Mental health & Faith

Contextualization:

"If you have faith, you can't be depressed," "Why do I feel bad when I believe in God," "I'm not strong enough, I'm weak!"

Chances are you've heard at least one of these phrases before.

I'd like to start by saying that I'd like to break a taboo.

Yes, that's right!

Now more than ever, mental health is a hot topic, and one that's of the utmost importance to me, and I think to you too.

Let's try to understand together why mental health issues are not incompatible with faith.

Faith in Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) is defined as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

Let's read this definition in the NLT version:

[NLT]: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see”.

Faith can also be defined as the inner conviction that what we expect will eventually happen, even if we can't see it at the moment. It is supported by a higher entity, so we speak of faith in God or in any other source, depending on the individual.

In my opinion, mental health can be defined as a state in which a human being is emotionally balanced.

"As long as Man is on Earth, faith is a journey, an adventure made up of ups and downs, and what will make the difference is the grace to manage these different phases!"

From my very little expertise and very little experience to date, I've been able to conclude one thing: There's no such thing as a life without challenges. You can escape challenge X or Y, but you can't escape challenge Z, because everyone has their share of challenges in the course of their earthly adventure.

Let's take a look at some of the emotional states that can be observed over the course of a lifetime:

To get to the heart of the matter, it's essential to take a look at some of the emotional states we may experience in the course of our lives. Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but it does provide some useful pointers. These include: low mood, anxiety attacks, depressive episodes and depression.

- Depression can be described as a temporary state of sadness, weariness or melancholy. It often occurs in reaction to a difficult situation that drags on for a long time, or in the face of a one-off emotional imbalance. It's a warning signal, but generally temporary.

- Anxiety attacks (or panic attacks) are sudden, intense episodes of fear or anxiety, sometimes accompanied by physical symptoms (palpitations, sweating, feeling of suffocation). They can occur for no apparent reason and profoundly disrupt daily life.

- Depressive episodes are more than just the blues. They are more long-lasting, affecting both mind and body: chronic fatigue, loss of interest, sleep disturbances, isolation, etc. When repeated or intensified, they can evolve into a more serious form: depression.

- Finally, depression is a recognized pathology, with profound and persistent symptoms. It can last for weeks, months or even years. It alters the way you perceive yourself, others and the world, and can even lead to gloomy, even suicidal thoughts. It's a silent affliction that requires serious treatment - human, psychological, sometimes medical, and from a Christian perspective, also spiritual.

So we can see that our mental health, i.e. the situation in which we are at equilibrium, will be disturbed many times, with periods of incomprehension, doubt, distress or even extreme distress, and sometimes even the desire to give up.

Sometimes you'll feel that your life has no meaning, no logic and that you're missing out.

My aim here is to break down the idea that being tested and morally shaken is a lack of faith.

"Life by faith is a journey and certainly not a long, quiet river.

I - Breaking the myth of the psychic suffering of believers

Many Christians, or even believers in the broadest sense of the term, regardless of their beliefs, suffer from prolonged depression or other mental health difficulties.

This doesn't always mean a lack of faith.

Sometimes we can just feel overwhelmed by events without questioning our initial convictions.

II - Faith is not a magic remedy

Although faith is our daily anchor, in some cases it may not be enough, due to the specific nature of the case in question. Sometimes we need to combine spiritual support with medical or other professional support.

Let me give you a simple example.

Many of God's most anointed men are operating great deliverances around the world, often instantaneous, but some cases require medical intervention, which the Church funds in full, in some cases.

The 2 axes are therefore not incompatible.

Great biblical figures such as Jeremiah, Job, David and Elijah experienced at least some depressive episodes.

What then of Joseph in prison with Pharaoh, sold by his own brothers, or even Jacob with Laban?

If they were still alive, I'm sure they'd tell us they'd been through some very dark times...

III - Getting help when you need it

Very often, communication is the 1st therapy.

To have even one attentive, trusting ear to whom you can open up without any judgment or need to dress up the facts.

I realize, of course, that finding such an ear these days is far from easy, but recognizing the need to talk is the 1st step, and then God will direct us to the "right person/right ear".

IV - Faith sustains and does not suffocate

I'd just like to say that we should stop judging people who are going through difficult times.

We all go through more or less difficult times, and everyone reacts differently.

We're all at different stages in our journey towards faith, and let's accept that each of us is at a different stage of our own.

I think all we have to do is try to be a listening ear for each other.

It doesn't require exceptional skills, just that we individually learn to cultivate a little more compassion.

Let's try to be a little more available to others, even when things aren't going so well for us.

Here's a memory that comes to my mind. In October 2022, a voice deep inside me urged me: "commit yourself to others", at a time when I was going through one of the most difficult periods of my life.

Today, I'm glad I followed this instruction, because looking back I see the dozens of lives that would not have been impacted had I wallowed in my personal silence.

Conclusion:

To conclude on this subject, not definitively but for today, I'd like to say that it's God who delivers no matter what the evil. However, the strategy and roadmap differ from case to case.

We can see it here in Psalm 34:18-20 [KJV]:

[18] The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

[19]  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

[20] He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

Each of us has a unique past that we can compare to our fingerprints.

Even twins have different fingerprints, so even when we go through the same ordeal, the mark it leaves on us will never be the same from one person to the next.

Once this parameter is clear in our minds, all that remains is to cultivate compassion and above all empathy, i.e. our ability to put ourselves in other people's shoes and understand how they feel in a situation, or at least try to....

SBE

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