume. There continues to be progress in the
field with the goal of increasing the strength of the evidence to provide for clinical
practice. There have been developments across the range of treatment modalities,
and the authors have reviewed and incorporated the latest research and information
into their chapters.
We are enormously grateful to the over 30 contributing authors for their unwav-
ering commitment to excellence, their enthusiasm, as well as the time and effort
each has given to the work of creating the chapters for this book.
In addition, we wish to express our deep appreciation to our families for their
continued support throughout the preparation of this manuscript.
ix
x Contents
xi
xii Contributors
Calvin Chou, MD, PhD, FACH University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
Ida Dancyger, PhD Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of
Psychiatry, North Shore University Hospital and The Long Island Jewish Medical
Center (Including The Zucker Hillside Hospital and Cohen Children’s Medical
Center), Glen Oaks, NY, USA
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead,
NY, USA
Melissa P. DelBello, MD, MS Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Lisa Dixon, MD, MPH Division of Behavioral Health Services and Policy
Research and Center for Practice Innovations, Columbia University Medical Center,
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
Rebecca M. Eichenbaum, MD Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at
Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
Alice Fornari, EdD, RD Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at
Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
Northwell Health Organization, New Hyde Park, NY, USA
Victor Fornari, MD, MS Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department
of Psychiatry, North Shore University Hospital and The Long Island Jewish Medical
Center (Including The Zucker Hillside Hospital and Cohen Children’s Medical
Center), Glen Oaks, NY, USA
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead,
NY, USA
Yun Freudenberg-Hua, MD Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at
Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset,
NY, USA
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA
Bruce Goldman, LCSW, CASAC Donald and Barabara Zucker School of
Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA
Addiction Services, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA
Claudine Higdon, MD Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry Department,
Northwell Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
Contributors xiii
Introduction
D. R. Martini (*)
Division of Pediatric Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Department of Pediatrics,
University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Primary Children’s Hospital,
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
e-mail: richard.martini@hsc.utah.edu
T. Attallah
Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
e-mail: tammer.attallah@imail.org
psychiatric care represents 5% and 10%, respectively, of the entire direct care costs
and primarily includes medications, office visits, and inpatient hospitalization.
However, the hidden costs of psychiatric disorders are more difficult to delineate,
but are nevertheless significant, and include income loss due to mortality, disability,
and need for custodial care and lost production at work due to absence and early
retirement [2]. When considered together, these costs are over twice the direct
expense of mental illness and total over $300 billion nationally and $1.7 trillion
globally.
Understanding these hidden costs provides a broader perspective on the full eco-
nomic burden of psychiatric disorders. Precision when identifying these hidden
costs is challenging in part because the impact of these factors is difficult to mea-
sure. In an effort to develop models that better explain these hidden costs, the World
Economic Forum (WEF) describes multiple approaches used to quantify the eco-
nomic disease burden [3].
Human Capital
This approach addresses the personal impact of disease and considers the direct
costs of diagnosis and treatment and the indirect or hidden costs associated with lost
production, income loss due to disability and mortality, early retirement, and the
need for chronic support from family and caregivers. The limitation to this approach,
however, is that it does not take into account the other personal costs that are the
consequences of society’s approach to mental illness, including incarceration, poor
education, and the need for a social services safety net through public housing, food
stamps, and income support [2].
This approach considers the projected impact of psychiatric disease on the gross
domestic product (GDP). Economic growth depends on both capital and labor,
and mental health disorders have a negative impact on an individual’s ability to
positively contribute to both. In addition, psychiatric disorders consume capital
through the healthcare expenditures and deplete the work force through disability
and early mortality. One method used to determine the lost economic output is a
calculation of the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) across each medical con-
dition [2]. A second is to look at the relative size of the population with psychiat-
ric disorders and determine economic impact by comparing it to populations with
other diseases. An analysis made by the WEF concluded that between 2011 and
2030, the cumulative economic output loss associated with mental disorders will
be US$ 6.3 trillion worldwide, making the economic output loss related to mental
disorders comparable to that of cardiovascular diseases and higher than that of
cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes [4].
1 Health Economics: The Hidden Costs of Mental Illness 5
The WEF developed these models to better understand the broad economic bur-
den of physical and psychiatric disease. The figures listed above demonstrate the
importance of a broad analysis of the multiple costs of psychiatric disorders. When
considering the unique hidden costs of psychiatric disorders, multiple factors need
to be considered to fully appreciate the extent of the financial impact.
Medical Conditions
Public Costs
Individuals with chronic psychiatric illness are more likely to be on public aid and
dependent upon public funds to support themselves than those individuals without
a psychiatric diagnosis. This includes cash assistance, food stamps, and public
housing. It is estimated that 22% of those who are incarcerated have a psychiatric
diagnosis and one third of the adult homeless population is suffering from a mental
health problem [1]. A psychiatric disorder diagnosis impacts educational attainment
early and later in life and often requires special education placement. Both factors
effect economic productivity [6].
