I recently shared with my congregation part of my personal
history dealing with mental illness. Mental illness runs in my family and I
have been dealing my bipolar illness for many years.
Some days are easier than others.
One of the reasons I shared my story was to share with
people that though mental illness is terrible, there still can be hope. I have
hope in the future, rooted in my faith in God.
In addition to encouraging people to have hope, I also
wanted to remind everyone about ten important facts about mental illness. I’m
going to share those with you now.
1. Having a chemical
imbalance is a medical condition, not a state of weakness or sign of emotional
frailty. It is similar to having cancer or Parkinson’s. You wouldn’t walk
up to someone who is battling ALS and say “you’re weak.”
2. There is no cure
for mental illness, only treatment. And though treatment is improving,
there’s still a lot to be desired.
3. There is no one
medication that works for everyone, or that works for everyone in the same way.
There is no “magic pill” that makes everything cupcakes and rainbows. Every
person’s body is unique and no medication is going to work the same way for
everyone.
4. People suffering with
mental illness need Jesus, but having a relationship with Jesus is not going to
“fix” everything. Please don’t tell people that having a relationship with
Jesus is going to make all their dreams come true. Being a Christ-follower does
not excuse us from the hardships of life; it does, however, give us a hope, joy
and purpose for living.
5. Having a mental
illness does not indicate a sinful life or a life far from God. In fact,
many people in Scripture suffered from depression. David, Jeremiah, Elijah, for
example. Listen to what Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 20:14-18: “Yet I curse the
day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth. I curse the messenger
who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!” Let him be destroyed like the
cities of old that the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long
with battle shouts, because he did not kill me at birth. Oh, that I had died in
my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My
entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.”
That sounds like a man who was suffering from depression.
Read through David’s Psalms and hear the depression cycle in his life. And he
was a “man after God’s own heart.”
6. You did not cause
the chemical imbalance. This one is to remind both families and sufferers.
Parents, especially, don’t blame yourself for your child’s illness. And for
those suffering, you don’t need to blame yourself either. There’s nothing you
do to cause these imbalances. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t do things to
help ourselves fight.
7. You cannot fix the
chemical imbalance. Families, hear this. As a person suffering with mental
illness, I know that you have the best intentions with me, but please know that
you’re not going to be able to do something or say something to “fix” me. There
are things you can do to help support my treatment, but it’s bigger than both
of us.
8. People with
chemical imbalances often try to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs.
Thankfully I never personally struggled with either of these things, but I know
many who have.
9. The best thing you
can do for a person with a mental illness is pray for them and stand by them
during their difficult times. That will be hard. When we are suffering in
the lowest of lows, when things are really down, it’s sometimes hard for people
to be around us. We don’t make it easy to love us – and that’s part of what
mental illness does to us. Having mental illness doesn’t give us carte blanche
to be a jerk, but know that it’s not going to be easy to stand by us.
10. There is a lot of
shame and misinformation surrounding mental illness. People who suffer are
ashamed, and people who love us are ashamed as well. Let’s stop the shame cycle
and allow those who are suffering a place to come and be heard and get help.
If you’d like to ask me specific questions, feel free to ask.
