MK forum

Before Rob posted his excellent thread, I had been contemplating asking this on here, and now it seems apropos.

Why DO so many Christians have issues with mental illness? Or hard times in general? Why do Christians feel a need to give pat answers?

I mentioned in Rob's thread that I found the healing process I needed in my life through a secular hospitalization program. I had been through Christian therapy before. It had been a bit helpful, but nothing like this hospital program. The hospital program and the other patients there became the first place I felt accepted, felt I could say what I wanted and tell how I felt, and still be accepted. And get really practical help in dealing with my depression, my subsequent dx of bipolar disorder and issues from my past I needed to deal with.

So, what think ye? Have you found it to be true that Christians in general are harder to be real with? Not able to deal with real life issues of mental illnesses or abuse, etc?

The cause of Christ has suffered more at the hands of its defenders than its opponents.

I'm going to venture a guess that the same attitudes that have characterized NTM, as well as countless other organizations, have played a big part in how mental health issues have been handled by Christians. I think history bears this out in terms of medicine in general.

A lack of spiritual depth and familiarity with the Scriptures can easily result in “pat answers.” This may not be true in every case, but it surely is in a lot of them.

I'm not convinced that Christians have more mental health issues than the general population, but I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't running neck and neck! Ditto for problems (“life issues”) in general. I'm a little too isolated to offer even a guess as to how hard they are to work with. . . though I've been told that I am no picnic!

Is the negativity just from Christians? I know it's strong among Christians to not recognize mental illness and to view it as a spiritual issue. But I know someone with bipolar and it's not just Christians who don't believe him. When any other organ of the body malfunctions, everyone knows it's an illness. But when the brain malfunctions, it's not recognized. When the pancreas doesn't produce the right amount of chemicals, everyone knows what that illness is. But when the brains doesn't produce the right amount of chemicals, it's not believed to be a disease that needs treatment, just needs better choices. I am so sorry for those who struggle with a genuine illness and have to live in a world that doesn't recognize it.

Thanks for bringing up a very relevant topic, MrsM. I have been fighting the stigma of mental health issues within the Christian world for years. It's not just NTM either. I encounter ignorance about this subject outside of NTM as well.
I married a man from a family in which chronic depression and chemical imbalance runs deep and wide. I watched him struggle for 20 years. Rroym's quote: "If I could, I would," fits my husband's years of deep depression so perfectly it is unreal! All those people in NTM who "ministered" to him with such helpful advice like: you need to be more confident. you need to talk more. you have a spirit of pride because you're so silent. you need to keep your wife in submission and not let her do all the talking. you need to smile more. you need to be more involved with your kids. you need to be more sociable. you need to spend more time in the Word. you need to pray harder. you need to get victory over this. On, and on, and on ...
IF I COULD, I WOULD!!! He could never explain himself to me back then, but later he described that it felt like he was in a deep, dark pit and everyone up on top was yelling at him with advice about how to get out. But he had no tools to do so, and it was impossible, though he tried valiantly.
His life, my life, our family, our ministry, his health, and everything else turned around when wise Dr Theobald "tricked" him into taking an antidepressant. Since then we've realized that several of our children have similar challenges, and they are on medication too.
I remember I about shot up through the metal roof of our bamboo hut in the village when we received the "Family News" issue that declared that anyone taking antidepressants would not be fit to have a ministry in NTM. Oh my gracious, I was livid!
Thank goodness I believe that policy was reversed after a short period of time. But the stigma continues. The misconceptions continue. The judgment continues. The secrecy continues.
I don't know that Christians necessarily have more mental health challenges than unbelievers. But we probably have just as many. But too often, Christians feel guilty about their inner struggles. I know my husband sure did: big time! Guilty, guilty, guilty. The assumption is that all a person needs is God. God plus nothing. When that doesn't suffice to keep one's fragile mental and emotional equilibrium maintained, a Christian feels like they are failing. Failing God.
It makes me very, very sad. I pray that more and more Christians are finally starting to understand chemical imbalances (they are being taught this by secular media, of course, not by sermons preached by their pastor!). Part of the wonderful freedom we have in Christ is the freedom to utilize medical science to keep our deteriorating bodies and brains puttering along.
Till we get our new bodies! Hallelujah!

Topic: guilt
I believe that Christians are laden with a lot more guilt than secular society. ESPECIALLY New Tribes people! I speak as an MK and then a Bible school student. Now I struggle with nontruth guilt all the time. It is a constant point of work.

I've stuggled with depression from teen years and other things, but the worst was my parents not believing in medications, my sibling needed ADHD meds and I needed depression meds, but knowing how they felt, I just hid as much as I could from them to keep from hurting them. I knew they were wrong, and I knew what I felt was real. I think years down the road they have changed their ideology on this, but I believe it was NTM that taught them how to raise their kids, that tought them medication for wounds was ok but not for mental illnesses. Don't blame them, just agreeing with everyone, it is MUCH harder to get an NTMr or any other religious person to understand than the average tollerator (probably agnostic) but sadly true.
Here is an interesting story. I married a man with the same beliefs as my parents regarding this, until 4.5 years later he cut off his finger at work, lost his job, began to have seizures....he bacame depressed and for the first time in life, a few months into his deep depression he looked at me and appologized for not believing me or being there and for instead mocking at the situation. It felt good for once, even though it wasn't my parents, but to have someone I cared about say OMG its real and I'm so sorry.

Wouldn't it be nice if NTM as an entity magically had a epiphany like my husband did and saw all their wrongdoings and went around appologizing to those they hurt and abandoned during hurt times when needed the most?
Oh one can only dream...

SO here is a good one, my sibling with ADHD, (he eventually got dismissed from the NTM headquarters school), but while still there, he got picked on by a 'goody goody' child and he pushed back as the 'thug' image he was with this highly inapropriate loose pants (which gave him his image at the school). Well, an altercation occurred, and instead of just punishing the children, the parents were summoned also and my father was told to parent his child better and that he would spend all day Saturday raking leaves at the headquarters so all could see them bonding as they should be doing more of (as if them bonding more would have alleviated the situation that occured). Thanks NTM for the parenting advice! I'm not sure if my Dad ever went down there and did it, wish he would have told them to go fly a kite! Obviously we can all in retrospect look back and wonder why at this point NTM stil thinks they have an inkling of a clue on how to deal with kids? They didn't protect them, they never stood up for them and certainly didn't earn any of their respect or love. Isn't that the opposite of good parenting? If NTM ever wrote any books on parenting, I would put it on the 'What NOT to do' book case and tomorrow it would be the best seller!