Testify Newspaper

November 2016 testify
5
Continued from page 4
When Christians ignore mental illness...
Later that day, I count how many friends I’ve
sent Psalm 88 to in the past year. I come
up with five. Psalm 88 is the only psalm
that doesn’t include any verses of praise or
thanksgiving. There are 149 others that do,
and I pray through those psalms, too.
But Psalm 88 is sometimes the one I need.
It gives me the language I need to speak to
God when He seems far away. So I send it
to those who may also need that language.
I pray it for my friends who can’t imagine
how God can be anywhere near them.
According to the National Alliance on Mental
Illness, one in five adults — approximately
43.8 million Americans — experiences
mental illness in a given year. One in 25
— about 10 million — live with a serious
mental illness such as schizophrenia, major
depression or bipolar disorder. NAMI also
says approximately 21.4 percent of youth
ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders
at some point during their life.
Some statistics to couple with that information
come from a 2014 study done by LifeWay
Research. Their findings show that
only 38 percent of pastors in the United
States strongly agree that they feel equipped
to identify a person dealing with acute
mental illness that may require a referral to
a medical professional.
I’ve never heard a church leadership discuss
the role the church should play in caring
for those with mental illness. During
times that I’ve been ill since I was first diagnosed
with bipolar disorder, a minister has
never reached out to me.
Two days ago, I printed out a copy of Psalm
88 for my daughter. I wrote a note at the top
of the page that said, “God gives us room to
doubt and struggle and be angry. I pray you
will turn to Him in your suffering.” I gave this
to her because her depression and anxiety
have intensified. We are seeking a higher
level of care for her because what we’ve
done over the past year hasn’t worked.
We have been visiting a new church, so we
aren’t deeply connected to a faith community
right now. I reached out to a few people
at that church about our daughter, and they
have shown support for our family.
I met with the youth minister. Another staff
member who is also a friend of ours invited
us over for dinner to discuss our current
struggles and encourage us. Another staff
member has called us to check in several
times.
Everyone expresses a desire to care for our
daughter. Everyone assures us of God’s
love for us. They are in this with us.
Allison is healthier now and willing and able
to speak into my current situation with my
daughter. She tells me to care for myself, to
take my meds, to sleep, to eat. She speaks
truth to me when I want to blame myself for
my daughter’s condition. She prays for me.
And she invites my daughter to spend some
time with her.
Since Allison’s mental health crisis started
several months ago, no one from her
church has offered to pray with her about
it or has asked questions about how her
illness is affecting her faith. The leadership
of her church has been mostly silent about
struggles with her new diagnosis.
Amy Simpson, author of “Troubled Minds:
Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission,”
said in an interview with Rachel Held
Evans that talking about mental illness “is
a great place to start and might accomplish
50 percent of what people need from the
church. For people isolated by stigma and
fear, it’s powerful to hear an acknowledgement
that this kind of suffering exists, that
it doesn’t mean God has abandoned them,
and that people in the church might be willing
to walk through it with them.”
Here are some ways pastors can address
mental illness in the church: They can mention
mental illness while preaching on joy.
They can have congregational meetings or
send church-wide emails to introduce the
topic. They can acknowledge that those
who suffer from mental illness may not be
able to experience joy at times, and it’s not
because they are in sin.
Pastors can also reach out to mentally ill
members. And when those members are
too depressed or anxious to respond, they
can keep reaching out.
Pastors can help address spiritual crises
that often accompany mental illness. They
can create environments in their churches
where people talk about mental illness with
as much ease as they talk about diabetes or
broken limbs.
What has happened in my relationship with
Allison can happen in churches that desire
to minister to those with mental illness. The
church can be a conduit of God’s goodness
to those who are sick and scared.
Current figures state
that each year in Britain
an estimated one in four
adults will experience at
least one diagnosable
mental health problem,
though only 230 of
every 300 who need
help will actually visit
their GP.
Charlotte Donlon lives in Birmingham, Ala.,
with her husband and their two children.
She’s earning her MFA in creative writing
from Seattle Pacific University. Find her at
charlottedonlon.com and @charlottedonlon.
According to
Mind.org.uk
below is a list of various
types of mental health
problems
Anger
Anxiety and
panic attacks
Bipolar
disorder
Body
dysmorphic
disorder
(BDD)
Depression
Dissociative
disorder
Drugs
Personality
disorders
Phobia
Postnatal
depression
Posttraumatic
stress
disorder
(PTSD)
Psychotic
experiences
Schizoaffective
disorder
Eating
problems
Hearing
voices
Hypomania
and mania
Loneliness
Mental health
problems
Obsessivecompulsive
disorder
(OCD)
Panic attacks
Paranoia
Schizophrenia
Seasonal
affective
disorder
(SAD)
Self-esteem
Self-harm
Sleep
problems
Stress
Suicidal
feelings
Tardive
dyskinesia