Estimates suggest that only half of all people with mental disorders get the treatment they need. Why?
One church friend I interviewed about mental health told me, “Reaching out to say you’re struggling and need help is huge. But it’s a pride issue … I always held myself to extreme standards, didn’t meet them, and then beat myself up about it … but humans make mistakes. It’s okay to ask for help.”
Another reason people with mental disorders don’t get the treatment they need is because those in a position to care for them are afraid of losing their own comfortable world or not being in control.
Loved ones blame the person with the mental disorder, conditionalize their help by making demands on the person with the mental disorder they cannot meet, or expect improvement that isn’t realistic.
Here’s one of my favorite Bible promises. “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control” (2 Timothy 1:7). If you live with a mental disorder or love a person who does, you don’t just have a mental disorder. You have God’s gift of power. You have God’s gift of love. You have God’s gift of self control.
The Bible says this another way, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
By faith, your mind is connected to the mind of Christ—a mind never mastered by any disorder, or manipulated by any human thinking.
So, just think his thoughts that are already in you.
PRAYER: God, help and heal those with mental disorders, and give hope to those who care for them. Amen.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP: Watch “The Do’s and Don’ts of Mental Health Disorders,” my sermon from Sunday. https://crosslifepf.org/teachings/
