Responding to Mental Illness: the narrow path

Last updated on: September 16, 2017 at 6:39 pm by Adrian Warnock

Responding to Mental Illness: the narrow path 2017-09-16T18:39:06+01:00 Adrian Warnock

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I am in the middle of one of my long blog series. Today there is a significant change in what I am addressing, however. So far, I have essentially been saying “mental illnesses are real, you should not be afraid to seek medical help,” from today I will be arguing for the other side of the same coin, “the Bible has a lot to say that is relevant for those with mental illnesses, and can help all of us live a more mentally healthy life.”

There are some who advocate strongly for a purely biological view of mental illnesses and essentially wash their hands of church members after referring them for expert help. Others feel that the only valid form of counseling is done by secular professionals outside the church and put their trust in that. A third group are probably quite annoyed with me so far: they would say that the Bible is entirely sufficient on its own to treat all conditions that are called mental illnesses.

I say that all three groups are wrong.

One thing I should be clear about, however, is that I am not really advocating what some would call an “integrationalist” approach. I am not convinced that what is always needed is a form of counseling that combines secular and biblical approaches, although I am sure that is helpful at times.

Rather, I am saying, Church, be the Church and offer help that comes from the Bible and at the same time encourage people to get the complementary help they can only get from mental health professionals.

If you have access to trained professionals who are also Christians, wonderful. If you feel called to develop and offer an “integrated approach,” fantastic. But the needs are too great for us to wait till there are enough double-trained people. And the problems are too acute for us to assume that a church member can easily be trained in a Christian context to the level that secular counselors and psychiatrists are.

Why can’t we work together with secular services, each playing to our strengths? I do hope over time some genuinely integrated approaches will emerge. Lets not be so proud as to assume that we can convert our people, or even our pastors into psychiatrists overnight, nor should we even try. Often people with very limited knowledge of mental illness can do a lot of harm if they stray from the one area where we have a good authority base. What is that area? Well it is the Bible, and everything it has to say.

Long-time readers of this blog will know that I don’t follow the usual advice which is to make your blog very focused on a specific subject and grow a “niche” brand. I haven’t tended to do that, but I have often focused on a subject for an extended period before moving on to another one. (If you want to read about another subject than perhaps search my site in the sidebar for what I’ve said before or look at the menu above.)

If I was to develop a “tight brand” in my case, I suppose I would be a British Christian, doctor, psychiatrist, medical researcher, church leader, author, long-time blogger, twitter enthusiast, evangelical, debator, champion of conservative theology, believer in hell, and penal substitution, moderate calvinist, charismatic, soft complementarian, enjoyer of modern worship, advocate of churches that are multicultural and unafraid to grow (in some cases very large), cheerleader for both multi-site churches, and traditional church plants, multi-faith dialoguer, sci-fi and action moviegoer, and Formula One fan.

If all those things apply to you, welcome, if I put everyone who isn’t then you will probably be my only reader moving forward! My approach, is not to just focus on one of these things, or my unique so-called “brand” but rather to blog about whatever interests me. So the focus on psychiatry will remain for a while yet, but eventually I will no doubt shift my gaze onto something else, but even then, I will no doubt now and then come back to my passion for what has after all paid my bills for my entire adult life.

As I was saying, today marks a bit of a change of course, but don’t miss the fact that everything else I have written so far on mental health has been an important foundation on which we are now going to build.

There are two equal and opposite errors we fall into. One is to assume that psychiatrists and therapists have nothing to offer the believer. The second assumes that the Bible has nothing to offer the mentally ill. Both these assumptions are really untrue and can paralyze us and prevent us from caring pastorally for the many that suffer with mental illnesses. Frankly you don’t even have to actually have a diagnosed mental illness to struggle with sorrow, anxiety, and lack of hope. It is the Bible that holds out the ultimate answer to all these ubiquitous problems facing mankind, even though our experience of them is often intensified by genuinely biological factors.

And so, I have previously clearly argued that Christians can and do get depressed, that we should seek medical help, medication, and even secular counseling at times. In summary we must adopt a “Four Pillar” approach to mental health. I am now going to focus the rest of the series on what the Bible has to say to help all of us be more mentally healthy. I look forward to sharing more of all this in the coming weeks.

Previous Post

June 15, 2013

A Father's Day Sermon Idea

Next Post

June 22, 2013 Terry Virgo interviews Chris Taylor, a church planter in The Hague

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 and 2 Corinthians 1 and 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 Timothy 1 John 300 Leaders A Life of Joy Abortion Acts of the Apostles Adrian on radio Adrian on TV Adrian's Story Albert Mohler Amazing Grace Arminocalvinist Spectrum Assurance Atonement Atonement Series Attributes of God Barnabas Best of the Blog Bible Bible Software Bible Translation Biblical Inerrancy Billy Graham Bob Roberts Books C. J. Mahaney Calvinism Cessationism Charis Warnock Charismatic Spectrum Charles Simeon Charles Spurgeon Church Leadership Colossians Complementarian - Egalitarian Spectrum Complementarianism Conferences Culture Daniel Debates Deuteronomy DGM08 DGM13 Discernment Doctrine Don Carson Ed Stetzer Eddy Leo Ephesians ESV Bible Translators Interview Evangelism in a Post-Christian World evolution Exodus Expository Preaching Ezekial Faith and Feelings Family Florida Galatians General Genesis Get Wisdom - Proverbs sermons Gifts of The Holy Spirit Gifts of the Holy Spirit 2006 Global Faith Forum Godly Attitudes Gospel Gospels Grace Greg Haslam Grudem vs Piper: The Baptism Debate Healing Heaven Hell and Rob Bell Hebrews Henry Tyler Henry Warnock Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Baptism Hope Reborn Hugh Palmer Irresistable Grace Isaiah J. I. Packer Jack Hayford Joel Joel Warnock John John Lanferman John MacArthur John Newton John Owen John Piper John Smyth Jonathan Edwards Josh Harris Justification Justin Taylor Kenneth Ulmer Leadership Leadership Lessons from 1 & 2 Samuel Lex Loizides Liam Goligher Lig Duncan Limited Atonement Lou Fellingham Mark Dever Mark Driscoll Martyn Lloyd-Jones Matt Chandler Mental Health Missionary Methods: St Paul’s or Ours? My Story N. T. Wright Nehemiah NWA08 NWA09 NWA10 Opinion OT History Books Pentateuch Personal Personal Revival Philippians PJ Smyth Podcast Politics Preaching Prophecy Proverbs Psalms Raised With Christ Reformed Charismatic Regeneration Relationships Resurrection Resurrection & Salvation Revival Rice Broocks Rich Man and Lazarus Rick Warren Rob Rufus Roland Allen Romans Sam Storms Sanctification Series Sermons Sermons on Philippians Serving Jesus at Work Sexuality Sin St Paul Steve Chalke Strange Fire Suffering T4G T4G Statement TAB09 Tamasin Warnock Teamwork Terry Virgo The Atonement Debate - Chalke book The Soulwinner The Spirit-Filled Church The Traitor Within Theologcial Spectrums Theosis Tim Challies Tim Keller Titus TOAM06 TOAM07 TOAM08 TOAM09 TOAM10 TOAM11 Todd Bentley Tope Koleoso Total Depravity Video Water Baptism Wayne Grudem Worship

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 May 2025 April 2025 January 2025 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 August 2023 May 2023 April 2023 February 2023 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 June 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Philippians, Paul mentions two women who need to be of the same mind. Who are they?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Phoebe and Priscilla Mary and Martha Lydia and Chloe Euodia and Syntyche

Books by This Author Books by Adrian Warnock

See All Titles »