Family Costs
A significant hidden cost of psychiatric disorders are the financial burdens family
members shoulder for their loved ones. In additional to paying for housing, food,
insurance, medical expenses, and transportation, family members of individuals
with chronic psychiatric disorders are less likely to experience career advancement
and wage increases [1]. The demands of caring for a chronically ill family member
require time away from work leading to lower productivity and lower wages.
6 D. R. Martini and T. Attallah
The comorbidity between psychiatric disorder and physical illness creates addi-
tional costs for both the patient and the healthcare system. Major depressive disor-
der effects a variety of physical conditions including arthritis, asthma, cancer,
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic respiratory disorders, and
chronic pain conditions. These associations are noted both in the United States and
throughout the world. Major depressive disorder contributes to the prevalence of
these physical diagnoses and is a factor in the onset of coronary artery disease,
stroke, diabetes, myocardial infarction, and certain types of cancer. The poor health
decisions that frequently accompany major depression including smoking, alcohol
consumption, obesity, and poor compliance with medical recommendations predict
these illnesses. In addition, there is a possible association between depression and
hypothalamic pituitary adrenal hyperactivity, and impaired immune function that
may also affect susceptibility to illness [7, 8].
Major depressive disorder (MDD) influences the severity and prognosis of a
variety of physical illnesses. A study examined the impact of coexisting major
depression on health resource utilization, lost productivity, and the level of disabil-
ity in seven chronic medical conditions: diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery
disease, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular accidents, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, and end-stage renal disease. These disorders present with a
high prevalence and a high public health and financial burden. The study classified
patients based on the presence and absence of a physical illnesses and the total
number of conditions per case. In addition, patients were identified as suffering
from a chronic disorder, a chronic disorder with major depression, or not experi-
encing a chronic illness. Results showed that patients who had both a major medi-
cal disorder and a comorbid diagnosis of major depression are more likely to have
ambulatory and emergency room visits, spend more days in bed due to illness, and
lose more workdays with a greater level of functional disability than those patients
without major depression. The study also demonstrated an incremental process
whereby patients became progressively more affected by the physical illness with
the presence of major depression [9].
Major depression can also be persistent and unresponsive to treatment.
Patients with treatment-resistant depression frequently suffer from comorbid
medical conditions including joint, limb, and back pain, hypertension, dyslipid-
emia, and chronic fatigue [10–12]. They are more likely to visit medical facilities
within the past year generating annual healthcare costs per patient that are higher
than for those patients with treatment-responsive depression [13]. The difference
in cost between these two populations is as high as $6000 per year, and when
compared to the general population, treatment-resistant patients increase costs
by over $10,000 per year. These trends are accompanied by a loss in productivity
per patient per year of over $4000 when comparing those with treatment-resistant
depression to those patients who are responsive. Treatment-resistant patients
1 Health Economics: The Hidden Costs of Mental Illness 7
reordering tests. This pattern leads physicians to order a progression of even more
invasive and expensive procedures. Eventually, patients are referred for the identifi-
cation and treatment of emotional and behavioral problems that are unrelated to any
organic disease. The most appropriate and cost-effective way to care for these
patients is through an enhanced, multidisciplinary assessment that addresses the
possibility of somatoform symptoms with comorbid depression and anxiety diagno-
ses. A study by Burton and colleagues [28] examined three groups of patients: those
who were repeatedly referred with medically unexplained physical symptoms, those
who were infrequently referred for specialty care, and individuals who were referred
at least three times to specialty care for a medically explained diagnosis. The medi-
cally explained population is the most expensive to treat. However, the cost of medi-
cally unexplained disorders is almost equivalent to that group, indicating high levels
of disability and recidivism [28]. Functional gastrointestinal disorders, for example,
are diagnosed in approximately 10–20% of the general population in Western coun-
tries [29, 30]. Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common functional gastrointes-
tinal disorder, making up 12% of patients seen in primary care practice, and is also
the largest single group of patients treated in a gastroenterology practice [31]. Many
of these patients present with psychosocial problems, and the clinicians who care
for them are frequently ill-prepared to manage the complex nature of these cases.
Functional abdominal disorders decrease quality of life in a manner that is more
severe than other chronic illnesses, including diabetes, and increases both direct and
indirect healthcare costs. In a study that examined the illness burden of gastrointes-
tinal diseases, inflammatory bowel disease was second only to esophageal reflux in
its prevalence and led to a direct healthcare cost of 1.6 billion dollars and an indirect
cost of $19.2 billion per year [32]. Studies that examined comorbidity with func-
tional gastrointestinal diseases found high rates of anxiety disorders, mood disor-
ders, and somatoform disorders, particularly recurrent pain [33, 34]. The treatment
approach to these patients is based on a biopsychosocial model incorporating medi-
cal interventions that address physical symptoms with remedies that improve psy-
chosocial functioning, including psychotherapy, behavioral plans, and the use of
antidepressant medications.
