Mental Illness Is Not a Sin. So Why the Shame?

Last updated on: January 4, 2017 at 10:49 am by Paul Louis Metzger

Mental Illness Is Not a Sin. So Why the Shame? 2017-01-04T10:49:45-08:00 Paul Louis Metzger

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.

©iStock

Mental illness is not a sin. So why the shame? According to Lea Seigen Shinraku, MFT, “Shame conflates feeling ‘bad’ with being ‘bad.’” “You feel bad, therefore you are bad” (See the article, “When You Feel Shame About Your Mental Illness” by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. at PsychCentral).

Shame causes us to isolate ourselves from others. It does not help that in our culture, we often associate mental illness with weakness and character flaws. There is also the fear that sometimes those with mental illnesses are responsible for violent, fatal outbursts. The isolation only intensifies—self-inflicted and inflicted by others.

While the church is not a hospital or a clinic that can prescribe medication, it can prescribe care and understanding. Henri Nouwen wrote, “A minister is not a doctor whose primary task is to take away pain. Rather, he deepens the pain to a level where it can be shared” (See Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society {New York: Image, 1979}, pages 92–93). As we share our struggles with compassionate, trustworthy and transparent others, not only do we lessen our sense of isolation, but also we realize that everyone has struggles of various kinds. No one is completely normal—not even psychotherapists. As one psychotherapist, Annita Sawyer, writes in the Columbia Medical Review, all too often medical experts shroud their own psychological issues and struggles to protect their reputations and careers. Given their status, if they could be more open in appropriate ways, it would lessen the sense of stigma and shame, and help others address their struggles and pursue treatment (See “All about us: Acknowledging mental illness, psychotherapy, stigma, and shame”). What is truly abnormal is when we are not allowed to think, feel or share our struggles with one another. Isolation is the worst disease.

Remember, too, that even the Lord Jesus was accused of being out of his mind and demon-possessed (Mark 3:20-30, John 8:48-49). Perhaps this was one reason he—the suffering servant—was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering (Isaiah 53:3). Perhaps it was also a reason why he was such an able physician of body and soul. Even in the case of the demoniac, whom Jesus restored to full health in body and mind, Jesus alone engaged him (not his community) rather than isolate him further; in fact, after his restoration, Jesus encouraged him to remain in his community to declare what God had done for him (Luke 8:26-39). Jesus confronted isolation as the greatest illness.

Our own struggles with mental illness and other related forms of suffering may never go completely away this side of the grave. But may we never move away from one another, but care for one another, just as Jesus cares for each of us.

The church is a haven for saints and a hospital for sinners. Are we also good clinics of compassion for mental illness? A pastor friend of mine adept at addressing these matters has said that all too often the church is good at addressing sicknesses from the neck down, but rather poor at addressing sicknesses from the neck up. As the community of Jesus, the Wounded Healer, we need to continue to grow in our understanding and care for one another, including in matters pertaining to mental illness. The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins will be partnering with Gateway Church, Portland, next Wednesday evening, April 20th, from 7:00-8:30 PM in seeking to foster greater understanding, compassion and how to work with medical practitioners and counselors in caring for those with mental illnesses in our midst. Please join us for “Holistic Approaches to Mental Illness.” The forum is in association with New Wine’s conference at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in cooperation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Church and Science: Partners for the Common Good,” April 16th and 23rd.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 8, 2016

Messiahs & Monsters: Which Do We Project?

Next Post

April 18, 2016 Urban Planning: What Are the Unintended Consequences?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 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 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 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 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 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

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz