How Should the Church Respond to Mental and Emotional Problems?
As the Church, it is imperative that we do not take a simple view toward mental and emotional illness. We cannot label it an exclusively spiritual problem (“You must have sin in your life or you wouldn’t be having this problem.”) and expect that confession and repentance will take care of the issue. Neither can we take an exclusively clinical approach and say that all mental or emotional illness is the result of a physiological imbalance in the brain. Instead, hard as it is, it is vital to understand that we are integrated as people: mind, emotions, spirit, body, etc. and that mental and emotional issues are frequently the result of some combination of those elements, and very often touch every aspect of our lives.
For instance, take the case of severe anxiety, which I discuss in my book Fire in My Mind: Personal Insights and Practical Help for Severe Anxiety. My own anxiety was triggered by a long-term high-stress situation. No sin involved. Just the stress of starting my own business. It was then exacerbated by the fact that, over time, my body and brain chemistry shifted due to the overload of adrenaline, resulting in anxious feelings regardless of the circumstances I found myself in. (I recommend Dr. Archibald Hart’s book The Anxiety Cure for a very complete discussion of the physiology of anxiety.) This then led very naturally to emotional depression and to spiritual doubt, as I was fighting constantly against something I didn’t understand and therefore couldn’t overcome.
It was only through qualified cognitive behavioral counseling that I was able to unravel all these various threads and address the behavioral, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual issues that by then were all involved.
From my personal experience and talking extensively with others, I would therefore sum up the approach that the Church needs to take as follows: Love with knowledge.
Love itself isn’t enough … I have had people who love me very much say some very damaging things to me because they simply didn’t understand severe anxiety and didn’t know any better. They were trying to help, but they harmed instead.
Likewise, knowledge alone isn’t enough. Clinical knowledge keeps people at arm’s length and studies them like a bug under a microscope. Knowledge needs to be tempered by the warmth, caring, support, and encouragement of God’s love.
Love with knowledge is an irresistible combination that will draw many hurting people into the arms of the Church and the Kingdom of God.
© 2009 Paula Marolewski, www.SinkYourRoots.com
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Themocracy
Thank you Paula for this particular posting; I pray that many will read it and be affected by what you have said. As we learned from Job’s counselors, much pain can be inflicted upon the already suffering by well- meaning (or not) counselors. Only the Lord knows why a particular believer is suffering, and only He can tell us exactly how to help. Most of us need a hug and sympathetic listener, and a blessing now and then when we are suffering!
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Hi! Thats a thouroughly interesting blog post. Its funny that I wouldnt have considered a few of the aspects that you mentioned but its defintiely given me some food for thought and a few things to consider. Thanks again for the post and keep it up! Cheers James
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