Patients with psychiatric disorder present with costs that stress the individual and
test community resources. Depression, for example, is a chronic disease, requiring
constant treatment for recurrent symptoms that produce high levels of disability,
higher rates of absenteeism, and early retirement. Efforts at reducing the cost of
depression focus on decreasing the number and length of inpatient stays because
hospitalizations account for a large percentage of the expenses. The severity of ill-
ness drives up costs by increasing the admission rates, emphasizing the importance
of accurate diagnosis, and prompting treatment in order to prevent a progression of
the disorder. A concomitant increase in the number of outpatient visits can occur
with more aggressive outpatient care, but the cost of these visits is much less than
1 Health Economics: The Hidden Costs of Mental Illness 9
the inpatient monies saved [35]. Older, female populations, residing in urban areas,
are considered more vulnerable to depression and are more likely to lose workdays
and retire early when affected by a mood disorder [36]. Fifty percent of all patients
who suffer from major depression do not achieve symptom remission and are clas-
sified as treatment resistant. Clinically, these patients do not respond to antidepres-
sant therapy after one or more adequate trials and experience symptoms for at least
6 weeks even on appropriate doses of the medications. Treatment-resistant depres-
sion increases medical and mental health costs, affects the patient’s quality of life,
requires the provision of additional medical resources, and limits participation in
the labor force. The differences in cost, between those patients who respond to
treatment compared to those who do not, are significant. Patients with treatment-
resistant depression have annual expenses that are nearly $5500 higher than
patients with treatment-responsive depression [37, 38]. The suicidal burden of
recurrent MDD in the United States is approximately $200 billion per year. The
total financial burden of treatment-resistant depression in the United States reaches
$64 billion per year [10].
In an assessment of the relative impact of mental illness on role functioning,
MDD and bipolar disorder had the highest level of impaired skills in both developed
and developing countries, when compared to physical disorders including cancer,
diabetes, and cardiovascular disease [39]. A World Health Organization (WHO) sur-
vey of nearly 250,000 respondents across 60 countries, with a broad range of social
demographic subgroups, demonstrated a larger impact for MDD on perceived health
than angina, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes [40]. An additional WHO World Mental
Health Survey compared 18 physical disorders including cancer, cardiovascular dis-
ease, and diabetes, with bipolar disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disor-
der, and major depression. MDD was among the three diseases with a highest
decrement in perceived health [41].
Revicki and colleagues examined the cost of GAD symptoms on society and
attempted to account for the fact that anxiety disorders are frequently comorbid and
it is difficult to clearly distinguish one from another. Anxiety patients also have high
rates of psychiatric comorbidity, with accompanying diagnoses of MDD, dysthy-
mia, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse disorder. The presence of additional psy-
chiatric diagnoses causes greater impairment in health-related quality of life and
makes these patients more difficult to treat [42]. In one study, an estimated 92.1%
of patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of GAD had another comorbid lifetime psy-
chiatric diagnosis [43] and experience higher levels of disability when the GAD was
comorbid with a MDD. The level of chronic impairment can be more debilitating
than a number of chronic medical diseases including end stage renal disease and
cardiovascular disease [44]. GAD patients report a worse health-related quality of
life than individuals who suffer from acute myocardial infarction [45]. The majority
of these patients are treated in the primary care setting and often go undiagnosed
and undertreated. In a study by Marciniak and colleagues, a sample of insured
employer-based individuals demonstrated a mean total medical cost for individuals
diagnosed with any anxiety disorder in the United States to be approximately $6500,
with an additional cost of $2100 for patients with GAD, $1600 for panic disorder,
10 D. R. Martini and T. Attallah
and nearly $4000 for post-traumatic stress disorder [46]. In primary care practices,
GAD increased median annual medical care costs per patient from $1450 to nearly
$2400 per year. The highest costs were in patients with generalized anxiety disorder
accompanied by recurrent pain. These patients over utilized medical services and
were more than 1.6 times more likely to see a primary care physician multiple times
in a single calendar year than patients without either GAD or MDD. An additional
troubling aspect in the care of these patients was that less than 25% received appro-
priate psychiatric treatment. Patients with GAD tend to struggle in areas of general
health, physical health, recurrent pain, and overall level of functioning [47]. These
disorders are twice as common in women as in men, with a lifetime prevalence for
women of 6.6% versus 3.6% in men [48].
Schizophrenics have a higher prevalence of a number of chronic diseases includ-
ing HIV infection, hepatitis, osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, obstetric complica-
tions, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, dental problems, and polydipsia
than the general population [49]. Patients with schizophrenia also experience a mor-
tality rate that is two to three times higher than the general population [50].
Antipsychotic medication presents a mortality risk due to cardiovascular disease,
but these drugs reduce overall mortality when compared to patients who receive no
treatment because of the multiple health risks that accompany schizophrenia. It is
also interesting that the mortality risk among offspring of patients with psychotic
disorders is also higher than the general population [51].
