Mental Health Awareness Month—Thoughts to Ponder
In light of Mental Health Awareness Month, I think it is important to note that one month of the year isn’t enough to make people aware of mental illness, am I right?! I recently finished watching a top-rated Netflix series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, that started a pondering thought. How many people in history suffered from mental illness that didn’t end up being famous like King George III, Vincent Van Gogh, Ludwig van Beethoven, John Keats, or Charles Dickens, to name just a few? The conclusion, of course, is that the famous people who drew the public eye as we read about their journey of mental illness made us aware of its existence in history’s general population. Today it’s no different. As a parent who periodically sufferers from depression and a parent of children who suffer from various types of mental illness such as schizoaffective disorder, anxiety, and depression, I couldn’t help but be drawn to reflect on several questions.
· Do we have enough resources to care for those in need?
· Is society aware of mental illness's effects and daily struggles?
· Why are some Christians still of the mindset that it is strictly a spiritual matter rather than a sickness that might need a medical remedy, just as a sinus infection may need antibiotics?
Do we have enough resources to help our mentally ill children and the rest of the world suffering from various types of mental illness? I recently changed medical insurance due to our family circumstances, and funny enough, it has opened up some better options than we had on private health insurance. I remember moving back to southern New England and leaving message after message to find a mental healthcare provider for my kids. I probably spent about 20 to 30 hours on the phone going back and forth until we could find someone taking new patients within my children’s age ranges. Once that was determined, getting a new patient appointment was the next obstacle, a four-week wait. Highly recommended mental health resources were unavailable on the private insurance but are on my call list now because of our insurance change. Maybe it will be better. Maybe the doctors and therapists will be better equipped and well trained and will help us during this crisis. Our current options, which took so long to procure, have been subpar at best. If there is anything I’ve learned while caring for my children, it's that sometimes you need to keep shifting and changing doctors until you find the one with whom both they and you feel comfortable. They help make a significant change in the overall quality of life for your child.
Does society recognize the pandemic of mental Illness around them? The region you live in plays a part—having lived in different areas of the northeast and Southern California has allowed me to see the differences in awareness. You have richer and poorer cities on both the West and East coasts. Interestingly enough, even though the same types of folks existed on both coasts, how northeasterners responded overall seemed more direct and less frightened by people with mental illness. Is this because of awareness? Southern Californians, I observed, often appeared more frightened and avoided people dealing with a mental illness. A store cashier once asked me if the strange homeless man was okay to interact with (whom I knew by name and spoke to at least once a week). I assured her that he was completely harmless. On another occasion in Southern California, I had a mom apologize to me for her daughter's vocal outbursts (Tourette Syndrome), and again, I reassured her that it was not at all bothersome. I think living in the northeast for almost twenty years, where many organizations provide job placement, education help, and housing for people with various disabilities, and how the surrounding people worked with, interacted with, and responded to people with mental illness prepared me. Southern California may also have these services, but its mentally ill population is often kept out of sight. Northeasterners aren’t phased by people with mental illness. I was in the supermarket recently in the Northeast, and the woman behind me was more than likely schizophrenic. While she was having a lively conversation with the voices she heard, not everyone in the supermarket was jostled by her behavior. They greeted her with kindness, checked her out, and sent her on her way. I was the patron who checked out before her to hear her entire self-dialogue, and I just did my business.
What about church society? How can we better accommodate people with mental illness in the church? I was very fortunate to be a part of a church in California in an area with a lot of homeless people and folks suffering from some type of mental illness, so we were able to accommodate those willing to come to church. Even my time in northeastern churches proved to be more gracious to people with mental illness. But in some Christian circles, thankfully not my own, Christians believe that mental illness is strictly a spiritual matter. Demons are behind it, and someone can be freed from this bondage instantly once the demons are cast out.
I can’t help but cite this informative article on the effects of Dopamine. “Dopamine is one of the better-known brain chemicals. A so-called ‘happy’ neurotransmitter, dopamine is involved in memory, mood, motivation, and movement. Dopamine plays a key role in several medical conditions like Parkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia, and restless leg syndrome. Mental health conditions like ADHD, addiction, depression, schizophrenia, and OCD are also linked to dopamine disorders.”
I know for a fact that my child produces too much dopamine. We’ve had several tests completed on his body's chemical makeup and how it interacts with elements like sodium, calcium, medications, and supplements. We also had him tested from both western and eastern medical perspectives. Both concluded his brain produced too much dopamine. The Christian groups who associate mental illness with demons, although well-intentioned, need to understand the science behind mental illness. Other organizations have addressed this matter quite eloquently. I particularly found this article quite impactful.
I leave you with a quote from the resource above in hopes that you are not only aware of mental illness but its impact on many living and breathing in the world today.
“Christian, and perhaps especially Evangelical, communities have a long way to go to better support those who experience a mental disorder. One important next step is shifting away from explicit and implicit Spiritual Illness approaches, which over-spiritualize the causes and treatments of mental disorders. Instead they ought to acknowledge the crucial role of biological, psychological, and environmental causes and treatments while focusing on the possibilities of spiritual coping and spiritual meaning-making. One especially powerful way to do this is by foregrounding the firsthand experiences of those in their congregations who experience mental disorders. Christian communities must create the space and freedom for them to express their stories in a way that is faithful to their experience—even if that sometimes challenges underlying assumptions about the nature of mental disorders and their relationship to religious beliefs, experiences, and practices.”
Are you a Christian parenting an individual with mental illness? Join the Eleventh Willow private Facebook support group to meet other parents who understand. Let’s help each other walk this path.
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
