God and Mental Illness
Part 2, Stepping into the Tensions
A couple of years ago, emails started showing up in my Inbox. An individual on our campus, not associated with either Student Life or our Counseling Center, had invited a speaker to speak in chapel to our students about mental health issues.
On the surface, given the mental health crisis among our young people, this invitation seemed to be a good thing. But the emails I received, as the Chair of the Department of Psychology, were sharing some concerns. The speaker wasn't a mental health professional, and sometimes played fast and loose with their qualifications as an expert in mental illness. I discovered, upon investigating, that the speaker came from the Prosperity Gospel movement, and held the view that Christians shouldn't take medication for mental health issues. Our department passed along our concerns to those who had made the invitations.
I tell this story to highlight what I mentioned briefly at the end of the last post. There is within sectors of Christianity the belief that medications are to be shunned by Christians in the treatment of mental health issues.
The same goes for psychotherapy. In 1970, Jay Adams published the book Competent to Counsel, a book that kicked off the "biblical counseling" movement. In Competent to Counsel, Adams advocated for a "strictly biblical approach to behavioral counseling and therapy." Competent to Counsel is a notorious book in my field. For example, Adams argues that "mental illness" doesn't exist and that our psychological troubles are due to sin and human depravity.
As Christian psychologist, I bump into attitudes like this more often than you might think. Beyond thinking psychopharmacology and psychotherapy illegitimate, there's also a worry among many conservative Christians that psychology is too "humanistic." To be sure, there are tensions between how schools of psychotherapy and certain theological systems view human persons. You can see these tensions clash over something like the legitimacy of "self-help." In some theological systems, "self-help" is an oxymoron. Due to our sinful and depraved nature, we can't help ourselves. We just make ourselves worse. And yet, much of modern psychotherapy is premised on the notion of self-care. This is an issue we'll revisit later in this series.
The point to be observed here is that there's a lot of suspicion among some Christians concerning the nature and proper treatment of mental illness. Mental illness is denied as being real. Psychology is godless and humanistic. Psychopharmacology is akin to taking poison. Empirically effective therapies are dismissed and replaced with "biblical counseling."
If all that is one extreme, the other extreme is a "functional atheism" found among other Christians when approaching mental illness. By "functional atheism" I mean evacuating God completely from the mental health equation. In this view, mental illness is biological, so you take your medication. Therapy is a suite of techniques that, when used, gives us control over our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Dealing with depression? We have cognitive restructuring. Dealing with a phobia? We have systematic desensitization. Dealing with anxiety? We have mindfulness practices. Dealing with a behavioral habit? We have conditioning techniques.
To be sure, depth, narrative, psychodynamic, humanistic, and existential therapies are not governed by this "let's pop the hood and fix what's broken" approach to therapy. Therapy is often, perhaps most often, a messy and deeply human endeavor. Shakespearian, really, in its pathos and drama. But therapy can often get trapped in a "mechanical" imagination. Just like medical doctors can get trapped. There can be a "plug and play" dynamic, like taking your car to a mechanic. For every diagnosis there is a corresponding treatment. Find what's broken and fix it.
My point is that when therapy is reduced to "technology" it becomes functionally atheistic. Your heart surgeon doesn't need God to do the bypass. Your car mechanic doesn't need God to replace the carburetor. And your therapist doesn't need God to help you with your depression. It's all just mechanical technology. No woo-woo needed.
And yet, mental health professionals are slowly coming to realize just how important faith and spirituality are to mental health. Study after study has shown that religious belief is predictive of psychological health and well-being. God is good for you.
People of faith energetically agree with this. God helps us in our struggles. Many of us wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for God. And God is at the heart of the recovery community, enshrined in Steps 1-3 of the Twelve Step program:
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
The point here is that God is and should be involved in our mental health journey. We shouldn't assume that mental health is a purely "medical" or "biological" issue. Faith and spirituality play a critical role. And not just a "therapeutic role." Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is a power in our lives, a power that is "supernatural" and "miraculous." We should expect this power to show up in our lives.