The rate of mental illness in the incarcerated population is three to six times the rate
in the general population. These are patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, and MDDs, with a significant percentage not receiving any mental health-
care. Tiihonen and colleagues showed that schizophrenics were seven times more
likely to commit at least one violent crime when compared to patients who did not
have a mental illness [65]. Hodgkin noted that violent offenders with schizophrenia had
no signs of antisocial behavior before they were diagnosed [66]. Incarcerated indi-
viduals with chronic psychiatric conditions have high recidivism rates, estimated at
53% per year, a rate nearly double the 30% among parolees who do not have a
psychiatric disorder [67]. States are closing publicly funded psychiatric beds that
are available to individuals with chronic mental illness, including schizophrenia and
bipolar disorder, increasing the rates of incarceration. These are individuals prone to
agitation and have paranoia symptoms that are exacerbated by involvement in the
penal system. The homeless population frequently has contact with the legal system
rather than mental health or rehabilitative services. Rates of mental illness in the
homeless population range from 63% to 90%, a dramatic increase when compared
to a 15% rate in the general population. Studies show that over a 2-year period,
providing housing and community-based treatment decreases rates of arrest and
improves prognosis for homeless individuals [68]. Appropriate treatment also
avoids confrontation with law enforcement, something that occasionally leads to
injury for the homeless offender as well as for the police officer. Services that utilize
12 D. R. Martini and T. Attallah
Summary
By understanding the extent and framework of these hidden costs, the unique bur-
den that psychiatric disorders place on our society can be fully appreciated. The
implication on productivity as demonstrated by reduced gross national/domestic
product coupled with the added public funds necessary to support patients in the
social and justice systems magnifies the total cost of psychiatric diagnosis [75].
1 Health Economics: The Hidden Costs of Mental Illness 13
Furthermore, the added cost associated with concomitant medical and psychiatric
disorders contributes to expenses within the entire healthcare system that may be
difficult to allocate, but all clearly drive the overall increases in healthcare costs.
When considering families of those with chronic psychiatric illness, the financial
and emotional toll is profound and not well understood. The hidden costs of psychi-
atric illness demonstrate the importance of effective treatment that includes
community-based services that not only address symptomatology but the broad
impact that these disorders have on families and communities.
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JUDA.
his name.
There is still another question connected with his simple entity and
identity. Ancient traditions make mention of a Thaddeus, who first
preached the gospel in the interior of Syria; and the question is,
whether he is the same person as the apostle Juda, who is called
Thaddeus by Matthew and Mark. The great majority of ancient
writers, more especially the Syrians, consider the missionary
Thaddeus not as one of the twelve apostles, but as one of the
seventy disciples, sent out by Jesus in the same way as the select
twelve. Another confirmation of the view that he was a different
person from the apostle Jude, is found in the circumstance, that the
epistle which bears the name of the latter, was not for several
centuries received by the Syrian churches, though generally adopted
throughout all Christendom, as an inspired apostolic writing. But
surely, if their national evangelizer had been identical with the
apostle Jude who wrote that epistle, they would have been the first
to acknowledge its authenticity and authority, and to receive it into
their scriptural canon.
Tertullian (A. D. 200) is the earliest writer who has distinctly quoted this epistle. He refers
to it in connection with the quotation from the book of Enoch. “Hence it is that Enoch is
quoted by the apostle Jude.” (De cultu feminarum, 3.) Clement of Alexandria also
repeatedly quotes the epistle of Jude as an apostolic writing. Origen (A. D. 230,) very
clearly expresses his opinion in favor of this epistle as the production of Jude, the brother of
Jesus. In his commentary on Matthew xiii. 55, where James, Simon and Jude are
mentioned, he says, “Jude wrote an epistle, of few lines indeed, but full of powerful words of
heavenly grace, who, at the beginning says, ‘Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and the
brother of James.’” Origen thought everything connected with this epistle, of such high
authority, that he considered the apocryphal book of “the Ascension of Moses,” a work of
authority, because it had been quoted by Jude, (verse 9.) He confesses however, that there
were some who doubted the authenticity of the epistle of Jude; and that this was the fact,
appears still more distinctly from the account of the apostolic writings, given by Eusebius,
(A. D. 320,) who sets it down among the disputed writings. The ancient Syriac version
(executed before A. D. 100,) rejects this as well as the second of Peter, and the second and
third of John. After the fourth century all these became universally established in the Greek
and Latin churches. The great Michaelis however, utterly condemns it as probably a forgery.
(Introduction, IV. xxix. 5.)
The clearest statement of the character of this reference to the book of Enoch, is given
by Hug’s translator, Dr. Wait. (Introduction. Vol. II. p. 618, note.)
“This manifestly appears to have been the reason why Jude cited apocryphal works in
his epistle, viz. for the sake of refuting their own assertions from those productions, which,
like the rest of their nation, they most probably respected. For this purpose the book of
Enoch was peculiarly calculated, since in the midst of all its ineptiae and absurdities, this
point, and the orders of the spiritual world, are strongly urged and discussed in it. It is
irrelevant to the inquiry, how much of the present book existed at this time, for that it was
framed by different writers, and at different periods, no critic can deny; yet that this was the
leading character of the work, and that these were the prominent dogmata of those parts
which were then in existence, we have every presumptive evidence. The Hebrew names of
angels, &c., such as the Ophanim, plainly indicate it to have been a translation from some
lost Jewish original, which was doubtless known both to Peter and to Jude; nor can the
unprejudiced examiner of these epistles well hesitate to acknowledge Hug’s explanation of
them to be the most correct and the most reasonable.”
The whole defense of the epistle against these imputations, may
be grounded upon the supposition, that the apostle was writing
against a peculiar class of heretics, who did acknowledge these
apocryphal books to be of divine authority, and to whom he might
quote these with a view to show, that even by their own standards of
truth, their errors of doctrine and life must be condemned. The sect
of the Gnostics has been already mentioned in the life of John, as
being the first ever known to have perverted the purity of Christian
doctrine, by heresy. These heretics certainly are not very fully
described in those few passages of this short epistle that are
directed at the errors of doctrine; but the character of those errors
which Jude denounces, is accordant with what is known of some of
the prominent peculiarities of the Gnostics. But whatever may have
been the particular character of these heretics, it is evident that they
must, like the great majority of the Jews in those days, have
acknowledged the divine authority of these ancient apocryphal
writings; and the apostle was therefore right in making use of
quotations from these works, to refute their very remarkable errors.
The evils which he denounced, however, were not merely of a
speculative character; but he more especially condemns their gross
immoralities, as a scandal and an outrage on the purity of the
Christian assemblies with which they still associated. In all those
passages where these vices are referred to, it will be observed that
both immoralities and doctrinal errors are included in one common
condemnation, which shows that both were inseparably connected in
the conduct of those heretics whom the writer condemns. This
circumstance also does much to identify them with some of the
Gnostical sects before alluded to,――more especially with the
Nicolaitans, as they are called by John in the beginning of the
Apocalypse, where he is addressing the church of Pergamos. In
respect to this very remarkable peculiarity of a vicious and
abominable life, combined with speculative errors, the ancient
Christian writers very fully describe the Nicolaitans; and their
accounts are so unanimous, and their accusations so definite, that it
is just and reasonable to consider this epistle as directed particularly
against them.
Nicolaitans.――An allusion has already been made to this sect in the life of John, but
they deserve a distinct reference here also, as they are so distinctly mentioned in Jude’s
epistle. The explanation of the name which in the former passage (page 343,) was crowded
out by other matters prolonging that part of the work beyond its due limits, may here be
given most satisfactorily, in the words of the learned Dr. Hug. (Introduction, Vol. II. note, §
182, original, § 174, translation.)
“The arguments of those who decide them to have been the Nicolaitans, according to
my opinion, are at present the following:――John in the Apocalypse describes the
Nicolaitans nearly as the heretics are here represented to us, with the same comparison,
and with the same vices; persons who exercise the arts of Balaam, who taught Balak to
ensnare the children of Israel, and to induce them to partake of idolatrous sacrifices, and to
fornicate, (Acts ii. 14: Jude 2: 2 Peter ii. 15.) Even בלעםaccording to its derivation, is
equivalent to Νίκολαος. They also certainly denied the Lord’s creation and government of
the world. Alterum quidem fabricatorem, alium autem Patrem Domini ... et eam
conditionem, quae est secundum nos non a primo Deo factam, sed a Virtute aliqua valde
deorsum subjecta. (Irenaeus L. iii. c. 11.) If now all corporeal and material existence has its
origin from the Creator of the world, who is a very imperfect and gross spirit, it flows
naturally from this notion, that they could not admit a corporeal resuscitation by the agency
of the Supreme Being, or by the agency of Jesus, in a universal day of judgment. With
respect to the spiritual world, they also actually taught such absurdities, that it must be said
of them δοξας βλασφημοῦσι; for they supposed, Aeones quosdam turpitudinis natos; et
complexus, et permixtiones execrabiles, et obscaenas. (Tertullianus in append. ad Lib. de
praescript. c. 46.) But, as to their excesses and abominable mode of life, the accounts of
the ancients are so unanimous, and the accusations are so constituted, that the two
apostolic epistles may have most pertinently referred to them.”
The passage from Irenaeus relating to this sect, (quoted on page 343,) contains a
remarkable Latin word, “vulsio,” not found in any other author, and not explained at all, in
the common dictionaries. That miserable, unsatisfactory mass of words, Ainsworth’s
Thesaurus, does not contain it, and I was left to infer the meaning from the theme, vello,
and it was therefore translated “fragment,”――a meaning not inconsistent with its true
sense. Since that was printed, a learned friend, to whom the difficulty was mentioned, on
searching for the word in better dictionaries, found it in Gesner’s Thesaurus, distinctly
quoted from the very passage, with a very satisfactory explanation of its exact meaning.
