Biblical Perspective on Mental Health
An understanding of the biblical view of mental health is significant for coming up with policies which improve counselor’s effectiveness and efficiency when dealing with their patients. Mental illness has become a common disease in America. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in every five Americans has some form of mental illness. Understanding mental illness entails having relevant information about the various types of the disease. One such example is Any Mental Illness (AMI), characterized by emotional or behavioral disorders. The other form of mental illness is Serious Mental Illness (SMI), which refers to mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders, which leads to a person developing severe functionality impairments (Chang, Hayes, Broadbent, Fernandes, Lee, Hotopf & Stewart, 2010). Several solutions have been availed detailing how to deal with and treat patients with mental health issues. Counseling, for instance, utilizes psychological knowledge to guide a patient into recovery from mental challenges. However, counseling cannot achieve efficiency on its own. The integration of counseling and other disciplines is significant in handling and treating patients with psychiatric disorders. One such subject is the biblical perspective of mental health. The paper discusses how understanding the biblical view of mental health is beneficial in enhancing efficient and effective treatment for patients through the identification of mental disorders cause, solutions, encouragement, and assurance of hope. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Understanding the biblical perspective of mental health allows us to gain insight into the religious view of mental disorders cause, thus enhancing better and effective counseling guidance. Often, mental health care tends to focus on the curriculum’s teachings, which emphasize scientific factors being the cause of psychological problems. For instance, scientists refer to social disconnection as one of the significant reasons for depression. It is in understanding the biblical perspective of the situation that we also realize that the Bible calls for human beings to live a social life with others as opposed to staying in solitude. An example is seen in God, realizing that it is not suitable for man to live alone and so he gave Adam a companion in the name of Eve. Understanding the Bible, therefore, enlightens mental health practitioners of causes of such disorders hence enact preventive measures which will mitigate the prevalence of psychological challenges.
Likewise, scientific solutions are presented as ideal ways to treat mental problems. Strict adherence to experimental procedures and prescriptions has led mental health practitioners to ignore other avenues, such as biblical understanding of psychological complications. Proper knowledge of mental health solutions requires counselors to treat their patients as people having body and soul. The collection, in this sense, refers to the physical causes of psychological problems that scientists have developed an accurate understanding of and availed medical prescriptions. Understanding the soul is another dimension that should not just be looked at from the western medical perspective.
On the contrary, counselors ought to take a spiritual approach as supported by the bible to find effective means of helping their patients. The bible talks about values such as being humble and yearning for rightness in society as the cause of happiness. The approach refutes subjective opinions that view the failure to attain specific materialistic goals such as good houses as one of the instances which lead to sadness. Counselors can, therefore, refer to the biblical perspective of counseling to guide their patients through the healing process by assuring them that earthly possessions should not worry them.
The encouraging nature of biblical words can be used to enhance the effectiveness of counseling sessions by offering assurance to mental health patients that all will be okay. Psychology considers certain mental health conditions as being influenced by past events that took place in a person’s life. Trauma, for instance, is partly attributed to childhood events such as abuse, whose memory keeps on recurring (Van der Kolk, 2003). Psychologists claim that such activities are responses to personal life experiences hence normal. The bible, on the other hand, acknowledges that human beings will always experience struggles in their lives, and many things will make them sad.
Furthermore, the bible offers solutions for people to overcome their past suffering experiences. In the book of Corinthians, we are assured that God’s power is sufficient to turn our weaknesses into strengths. Likewise, we are enlightened in the book of Romans that all the suffering we go through will turn into good. Biblical perspective of mental issues is seen as since it allows counselors to offer their patients hope despite the various past experiences that traumatizes them.
The bible provides ideal answers into dealing with hopelessness, which in turn leads to depression and anxiety problems. According to Pitchot (2013), despair is an emotional aspect demonstrated by a lack of optimism and passion for one’s future. The feeling that one has nothing to look forward to leads to anxiety and depression. The spiritual aspect of dealing with hopelessness is seen in the bible, encouraging people to always focus on the brighter side of life. People are encouraged to live with the hope of a better life as in the promise of believing in Jesus to get eternal life. Counselors can, therefore, borrow from the bible’s perspective and give their patients assurance that all will be well in the coming days.
Likewise, psychiatrists perceive mental illnesses as being caused by some societal disconnection, which arises when people fail to realize the meaningful purpose in their lives. Scientists view human beings as people driven by the desire to attain specific goals in life. To achieve the goals, human beings channel their efforts towards the pursuit of their objectives. Lack of purpose in life is thus highlighted as a condition that leads to stress. Individuals develop anxiety, knowing very well that they are not aware of their future since they see their efforts as not directed to the realization of their objectives.
The bible, however, provides a solution to those experiencing mental illness such as anxiety resulting from the perception that they don’t have any meaningful purpose in life. God assures human beings that he has given them work to enhance their lives’ objectives. He illustrates the case of Adam. God shows Adam his entire creation and gives him the authority to name everything them. Adam is required to work and protect God’s creation. The book of proverbs, chapter ten, portrays work as something which benefits society and brings about Shalom, meaning peace. The fact that work allows people to find meaning in their lives, thus leading to order, therefore, demonstrates the bible’s capability to eliminate anxiety resulting from a lack of purpose in life.
To conclude, it has been demonstrated that having an understanding of biblical perspectives on mental disorders is necessary for counselors to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency when dealing with their patients. The bible has been depicted as holding crucial information that might prove useful for counselors when handling people with mental issues. The bible’s understanding in the discipline has been demonstrated through its coverage of causes and solutions of psychological problems, its encouraging nature for those affected, and assurance for hope among people with anxiety and depression issues. It is, therefore, necessary that counselors consider the bible’s view of mental challenges to come up with effective ways of dealing with the complications.
References
Chang, C. K., Hayes, R. D., Broadbent, M., Fernandes, A. C., Lee, W., Hotopf, M., & Stewart, R. (2010). All-cause mortality among people with serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders, and depressive disorders in southeast London: a cohort study. BMC psychiatry, 10(1), 77.
National Institute of Mental Health. 2020. Transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtmlAccessed 15th February 2020
Pinchot, W. (2013). Is there a place for the physician’s hopelessness in the treatment of depression?. Revue medicale de Liege, 68(2), 61-64.
Van der Kolk, B. A. (2003). Psychological trauma. American Psychiatric Pub.