By Michael Ireland, Senior Reporter, ASSIST News Service, answritermike@gmail.com
LAKE FOREST, CA (ANS, October 10, 2015)
-- Rick and Kay Warren launched Saddleback Church's second Gathering on
Mental Health and the Church this week (Oct. 8/9) with a call for faith
communities to take the lead in caring for those with mental illnesses.
According to the Christian Examiner (http://tinyurl.com/p3v7w7w),
in the opening session of the conference, Rick Warren, Saddleback's
founding pastor, argued the church has a biblical, historical and
practical responsibility to make a priority of caring for those with
mental illnesses.
"Churches are typically the
first organization families in pain reach out to," Warren said. "When a
family is having a mental-health crisis, they don't go first to their
lawyer. They don't go to their accountant. They don't even go to the
police or the doctor or even the principal. Usually, the first person
they call is the church."
After teaching why the church
must take the lead on mental illness, Warren shared five theological
foundations that must define the church's mental health ministries.
Those foundations are:
Every
person has dignity because they are made by God, they are made in God's
image and they are made for God's purposes and for God's glory.In our
fallen, imperfect world, all of us are broken.Even though we're broken,
we're still deeply loved and deeply valuable.We get well in
community.What isn't healed on earth is healed in heaven.
In 2013, Warren, author of the
best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life," and senior pastor of
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, had the unenviable task of
announcing that his 27-year-old son, Matthew, had taken his own life,
according to an ASSIST News Service report at that time (http://www.oldassistnews.net/Stories/2013/s13040029.htm).
On that occasion, in an
anguished message sent to the church staff, Warren wrote: "Over the past
33 years we've been together through every kind of crisis. Kay and I've
been privileged to hold your hands as you faced a crisis or loss, stand
with you at gravesides, and prayed for you when ill. Today, we need
your prayer for us.
"You who watched Matthew grow
up knew he was an incredibly kind, gentle, and compassionate man. He had
a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or
most uncomfortable in a room. He'd then make a bee-line to that person
to engage and encourage them.
"But only those closest knew
that he struggled from birth with mental illness, dark holes of
depression, and even suicidal thoughts. In spite of America's best
doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of
mental illness never subsided.
That day, Warren said that Matthew, “after a fun evening together
with Kay and me, in a momentary wave of despair at his home, (he) took
his life."
In January 2005, ASSIST News
reported that Johnnie Carl, Crystal Cathedral’s 57-year-old musical
director took his own life as the result of Bi-Polar Disorder. (http://www.oldassistnews.net/Stories/2005/s05010127.htm)
Last year, this reporter had
the opportunity to hear firsthand the story of broadcast journalist Jane
Pauley and her struggle with Bi-Polar Disorder (http://www.oldassistnews.net/Stories/2012/s12060086.htm).
A search of the ASSIST News
Service archives for ‘mental illness’ reveals this news agency has over
the years covered the topic of the famous, and not-so-well-known, who
suffer from this affliction or another disabling psychological
condition.
Unfortunately, there is still
stigma – and much misunderstanding -- surrounding Christians and mental
illness, which often deters or discourages Christians from seeking the
professional help they need.
While
great strides forward have been made in the religious world as far as
personal and theological understanding of mental illness, many believers
– those who suffer and those who don’t – still walk around with faulty
thinking on the ‘causes’ and ‘cures’ for this malady, which statistics
say strikes one in five people. This means that Christians are not
immune.
In January 2013, ABC News
reported that one in five Americans experienced some sort of mental
illness in 2010, according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration. (http://www.samhsa.gov).
About 5 percent of Americans have suffered from such severe mental
illness that it interfered with day-to-day school, work or family. (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/01/19/1-in-5-americans-suffer-from-mental-illness).
Women were more likely to be
diagnosed with mental illness than men, 23 percent of women versus 16.9
percent of men, and the rate of mental illness was more than twice as
likely in young adults 18 to 25 than people older than 50.
About 11.4 million adult
Americans suffered from severe mental illness in the past year and 8.7
million adults contemplated serious thoughts of suicide. Among them,
more than 2 million made suicide plans and about 1 million attempted
suicide.
Nearly 2 million teens, or 8
percent of the adolescent population, experienced a major depressive
episode in the past year. The research defined a major episode as at
least a two-week period when a person is depressed with a loss of
interest or pleasure in daily activities, while also experiencing at
least four of seven symptoms defined in the fourth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Only about 60 percent of people
with mental illness get treatment each year, according to the report,
and whites and Native Americans were more likely to seek help than
African-Americans, Latinos and Asians.
Researchers drew the findings from nearly 70,000 surveys on mental health and addiction among children and adults.
On a personal note, this reporter has also been afflicted by this horrible disorder.
Over the years since I was
diagnosed, I have sought the help of medical professionals, such as
doctors, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, including Christian pastors
and ministers, as well as the understanding of family and friends.
This disorder can be described
as a “living hell” because of the twists and turns during its course,
and its dramatic effects on one’s behavior and lifestyle, not to mention
how it affects one’s family, friends, and other loved ones.
I was first diagnosed with a
mental disorder following a nervous breakdown in the United Kingdom in
the late 1970s. My diagnosis at that time was Schizophreniform, which is
a term that covers a form of illness which displays itself as
Schizophrenia, but which has not yet been determined to be full-blown
Schizophrenia. Mental illness is often hereditary, and my mother
suffered from Schizophrenia.
At the time of my first
breakdown, there were not enough beds in the psychiatric ward of the
local mental hospital, so I was treated at my parents’ home, with weekly
domiciliary visits from my local physician. It took me four weeks to
recover with the help of rest, medication, and the love and care of my
parents and friends. All I did was eat, sleep, and take medication.