Gesner’s account of it is as follows: “Vulsio, Irenaeus, iii. 11. Nicolaitae sunt vulsio ejus. i. e.
surculus inde enatus, et revulsus, stolo, ἀπὀρρώξ. Secta una ex altera velut pullulavit.” The
meaning therefore is a “sucker,” “a shoot or scion, springing out of the root or side of the
stock,” and the expression in this passage may therefore be translated, “The Nicolaitans are
a slip or sprig of the old stock of the Gnosis.” And as Gesner happily explains it, “One sect,
as it were, sprouted up from another.”
The word “scientia” in this wretched Latin translation, is quoted along with the adjacent
words from Paul’s second epistle to Timothy, (vi. 20.) where he is warning him against the
delusions of the Gnostics, and speaks of “the dogmas of the Gnosis,” (γνωσις,) translated
“science,” but the word is evidently technical in this passage. Irenaeus no doubt quoted it in
the Greek, but his ignorant translator, not perceiving the peculiar force of the word,
translated it “scientia,” losing all the sense of the expression. The common translations of
the Bible have done the same, in the passage in 2 Timothy vi. 20.
Another circumstance in this epistle which has attracted a critical
notice, and which has occasioned its condemnation by some, is the
remarkable coincidence both of sense and words between it and the
second chapter of the second epistle of Peter. There are probably
few diligent readers of the New Testament to whom this has not
been a subject of curious remark, as several verses in one, seem a
mere transcript of corresponding passages in the other. Various
conjectures have been made to account for this resemblance in
matter and in words,――some supposing Jude to have written first,
and concluding that Peter, writing to the same persons, made
references in this manner to the substance of what they had already
learned from another apostle,――and others supposing that Peter
wrote first, and that Jude followed, and amplified a portion of the
epistle which had already lightly touched in some parts only upon the
particular errors which the latter writer wished more especially to
refute and condemn. This coincidence is nevertheless no more a
ground for rejecting one or the other of the two writings, than the far
more perfect parallelisms between the gospels are a reason for
concluding that only one of them can be an authorized document.
Both the apostles were evidently denouncing the same errors and
condemning the same vices, and nothing was more natural than that
this similarity of purpose should produce a proportional similarity of
language. Either of the above suppositions is consistent with the
character of the writings;――Peter may have written first, and Jude
may have taken a portion of that epistle as furnishing hints for a
more protracted view of these particular points; or, on the
supposition that Jude wrote first, Peter may have thought it worth
while only to refer generally, and not to dwell very particularly on
those points which his fellow-apostle had already so fully and
powerfully treated.
Its date is involved in the same uncertainty that covers all points in
its own history and that of its author; the prominent difficulty being its
great brevity, in consequence of which it offers but few
characteristics of any kind, for the decision of doubtful points; and
the life and works of Juda must therefore be set down among those
matters, in which the indifference of those who could once have
preserved historical truth for the eyes of posterity, has left even the
research of modern criticism, not one hook to hang a guess upon.
JUDAS ISCARIOT.
This name doubtless strikes the eye of the Christian reader, as
almost a stain to the fair page of apostolic history, and a dishonor to
the noble list of the holy, with whom the traitor was associated. But
he who knew the hearts of all men from the beginning, even before
their actions had developed and displayed their characters, chose
this man among those whom he first sent forth on the message of
coming grace; and all the gospel records bear the name of the traitor
along with those who were faithful even unto death; nor does it
behove the unconsecrated historian to affect, about the arrangement
of this name, a delicacy which the gospel writers did not manifest.
Of his birth, his home, his occupation, his call, and his previous
character, the sacred writers bear no testimony; and all which the
inventive genius of modern criticism has been able to present in
respect to any of these circumstances, is drawn from no more
certain source than the various proposed etymologies and
significations of his name. But the plausibility which is worn by each
one of these numerous derivations, is of itself a sufficient proof of the
little dependence which can be placed upon any conclusion so lightly
founded. The inquirer is therefore safest in following merely the
reasonable conjecture, that his previous character had been
respectable, not manifesting to the world at least, any baseness
which would make him an infamous associate. For though the Savior
in selecting the chief ministers of his gospel, did not take them from
the wealthy, the high-born, the refined, or the learned; and though he
did not scruple even to take those of a low and degraded occupation,
his choice would nevertheless entirely exclude those who were in
any way marked by previous character, as more immoral than the
generality of the people among whom they lived. In short, it is very
reasonable to suppose; that Judas Iscariot was a respectable man,
probably with a character as good as most of his neighbors had,
though he may have been considered by some of his acquaintance,
as a close, sharp man in money matters; for this is a character most
unquestionably fixed on him in those few and brief allusions which
are made to him in the gospel narratives. Whatever may have been
the business to which he had been devoted during his previous life,
he had probably acquired a good reputation for honesty, as well as
for careful management of property; for he is on two occasions
distinctly specified as the treasurer and steward of the little company
or family of Jesus;――an office for which he would not have been
selected, unless he had maintained such a character as that above
imputed to him. Even after his admission into the fraternity, he still
betrayed his strong acquisitiveness, in a manner that will be fully
exhibited in the history of the occurrence in which it was most
remarkably developed.
