Church response to the mentally ill

[David Baxter PhD]

Church response to the mentally ill
By Peter Andres, CanadianChristianity.com
August 9/2007

Are people of faith with a mental illness different from those who have a physical illness? Much about mental illness still remains a mystery. That's one of the reasons people are tempted to spiritualize the problem. They hope that the person with mental illness would be able to gain spiritual strength and thus gain victory over the illness.

What remains hard for many to understand is that having a mental illness and being a strong person of faith is no different than having a serious physical illness and being a strong person of faith.

How can church leaders encourage support of people with a mental illness? What does a person with a mental illness need to help him or her feel accepted and part of the congregation? How does the Christian message and experience take on meaning under these circumstances? What exactly is mental illness, anyway?

Marja Bergen, in her book Riding the Roller Coaster (Northstone, 1999), describes her experiences living with bipolar disorder. She talks about the many important factors that helped make her life with this illness tolerable and manageable. Having a supportive husband, friends, and service systems were critical, but she also acknowledges the importance of a spiritual home.

Her church friends learned to understand her illness and provided spiritual nurture, especially during difficult times. She speaks about friendships which include a common belief as being the most valuable ones she'll have. But she also admits that she was fortunate in this regard.

Sadly, many people with mental illness who look for spiritual help during difficult times face ignorance, stigma, avoidance, and judgment. The spiritual counsel and prayer these people receive frankly do more harm than good.

Understanding mental illness, even from the professional, scientific perspective, is still very much a work in progress. Schizophrenia and its related disorders, bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression), major depression, panic and obsessive-compulsive disorders, are all considered mental illnesses. It is estimated that between 15 percent to 20 percent of North Americans will, at some time in their lives, experience a mental illness. Most of these will suffer debilitating depression.

Evidence suggests there are probably organic (biochemical) reasons for the illness, or psycho-social origins -- or a combination of the two. Treatments that deal with the symptoms include medications, psychotherapy or a blend of both.

What is clear to people working in the field is that the experience of the illness goes far beyond living with the symptoms. While a person who has a physical illness -- even cancer -- suffers discomfort and anxiety related to the illness, those who have a mental illness suffer from a constellation of additional issues. These all affect their ability to return to wellness. One of them is stigma, both internally and externally imposed. There's also the loss of self-worth and self-efficacy that might come with a loss of job, friends, marriage and the feelings of being separated from God.

How can the church assist someone in a situation as devastating as this?

1. Church leaders and church members need to know that a mental illness is not the same as a spiritual crisis. Nor is the absence of healing, especially after fervent prayer, a sign of judgment or lack of faith.

2. There should be no judgment about the use of mood altering medications. Medications are commonly needed to treat the bio-chemical causes for the disorder and radically help many keep their symptoms under control.

3. Quality of life for a person suffering from mental illness does not depend on a complete remission from the illness.

What church members need to know is that many experience a recovery which allows them to return to an active and fulfilling life -- but still continue to experience times that are difficult. Recovery from mental illness means: the return of a positive sense of self, usually through meaningful endeavour (work, vocation), a circle of meaningful relationships, a place to live that the person can call his or her own, and a spiritual life that feels a reconnection with God.

The recovering person can be experiencing personal brokenness and limitations, yet have valuable gifts to offer to the church community.

Peter Andres is a regional director for MCC Supportive Care Services, a non-profit charitable organization which supports people with disabilities -- including people with mental health issues.

 

[Misha]

VERY good article. I used to be very involved in my church, but I don't even go anymore because of the hurt I've experienced. I've been through tons of "deliverance" sessions for demon possession, which have been very harmful to me. I didn't know how to tell people that I wasn't posessed, that my illness was not a result of my sin... or my parents'.
The church that I attended most recently has hurt me hugely as well. After a major crisis, I started attending there and asked to be placed in a small group. I was told that I could not be part of a small group because of my illness, as my issues would overwhelm the group and place them in a "bad spiritual place".
I don't know why I kept going there.... I still do on occasion. It's just that it's so hard to separate my faith from the harm the church has done to me.
There's another book (although it's a little dated), called "Why Do Christians Shoot Their Wounded?" by Dwight Carlson. I haven't read it from cover to cover myself, only snippets, but it's high on my reading list and I'll post a review when I'm done....

 

[braveheart]

I've had difficult experiences with a yoga self development type sect. This is slightly different from stigma, but is along the same lines.
Things like being told I was ungrounded, and being questioned why, when actually I was having a pretty severe stress breakdown [but didn't know it at the time.] I was encouraged to do lots of meditation, so much so that I became virtually semi-psychotic. Anger and needs were discouraged, as were desires and attachents. All very fine, in a way, I suppose, if you're emotionally healthy in the first place, but not when you're in a fragile and vulnerable place. The head of the Ashram once said to me 'What do you get from your therapist that you don't from us?' in disbelief as if they were the be all and end all of healthy self perception... Not.

Conversely, when I was sat in Rochester Cathedral crying and in a lot of emotional pain, a priest asked me if I'd like him to pray for me. I said no, because I felt awkward and ashamed. But it mattered that someone actually noticed I was in distress.

 

[stargazer]

I've had problems with certain churches when it's been assumed that any suffering I experience is the result of moral failing on my part. Not only does this show a lack of awareness as to the nature of mental illness -- it's not even biblical. The entire point of the book of Job is to refute the common notion that suffering in the life of a believer necessarily results from sins that the believer has committed. While it is true that if we consciously make poor choices, we are likely to suffer for them; it is not necessarily true that if we are suffering, we have consciously made poor choices. Personally, I have found that the sense of judgment I receive from certain church groups has never been of any help to me.

On the other hand, I did attend one church at one point where there was a pretty good understanding of these things, and a more loving spirit in general. Unfortunately, I am not geographically located in such a way as I can attend that church today. But I am trying not to let myself be so affected by lingering wounds from past church experiences as to deter me from seeking out a better church community in the future.

 

[sister-ray]

Ive never got any positive response from any churches here. I've found nothing but judgemental attitudes. Im not really religious more spiritual, but their attitude has made me even less interested. I tryed to become involved in the Unitarians who claim to accept everyone regardless of disability and beliefs but a number of incidents made me feel not welcome there, everyone was working and professional. I was an outsider, my emails to the minister now get ignored. The only people who do take interest are the new age groups, in the past Ive had more love and understanding from the Hare Krishnas and Buddists than I have any mainstream church.

 

[stargazer]

One thing I found in my limited experience with the Unitarian church is that the sermons had nothing to do with religion or spirituality. I identify more as a spiritual person than a religious person myself, but the sole contect of the sermons would be more what I would call "political." I might have agreed with the political viewpoints being expressed from the pulpit, but there were a number of radio stations in the vicinity whose speakers could have expressed those viewpoints more effectively than the local Unitarian pastor. So I was strongly compelled to stay in bed and listen to those broadcasts instead.