I made a post on here a year or more ago where I expressed that I hoped that more Christian sites and blogs would cover mental health issues more often.
Farther below, you’ll see a set of links to other sites that have been discussing mental health in a Christian context. I may amend this post in the future to add more if I find them, unless I decide to make a new, separate post, that is.
There are many Christians who have mental health problems. (The number of all Americans generally, regardless of religious affiliation, appears to be on the increase; this is from 2018: Americans are more depressed and miserable than ever)
For years, I had clinical depression, and I still deal with anxiety. Neither the secular or Christian methods alleviated my depression or anxiety.
The Christian approaches to mental health I encountered amounted to “spiritual only” solutions, such as read the Bible daily, trust God, and pray to Jesus. None of those things worked for me.
Some Christian sources were also very victim-blaming, int hat they suggest things that if you have a mental health problem, it’s due to a personal sin, so that you brought it on yourself.
Or, other Christians teach that if one is a “true” Christian, it is impossible to have a mental health problem. Therefore, if you think you are a Christian but have depression, you cannot be a “real” Christian (only pagans have depression, is the implication here).
I am happy to say that Wartburg Watch and Spiritual Sounding Board blogs have, as of the last few months, been covering mental health subjects more often. I really think that is great – it’s badly needed.
Both blogs – and few other authors – have lately been discussing and analyzing the insensitive or poor teachings that other Christian groups have been presenting on mental health.
Many Christians are afflicted with mental health problems, and this is something that is either not discussed much among Christians, or, if it is, Christians who suffer from mental illness are given some of the most dumb, ineffective, and/or insensitive advice on how to cope with it.
Here are links to some of these posts or articles from other sources about how mental health is dealt with in Christianity:
On Patheos > Warren Throckmorton:
Desiring God and Mental Health: Name It Claim It for Your Brain (UPDATED)
On Religious News Service > by By Jonathan Merritt:
Desiring God, mental health, and the truth about ‘chronological snobbery’
On Spiritual Sounding Board:
On Wartburg Watch
(they actually have many more posts than this; if you’d like to see more of them, please use the tags or search box on their blog to find more):
Could You Pass the Exam to Be a Certified Biblical Counselor? Of Demons and Other Concerning Things
What Made Mental Illness a ‘Sin’? Paganism – podcast and article from Christianity Today
How The Bible Can Be Damaging to People with Depression via Patheos Blog
Dear Ray Comfort and David Barton: Depression is Not a Culture War Battle by Warren Throckmorton
You Can Write Your Way Out of an Emotional Funk. Here’s How. by Susan David
For Some of Us Running Is the Key To Managing Depression And Anxiety by Scott Douglas
1 in 3 Protestant Churchgoers Personally Affected by Suicide
Why Does Being a Woman Put You at Greater Risk of Having Anxiety? by Cari Romm
When Your Spouse is Mentally Ill, from Christianity Today
Synthetic ‘Love Hormone’ Could Be Key To Treating Mental Illness
