How Do I Navigate the Mental Health Crisis as a Christian?

We are experiencing a worldwide mental health epidemic. We have never been more depressed, anxious, and suicidal. There isn’t a person reading this who isn’t either struggling themselves or has someone close to them who is.

Being a Christian adds a layer of complexity to this issue. We aren’t supposed to struggle with these kinds of issues, right? Sadly, the Church has not equipped believers well enough to understand these mental health issues, let alone know what to do about them.

I am not a mental health expert, but as someone who cares deeply about sharing my faith outside of the Church, I recognize it’s not an option to enter into this space, educate myself, and respond effectively.

Below are four basic principles that I hope will guide you as you commit to understanding our crisis and how we might respond.

1. Start with a Broken Heart

Our first response to any tragedy in the world today should be to ask God to give us His heart. If we don’t care, we have no business trying to solve the problem. We can have all the answers, but our approach will be cold and academic if we don’t have compassion.

This issue is deeply personal for many of you, and your heart is broken. But for everyone, it is easy to become numb and calloused over time. We can feel immobilized by the magnitude of the problem, which often leads to apathy.

The problem is too big for you to solve, but God isn’t asking you to do it in your strength. He’s asking you to have His heart for those in need and to do your part to bring relief to the hurting. The rest is up to Him.

2. Fight Against the Stigma

Christians have been complicit in stigmatizing those dealing with mental health issues. If someone has an infection, we tell them to go to the doctor and get antibiotics. If someone is dealing with anxiety or depression, we tell them to get over it, think more positively, or simply pray that God would change their thoughts.

Mental health is an intensely complex issue. Those who deal with its challenges fall on a spectrum that is very difficult to define.

Like any feature of a fallen world, the cause and solution to every problem are complex and varied—the interaction between our choices and factors beyond our control muddy the waters further. Nevertheless, mental health struggles are real, and we need to talk about them freely.

Christians should be leading the charge in destigmatizing those dealing with them.

3. Don’t Oversimplify the Issue

‍Perhaps the greatest mistake we make when navigating this issue is oversimplifying it. Christians can be particularly guilty of believing the solution is merely “praying it away” or having enough faith.

I believe in the power of prayer, but the world is broken, and God doesn’t intervene to take away every hardship we face.

Any combination of genetics, disease, diet, social media, a lack of exercise, poor sleep, technology, and substance abuse can cause mental health issues. On top of all that, our view of the world and the condition of our spiritual lives have a tremendous impact on the health of our minds. The reality is it’s rarely just one of these contributing factors, and more often a combination of many.

As Christians, we must resist the urge to oversimplify the problem and instead attack the issue from all angles. When we don’t, we lose credibility and fail to help those who desperately need our help.

4. Don’t Forget to Pray

‍While recognizing the complexity of our mental health, we need to remember that those around us belong to God. Their mental health and well-being are His work and a burden we cannot possibly carry. We aren’t called to change lives but are told to pray.

Prayer can feel passive and powerless when facing a tragic situation, but is it? From what I read in scripture, prayer unleashes extraordinary power, though Satan works hard to convince us otherwise.

Prayer is not the last resort. It’s the only weapon we are given in our fight against the powers and principalities that are blinding the eyes of those who don’t see and follow Jesus.

So don’t lose heart. Be like the widow before the unjust judge and pray! Get desperate and get unreasonable! Expect that God will move amidst the depression and anxiety that those close to us are facing, and don’t stop until He does.