Damaging Mental Health Messages in the Church: Have You Bought Into Them?
Growing up in the church, I heard people talk about βthe old days,β when people thought it was a lack of faith if you went to see the doctor. Today, many of us would find a statement like that odd and outdated. Unfortunately, I have come to believe that we have not come so far after all. Although we no longer hear people describe seeing a primary care doctor as showing lack of faith, this message does persist when it comes to mental health care.
Mental Health Stigma in the Church
Iβm wondering if youβve heard any of the following from your church leaders, friends, or family:
βYou just need to pray about it.β
βYou just need to have faith.β
βYou donβt need medication for your mental health. You just needβ¦β
These are statements that my clients and I have all heard before. Attending various churches as an adult, Iβve heard multiple pastors make statements about how people need God, prayer, and faith, not counseling services to help them. Iβve heard one in particular claim that counselors just want to hang up their shingle to make some money. As a counselor sitting quietly in the audience, you can imagine that I was raging on the inside about the dangerous messages being put out there. These messages are concerning for a number of reasons, but to prevent myself from going off on a long tangent, Iβm going to jump to the chase.
Hereβs what you need to know.
You can pray and get professional mental health treatment.
Prayer can be really helpful. If youβre someone who prays, then you already know that. Research has also shown the positive effects of prayer. If youβve been praying and are still struggling with difficult life circumstances or symptoms of depression or anxiety, itβs OK to seek counseling too. Thereβs no rule that says you can ONLY do one thing to feel better. If you were working to improve your physical health, you might consider seeing your doctor, changing your diet, taking medication, exercising, and praying. You wouldnβt necessarily limit yourself to one thing only.
You can have faith and seek counseling services.
Seeking counseling shows that you have insight and that you know that there are trained professionals who can help you navigate. Thereβs nothing in the Bible that says people shouldnβt seek mental health treatment. Donβt believe me? Go ahead and look!
Christians are not immune from mental health conditions in the same way that they are not immune from getting physically sick.
You wouldnβt discourage someone from seeing their primary care doctor would you? Donβt discourage someone from seeing a mental health professional. Like all people, Christians experience physical and mental health issues. Sometimes our physical health is in good condition, and sometimes itβs not. Sometimes our mental health is stable, and sometimes itβs not. When itβs not, it only makes sense to get the help you need.
Counseling services can incorporate the role of your faith & the circumstances youβre addressing.
If your faith is important to you, you can be intentional about searching for a Christian provider or a therapist who has training in pastoral counseling. While all licensed mental health providers are trained to work within the framework of their clientβs own world view, you can seek out providers who have training and specialization in this area if thatβs important to you.
Contrary to popular belief, counseling is a place where your spiritual beliefs can be acknowledged, validated, and incorporated into the work that you are doing with your therapist. Counseling can work in conjunction with the spiritual work that youβre doing.
Itβs OK to take medication to treat your mental health symptoms.
I find that many Christians have picked up on the idea that itβs not OK to take medications to treat mental health symptoms, that we should be βstrong enoughβ and βtough enoughβ to not need that. If we compared this ideology to the world of physical health, it would sound outrageous to suggest that someone was βnot strong enoughβ if they took medication for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, or some other condition. In the same way that we donβt judge the need for medications to manage our physical health, we need to refrain from judgment when it comes to treating mental health symptoms with medication.
You donβt have to put up a front...at church or in counseling
While some Christians feel pressured to put on their Sunday best, smile, and say, βIβm blessed,β counseling is a place where you can keep it real. In fact, Iβd encourage you to keep it real with God too. Counseling is a place where you can unload and let it be known that you feel like a mess. Your counselor isnβt going to judge. Thatβs what weβre here for, so come as you are π
Have you heard any of these messages from your
own church community?
If so, we hope youβll take a moment to re-evaluate these messages. Itβs important that you know that itβs OK to seek mental health counseling services if you need it. There are many church communities that do promote positive messages about mental health treatment. If you are involved in a church community, we hope thatβs the type of community youβre involved in.
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Interested in Faith-Based Counseling?
If youβre a Marylander who knows that counseling is the direction you need to take, the therapists at LifeSpring Counseling Services are here to help. We offer online counseling services for mindfulness, depression, anxiety, trauma, and grief and loss. We also offer Brainspotting as a specialized service, and Brainspotting can be done online, too!
Hereβs how you can get started! Faith-based counseling services arenβt the only services offered at our Maryland office
The counselors and social workers at our Maryland office also offer counseling services for trauma, grief and loss, boundary setting, communication skills, and difficult life transitions. We also offer specialized counseling services including Brainspotting and spiritually-integrated counseling. Because we are located next to several local universities, we also work with college students and international students.
Written By: Melissa Wesner, LCPC
Photos: Priscilla Du Preez, Kelly Sikkema, and Leighann Blackwood on Unsplash
Date of Download: 11/2/2020