Iscariot.――The present form of this word appears from the testimony of Beza, to be
different from the original one, which, in his oldest copy of the New Testament, was given
without the I in the beginning, simply; Σκαρίωτης; (Scariotes;) and this is confirmed by the
very ancient Syriac version, which expresses it by (Sekaryuta.) Origen also, the
oldest of the Christian commentators, (A. D. 230,) gives the word without the initial vowel,
“Scariot.” It is most reasonable therefore to conclude that the name was originally Scariot,
and that the I was prefixed, for the sake of the easier pronunciation of the two initial
consonants; for some languages are so smoothly constructed, that they do not allow even S
to precede a mute, without a vowel before. Just as the Turks, in taking up the names of
Greek towns, change Scopia into Iscopia, &c. The French too, change the Latin Spiritus into
Esprit, as do the Spaniards into Espiritu; and similar instances are numerous.
The very learned Matthew Poole, in his Synopsis Criticorum, (Matthew x. 4,) gives a
very full view of the various interpretations of this name. Six distinct etymologies and
significations of this word have been proposed, most of which appear so plausible, that it
may seem hard to decide on their comparative probabilities. That which is best justified by
the easy transition from the theme, and by the aptness of the signification to the
circumstances of the person, is the First, proposed by an anonymous author, quoted in the
Parallels of Junius, and adopted by Poole. This is the derivation from the Syriac
(sekharyut,) “a bag,” or “purse;” root cognate with the Hebrew ( סכרsakhar.) No. 1, Gibbs’s
Hebrew Lexicon, and ( סגרsagar,) Syrian & Arabic id. The word thus derived must mean the
“bag-man,” the “purser,” which is a most happy illustration of John’s account of the office of
Judas, (xii. 6: xiii. 29.) It is, in short, a name descriptive of his peculiar duty in receiving the
money of the common stock of Christ and his apostles, buying the necessary provisions,
administering their common charities to the poor, and managing all their pecuniary
affairs,――performing all the duties of that officer who in English is called a “steward.”
Judas Iscariot, or rather “Scariot,” means therefore “Judas the steward.”
The second derivation proposed is that of Junius, (Parall.) who refers it to a sense
descriptive of his fate. The Syriac, Hebrew, and Arabic root, ( סכרsakar,) has in the first of
these languages, the secondary signification of “strangle,” and the personal substantive
derived from it, might therefore mean, “one who was strangled.” Lightfoot says that if this
theme is to be adopted, he should prefer to trace the name to the word אשכראwhich with the
Rabbinical writers is used in reference to the same primitive, in the meaning of
“strangulation.” But both these, even without regarding the great aptness of the first
definition above given, may be condemned on their own demerits; because, they suppose
either that this name was applied to him, only after his death,――an exceedingly unnatural
view,――or (what is vastly more absurd) that he was thus named during his life-time, by a
prophetical anticipation, that he would die by the halter!!! It is not very uncommon, to be
sure, for such charitable prophetic inferences to be drawn respecting the character and
destiny of the graceless, and the point of some vulgar proverbs consists in this very
allusion, but the utmost stretch of such predictions never goes to the degree of fixing upon
the hopeful candidate for the gallows, a surname drawn from this comfortable anticipation of
his destiny. Besides, it is hard to believe that a man wearing thus, as it were, a halter
around his neck, would have been called by Jesus into the goodly fellowship of the
apostles; for though neither rank, nor wealth, nor education, nor refinement were requisites
for admission, yet a tolerable good moral character may be fairly presumed to have been an
indispensable qualification.
The third derivation is of such a complicated and far-fetched character, that it bears its
condemnation on its own face. It is that of the learned Tremellius, who attempts to analyze
Iscariot into ( שכרseker,) “wages,” “reward,” and ( נטהnatah,) “turn away,” alluding to the fact
that for money he revolted from his Master. This, besides its other difficulties, supposes that
the name was conferred after his death; whereas he must certainly have needed during his
life, some appellative to distinguish him from Judas the brother of James.
The fourth is that of Grotius and Erasmus, who derive it from ( איש יששכרIsh Issachar,) “a
man of Issachar,”――supposing the name to designate his tribe, just as the same phrase
occurs in Judges x. 1. But all these distinctions of origin from the ten tribes must have been
utterly lost in the time of Christ; nor does any instance occur of a Jew of the apostolic age
being named from his supposed tribe.
The fifth is the one suggested and adopted by Lightfoot. In the Talmudic Hebrew, the
word ( סקורטיאsekurti,)――also written with an initial ( אaleph) and pronounced
Iscurti,――has the meaning of “leather apron;” and this great Hebraician proposes
therefore, to translate the name, “Judas with the leather apron;” and suggests some
aptness in such a personal appendage, because in such aprons they had pockets or bags
in which money, &c. might be carried. The whole derivation, however, is forced and far-
fetched,――doing great violence to the present form of the word, and is altogether unworthy
of the genius of its inventor, who is usually very acute in etymologies.
