Damaging Mental Health Messages in the Church: Have You Bought Into Them?
Growing up in the church, I heard people talk about “the old days,” 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 Today, many of us would find a statement like that odd and outdated.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
I’m wondering if you’ve heard any of the following from your church leaders, friends, or family:
“You just need to pray about it.”
“You just need to have faith.”
“You don’t need medication for your mental health. You just need…”
These are statements that my clients and I have all heard before. Attending various churches as an adult, I’ve heard multiple pastors make statements about how people need God, prayer, and faith, not counseling services to help them. I’ve 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, I’m going to jump to the chase.
Here’s what you need to know.
You can pray and get professional mental health treatment.
Prayer can be really helpful. If you’re someone who prays, then you already know that. Research has also shown the positive effects of prayer. If you’ve been praying and are still struggling with difficult life circumstances or symptoms of depression or anxiety, it’s OK to seek counseling too. There’s 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 wouldn’t 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. There’s nothing in the Bible that says people shouldn’t seek mental health treatment. Don’t 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 wouldn’t discourage someone from seeing their primary care doctor would you? Don’t 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 it’s not. Sometimes our mental health is stable, and sometimes it’s not. When it’s not, it only makes sense to get the help you need.
Counseling services can incorporate the role of your faith & the circumstances you’re 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 client’s own world view, you can seek out providers who have training and specialization in this area if that’s 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 you’re doing.
It’s OK to take medication to treat your mental health symptoms.
I find that many Christians have picked up on the idea that it’s not OK to take medications to treat mental health symptoms, that we should be “strong enough” and “tough enough” to not need that. If we compared this ideology to the world of physical health, it would sound outrageous to suggest that someone was “not strong enough” if they took medication for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, or some other condition. In the same way that we don’t 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 don’t 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, “I’m blessed,” counseling is a place where you can keep it real. In fact, I’d 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 isn’t going to judge. That’s what we’re here for, so come as you are 😉
Have you heard any of these messages from your
own church community?
If so, we hope you’ll take a moment to re-evaluate these messages. It’s important that you know that it’s 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 that’s the type of community you’re involved in.
Search Our Other Blogs!
Interested in Faith-Based Counseling?
If you’re 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!
Here’s how you can get started! Faith-based counseling services aren’t 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