So this is the tension we're stepping into. On the one hand, we admit the power of God in helping us with our mental health. But on the other hand, we don't go so far to reject the reality of mental illness or the help on offer in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. To be sure, some people might say, "Well, God is healing us through psychopharmacology and psychotherapy." Agreed, but when the action of God is reduced to and equated with human technology, with no remainder, we arrive at functional atheism. I want to argue that God does bless us with technologies of flourishing, but that these technologies do not exhaust God's activity in the world. God does "more."
To conclude, I'm not really trying to set up a "middle way" approach in this discussion. I am simply trying to point out two extreme views found among Christians that I'd like to try to avoid. I want to admit the blessings of psychopharmacology and psychotherapy while also embracing the healing power of God in our lives. I don't want to fall into either functional atheism or the triumphalism of the Prosperity Gospel.
I appreciate how 12 step recovery, at least the first 3 steps, are mentioned. 12 step recovery closely resembles Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which also parallels action based spiritual development. It gives us a role to play in our own healing/recovery, which we do have.
Being on another side of this issue, meaning I mentor & counsel people with addiction & mental health issues, I don’t venture into the pharmacology because I’m not a doctor. I do venture into the healing part. I’ve learned to go far enough into an issue so that the person I’m counseling feels the pain but not so far that they are left destitute. I always stay with them, side by side, until the pain resides & healing seems to be had. This is never the goal though. I listen & ask questions & they share what & how much they are willing to. I will share with them specifically how Jesus offers healing while never discussing reducing or getting off meds. I do my best to venture into the desert with them & let the angels minister to them. Several of these people have, on their own accord, reduced or eliminated meds, not all. Again, this is never my objective…ever.
The healing power of Christ is broad & expansive. Our primary goal is to “feed His sheep” & to “disciple”. Medical technology & faith absolutely mix. Medical technology would have never made it out of the dark ages without faith & more specifically Christianity. Medical technology was pioneered by Christianity as a means to better take care of the sick as Jesus commanded us to. A main concern should be when pills take the place of faith. When we pop a pill to feel better versus act in a responsible manor which is harder & takes more effort.
A contributing factor to others healing is “our own house being in order”. It’s been proven that association with followers of Christ, true followers not just believers, those who have experienced their own healing by the power of the Holy Spirit, brings about healing in others. That we are, in fact, lights on a hill, salt in the world of tasteless & rotting. This seems to be the case for the people I interact with. I’m not saying I’m some saint without thousands of more hours of work needed however the work the Holy Spirit has done in me seems to shine to those in darkness. This I only give credit to God & I truly believe He did way more in me than I did outwardly. I only mention that to be encouraging. “Be transformed” & others will benefit. Do what we are supposed to do & let the Spirit of God do what He’s going to do. Just don’t side step God.
You are right to resist both Jay Adams and extreme charismatic views, as well as a materialistic medical view. As to medication, there would be no problems with taking it if it was safe and worked. We arent against it merely because its medication, but because of its debilitating side effects, permanent dementia, tendency to cause suicides and violence in mild-mannered people, and withdrawal symptoms, all of which has been documented. Many, many psychiatrists have researched and written on the dangers of psych meds, and I have personally had multiple horrible experiences with them and particularly akithisia. (Dr Peter Breggin among many others) I would recommend you not comment on drugs without first learning the dangers and how to watch for akithisia and withdrawal symptoms, both of which side effects are often dismissively considered as more symptoms of one's mental illness, and reason to give more drugs. The average bipolar person is said to take 8 drugs, which of course all interact to cause exponential problems, and generally debilitated a person to where they cannot enjoy life, have a job, or even care for themselves without assistance.
Also since all things have both a mind and body component, it is absolutely critical that people also take extremely good care with their diet, exercise, supplements, sleep, social connections, uplifting and inspiring input and activities. And yes, get good therapy from someone competent who is up on research, and trauma informed. (Most people who deal with serious mental illness have been traumatized or abused. I am from an abusive marriage.) And learn to sit at Jesus' feet and simply love Him and bask in His love, which is so healing and the key to Life.