The sixth is that of Beza, Piscator and Hammond, who make it ( איש־קריותIsh-Qerioth or
Kerioth,) “a man of Kerioth,” a city of Judah. (Joshua xv. 25.) Beza says that a very ancient
MS. of the Greek New Testament, in his possession, (above referred to,) in all the five
passages in John, where Judas is mentioned, has this surname written απο Καριωτου. (apo
Cariotou,) “Judas of Kerioth.” Lucas Brugensis observes, that this form of expression is
used in Ezra ii. 22, 23, where the “men of Anathoth,” &c. are spoken of; but there is no
parallelism whatever between the two cases; because in the passage quoted it is a mere
general designation of the inhabitants of a place,――nor can any passage be shown in
which it is thus appended to a man’s name, by way of surname. The peculiarity of Beza’s
MS. is therefore undoubtedly an unauthorized perversion by some ancient copyist; for it is
not found on any other ancient authority.
The motives which led such a man to join himself to the followers
of the self-denying Nazarene, of course could not have been of a
very high order; yet probably were about as praiseworthy as those of
any of the followers of Jesus. Not one of the chosen disciples of
Jesus is mentioned in the solemnly faithful narrative of the
evangelists, as inspired by a self-denying principle of action.
Wherever an occasion appeared on which their true motives and
feelings could be displayed, they all without exception, manifested
the most sordid selfishness, and seemed inspired by no idea
whatever but that of worldly honors, triumphs, and rewards to be
won in his service! Peter, indeed, is not very distinctly specified as
betraying any remarkable regard for his own individual interest, and
on several occasions manifested, certainly by starts, much of a true
self-sacrificing devotion to his Master; yet his great views in following
Jesus were unquestionably of an ambitious order, and his noblest
conception was that of a worldly triumph of a Messiah, in which the
chosen ones were to have a share proportioned no doubt to their
exertions for its attainment. The two Boanerges betrayed the most
determined selfishness, in scheming for a lion’s share in the spoils of
victory; and the whole body of the disciples, on more than one
occasion, quarreled among themselves about the first places in
Christ’s kingdom. Judas therefore, was not greatly worse than his
fellow-disciples,――no matter how bad may have been his motives;
and probably at the beginning maintained a respectable stand
among them, unless occasion might have betrayed to them the fact,
that he was mean in money matters. But he, after espousing the
fortunes of Jesus, doubtless went on scheming for his own
advancement, just as the rest did for theirs, except that probably,
when those of more liberal conceptions were contriving great
schemes for the attainment of power, honor, fame, titles, and glory,
both military and civil, his penny-saving soul was reveling in golden
dreams, and his thoughts running delightedly over the prospects of
vast gain to be reaped in the confiscation of the property of the
wealthy Pharisees and lawyers, that would ensue immediately on the
establishment of the empire of the Nazarene and his Galileans.
While the great James and his amiable brother were quarreling with
the rest of the fraternity about the premierships,――the highest
administration of spiritual and temporal power,――the discreetly
calculating Iscariot was doubtless expecting the fair results of a
regular course of promotion, from the office of bag-carrier to the
strolling company of Galileans, to the stately honors and immense
emoluments of lord high-treasurer of the new kingdom of Israel; his
advancement naturally taking place in the line in which he had made
his first beginning in the service of his Lord, he might well expect that
in those very particulars where he had shown himself faithful in few
things, he would be made ruler over many things, when he should
enter into the joy of his Lord,――sharing the honors and profits of
His exaltation, as he had borne his part in the toils and anxieties of
his humble fortunes. The careful management of his little
stewardship, “bearing the bag, and what was put therein,” and
“buying those things that were necessary” for all the wants of the
brotherhood of Jesus,――was a service of no small importance and
merit, and certainly would deserve a consideration at the hands of
his Master. Such a trust also, certainly implied a great confidence of
Jesus in his honesty and discretion in money matters, and shows not
only the blamelessness of his character in those particulars, but the
peculiar turn of his genius, in being selected, out of the whole twelve,
for this very responsible and somewhat troublesome function.
The nature and immediate object of this plot may not be perfectly
comprehended, without considering minutely the relations in which
Jesus stood to the Jewish Sanhedrim, and the means he had of
resisting or evading their efforts for the consummation of their
schemes and hopes against him. Jesus of Nazareth was, to the chief
priests, scribes and Pharisees, a dangerous foe. He had, during his
visits to Jerusalem, in his repeated encounters with them in the
courts of the temple, and all public places of assembly, struck at the
very foundation of all their authority and power over the people. The
Jewish hierarchy was supported by the sway of the Romans, indeed,
but only because it was in accordance with their universal policy of
tolerance, to preserve the previously established order of things, in
all countries which they conquered, so long as such a preservation
was desired by the people; but no longer than it was perfectly
accordant with the feelings of the majority. The Sanhedrim and their
dependents therefore knew perfectly well that their establishment
could receive no support from the Roman government, after they
had lost their dominion over the affections of the people; and were
therefore very ready to perceive, that if they were to be thus
confounded and set at nought, in spite of learning and dignity, by a