I experienced a second nervous
breakdown, in fact another psychotic episode – psychosis is a condition
where the patient loses contact with reality – in the summer of 1982,
after returning from a whirlwind visit to the United States.
On that occasion, I was
hospitalized for four weeks and under the care of a psychiatrist. Once
again the diagnosis was similar, this time identified as
Schizo-affective Bi-polar Disorder. I was treated with rest and
medication, and it was then I learned I would need to take
anti-psychotic medicines for the rest of my life to prevent a relapse.
In talking about her bout with
Bi-Polar Disorder at the 2012 annual dinner of People Incorporated in
St. Paul, Minnesota, former NBC journalist Pauley explained that her
sister in-law is a medical reporter and a good ‘explainer.’
“She says the brain is made up
of ‘many working parts’ as she describes it. One part of the brain she
says is key in Bi-polar. A bundle of nerve cells called the singulate.
The singulate is a kind of chemical electrical switch for people with
Bi-polar -- it’s overly sensitive. It has a hair-trigger.”
Pauley continued: “My parents
never had that thought that the brain is wired. My children wouldn’t
think any other way. I describe putting information on my hard drive; I
have the memory of an Etch-A-Sketch. Never mind that I don’t know what a
hard drive is, or that I’m still pretty amazed by the Etch-A-Sketch!”
Pauley explained the technology we use every day has rewired our brains.
“We think differently about the
brain today. Here’s a useful analogy. In my 1950’s childhood, ‘Outer
Space’ was where Martians and invading ‘Space Aliens’ came from. But
when I was a teen-ager in the sixties, the phrase ‘Outer Space’ was
replaced by a new phrase – ‘Space Program.’ We were in a race to get
there, to explore space.”
Pauley said that ‘messaging matters.’
“Now
hope is far more potent to change minds than fear. When I think of
hope, I think of Michael J. Fox,” said Pauley, who has interviewed Fox
on several occasions, including quite recently.
“He is such an inspiration
because of his commitment to find a cure for Parkinson’s, which by the
way, is a neighbor to Bi-polar in the same deep region of the brain, but
also for refusing to be defined by his limitations. Living his life as
fully as it can be lived. Remember what he called his memoir? ‘Lucky
Man.’”
Pauley said Michael J. Fox is
the first to point out that he doesn’t happen to suffer from depression,
which many people with Parkinson’s do suffer from, and depression
produces isolation, and isolation is the curse of mental illness.
Pauley concluded: “I’d like to
close with a story that I heard told by a Nobel Laureate. The daughter
of Sigmund Freud’s best friend -- which is kind of a funny thought that
Sigmund Freud would have a best friend. So this is a young woman, who is
studying to be a psychoanalyst who was finally required to undergo
psychoanalysis herself, and she wanted the great man Freud to do it. He
was reluctant because of their personal relationship, but finally he
relented. And later, when the analysis was completed he is said to have
told her ‘I always liked you, but now that I know you have problems, I
like you more.’”
Once again on a personal note, I
have found that without the presence of God, through faith and trust in
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, together with the help of the Word of
God and medications, the love, care and understanding of friends and
family, and the help and counsel of a psychiatrist and psychologist, I
would not be able to function and live a stable and productive life.
In my research and attempts to
better understand my illness, and from years of personal experience with
the illness, I have discovered that mental illness -- and Bi-Polar
Disorder in particular – is cyclical in nature. I have found that living
in the Upper Midwest, where the change in seasons is more dramatic, my
disorder does indeed, afflict me in a cyclical pattern. Those who know
me well realize that I am going to suffer episodes of ‘poorer’ mental
health moods with the change between longer, darker days and the onset
of more dreary weather of the Fall and Winter months and then again when
Spring and Summer roll around and when the longer, brighter days arrive
and I experience happier days and more energy.
Having
noticed this pattern, I take measures to minimize the effects the
seasons have on my body and my psyche. I have learned what works for me
to manage and cope with the Disorder. I have also learned some coping
skills to deal with stress, which is a known trigger for Bi-Polar
Disorder. My therapist calls this my ‘Toolkit.’ It is full of tips and
tricks to manage the illness. Among these are ‘Staying in the Now,’
‘Taking One Thing at a Time,’ ‘Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing,’
‘Floating,’ and ‘Letting Time Pass.’ It also includes, ‘Seeking Help
from Others When Overwhelmed.’
I would urge those who believe
they or a loved one may have a mental or psychological illness not to be
ashamed, but to seek out all the available help they can find to
achieve a stable thought and mood condition, and to pursue a happy and
productive life. Mental illness is treatable.
To find resources, search for
"DEPRESSION," “BIPOLAR DISORDER” or “MENTAL ILLNESS” on the Internet at
www.google.com or contact your local mental health provider listed in
the telephone directory for your area. Your local hospital or medical
clinic should also be able to provide you with information on getting
the treatment help you need.
If you or your loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis,
call 911 immediately. Most police departments have at least one or two
officers who are trained to do a Social Welfare (Mental Health)
Evaluation and can also put you or your loved one in touch with mental
health professionals.
My word to the wise: Don’t Mess
With Mental Illness. Get help. It is possible to learn coping and
management skills for this affliction.
Photo captions. 1) Rick and Kay Warren pictures outside Saddleback
Church (OC Register. 2) Matthew Warren. 3) Part of the crowd at an
earlier gathering on Mental Health. 4) Jane Pauley. 5) Logo 6) The
Saddleback Church gathering. 7) Michael Ireland
About
the Writer: Michael Ireland is a Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST
News Service, as well as a volunteer Internet Journalist and Ordained
Minister who has served with ASSIST Ministries and ASSIST News Service
since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia. Click http://paper.li/Michael_ASSIST/1410485204 to see a daily digest of Michael's stories for ANS.
** You may republish this and any of ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)
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