Mental illnesses are psychological issues in the human body. It is good news that this article will help you with your mental illnesses. There are two approaches to management -Preventive and Interventional. Our faith provides broadly the template for the spiritual and psychosocial dimensions in both the preventive and interventional approaches while the biological domain is reserved for the medical experts.
1. Preventive
Spiritual Dimension to Mental/Emotional Wellbeing
The Holy Bible is the book of wisdom and has embedded in it all the antidotes to the predisposing factors enumerated. Medical literature shows strong correlations between spirituality and mental and physical well-being.
The overall origin of sickness is the spiritual death that took place in the garden of Eden which programmed us for gradual and ultimate death through the loss of fellowship with God making us vulnerable to worries, tension, anxiety, fear, restlessness, fear, bitterness, undue suspicion, malice, unbridled ego, competition, unhealthy lifestyles leading to manifestations of different types of sickness of the mind and the body.
Spiritual Forces
Spiritual forces can attack the mind of the Christian through our environment, financial, emotional or disruption of thought processes through fears that cannot be explained or irrational hostilities in our supportive relationships. This is expressed in Romans 3:23; “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The antidote to this sinful nature is found in having a restored and sustained fellowship with God.
Apostle John has gone far ahead of medical scientists in defining health.3 John vs 2; “Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.” This scripture unequivocally states that the overall index of vigorous wellbeing is the prosperous soul, with a healthy mind.
Absence of infirmity
This resonates with W.H.O.’s definition of health as the absence of infirmity and a state of physical, emotional and social well-being. The truth is that no one alive is spared of any of the predisposing factors enumerated above as it is in John 16:33; “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulations.
However, we are promised victory over the assault and tension that these challenges can inflict on our minds and bodies. This conceivably is the supernatural concept of causation of mental illness, not the theology of paranoia that most of us subscribe to, that empowers the devil to have a full sway over our minds.
Apostle Paul, who is a great spiritual warlord, has warned us not to view all these attempts of the devil to unseat us from our place of rest and victory as coming from a human being, which is capable of making a lot of us mentally sick and disconnected from our fellowship with God.
Two Parameters
Two parameters are prominent in all of the challenges highlighted above, namely: (a) the mind and (b) the external environment. The environment comprises all the challenges listed as predisposing factors and often not within our immediate control, while our minds should be under our management.
The locus of intervention is therefore the mind deployable to navigate the environment, whether economic, social or psychological.
This capacity for personal adaptation to change is a fundamental capacity of man emanating from his spirit which helps him to discipline and harness the mind to effectively cope with the environment. Man can choose his response irrespective of how formidable the environmental stimuli are.
However, this capacity gets developed as we grow spiritually, and can be applied to manage time, our diets, our finances, our relationships, our activities and others. This will invariably confer psychological resilience that empowers us to perform optimally.
The mind in itself cannot achieve wholesomeness except through the help of a recreated human spirit in fellowship with God nurtured by the revealed word that unveils the finished work of Christ to renew our minds.1 Thess. 5 vs 23 speaks about God sanctifying our spirit, soul and body.
Spirituality
Spirituality rather than mere religiosity is the very template for developing mental well-being. This equips us to have a clear definition of problems rather than denial and to develop effective problem-solving skills, and for self-discovery without being defensive and a high index of suspicion of malfunctioning of our mental and physical facilities as our recreated human spirit grants succour.
Spirituality is a very personal experience anchored on tested principles of God’s word developed through consistent personal, reflective and meditative connection to God in his word, which takes consistent personal effort and obedience and has benefits for all the dimensions of our lives.
Spiritual and Marital Life
Another major contribution of sound spirituality towards mental well-being is in the marital life and all the challenges, nurturing children against the background of the influences of the media and peer group and ensuring that their spiritual lives and minds are well protected and positively influenced.
The truth is that parenting emerges from the dynamics of the marital life. Where the dynamics of the marital life are combative, then a dysfunctional family life emerges, and no useful parenting facility can be paraded, which makes our children vulnerable to peer group and their influences (Colossians 3 vs 18-21).
The Church and Sound Doctrines and Mental Well-Being
The church family, especially the pastoral ministry, needs to stand up to subtle but profound heresies and new-age beliefs creeping into our polity that pose much danger to our mental well-being. There are so many wrong doctrines in our generation that endanger our mental well-being.
Most of these demand further clarification and understanding. viz: a) between delusion and faith, hallucinations and dreams as major authentic channels of divine guidance, (b) being led by the spirit and neglect of the use of the mind, which could lead to the passivity phenomenon,
(c) overuse of media as agents of spiritual transmission, (d) concept of demonic possession and deliverance ministry, (e) overstretched doctrine of restitution. There is also a need for a balanced clarification of mental illness as being solely caused by supernatural agents.
2. Interventional
In studies done in this part of the world, it has been observed that most cases of mental illnesses are not immediately referred to orthodox medical practitioners and by the time they get to them most have been starved, dehydrated and wounded from being tied down, paving way for physical illnesses that may invariably kill them.
Most of them are referred to spiritual healers who may have physically, sexually and psychologically abused them.
This is rooted in the African supernatural concept of causation of mental illness that prescribes the use of torture and starvation to get rid of the demons. In our church families, the pastors or other leaders in our congregations are usually the first to be consulted by the families.
This first point of call places an enormous challenge on the pastoral team to avail our congregations of opportunities for orthodox intervention.
The pulpit is indeed a healing instrument for various mental distresses. When the sound word of God concerning redemption, renewal of the mind, forgiveness, contentment, resilience, wisdom and victory over sin and sickness is preached, there could be healing from anxiety disorders and mild depressive illness.
It may also lead to victory over struggles with addiction, dysfunctional family life, poor parenting and mentorship of children, and counter the influence of peer pressure. Beyond the opportunity to preach, there is a need for our church pastors and leaders to acquire empathetic and useful interviewing techniques.
Our healing ministries should not only be focused on physical illnesses alone but also on mental health issues.
We are blessed with dedicated professionals such as experienced school teachers, professional counsellors, marriage counsellors, clinical psychologists, nurses and doctors who should be active not only during the health week but throughout the year. The church ministry must ensure that the stigma associated with mental illness is crushed and offer support to families that have such members.
Timely referral to professionals will be very useful and should be encouraged by the church family.
Members should visit those admitted to the psychiatric hospital. They should be encouraged to comply with medical instructions, including uninterrupted follow-up.
The clergymen should not encourage people to stop their medications but rather encourage them to comply with medical instructions while interrogating the predisposing factors, which could be marital, socioeconomic, parental issues and many others.
Some patients can present as violent and aggressive, which requires that such cases may need to be forcefully taken to the hospital through the use of security agents. Clergymen should avoid being heroic and not allow them to stay in the mission house overnight. You can read more similar posts on our medicine and health page of the site.
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