This week, Bring Change 2 Mind.org launched a national campaign of public service announcements to raise awareness concerning mental illness. Though one in six adults and one in ten children suffer from a range of illnesses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and clinical depression, often these treatable conditions are ignored and denied. Reasons vary as to why this is the case. But in too many cases it has to do with the social, cultural and religious stigma that persons associate with mental illness.
In my own religious background, for instance, mental illness is often linked to spiritual deficiency. Mental illness is not a disease, but wrongly interpreted as a condition persons can be delivered from via a combination of prayer, fasting and confession. Or, as I’ve heard a million times, “Jesus is the great mind regulator!”
Unfortunately, similar to the ways faith communities once interpreted cancer as a result of sin, or HIV/AIDS as the judgment of God, persons are still being taught that “bringing one’s burdens to the Lord” is a sufficient way to deal with an illness that can be treated with medications and psychosocial therapies.
Indeed, I believe in the power of prayer. But for a large number of our mothers, brothers, and cousins who are living under the burden of mental illness, we also must accept and encourage professional help when we get up from our knees.
