THIS IS A TEST SITE
Mental health concerns in the context of faith:
A Christian Perspective
Meet Ashley:
Ashley grew up in Langley BC, the eldest of two children of a devout Christian family. They regularly attended church and were part of church activities. In her last year of high school, she was introduced to Crystal Methaphetamine (Crystal Meth). Ashley’s grades began to drop, she was not able to complete tasks, and sometimes she was just withdrawn and sleeping all day while at other times, when high, felt like she could achieve anything, no matter how unrealistic. She had deep feelings of shame and self loathing. Ashley tried several times to quit but the withdrawal symptoms were just too harsh.
Participating in her church was an integral part of Ashley’s identity, but she found it difficult to wrestle with her own feelings of unworthiness, why she was struggling so much and why her Christian friends were no longer comfortable around her. All her life she had believed that if you trust in God everything would work itself out. But this belief just did not hold anymore.
She got up the courage to share her addiction struggle with one friend at church. To her utter dismay, she was told she needed to “pray more” to get over it. This was very confusing for her during her time of distress. Ashley shares “no matter how much I prayed, my cravings did not go away.” She felt judged and dismissed by her faith community. She began to believe the reason for her addiction was that she was not being a good Christian and that she was helpless against temptation. People did not want to be around her when she was experiencing her highs and crashes. They were afraid of her skinny and nervous appearance. This led her to feel even more isolated and depressed at the loss of friends in the community. Even though Ashley wanted to have the support of her Christian community, she felt she did not have the resources to maintain the friendships.
Ashley needed medical and psychological help. Instead she lost all connections that could lead her in the right direction.
How can our Christian community be different? Can we break down the stigma of addiction and mental illness? How do we incorporate our faith beliefs of grace and fellowship in supporting someone like Ashley? Are there existing places that offer Christian based recovery?
Remember, although you may have experienced loneliness and a lack of support in your Christian Community, God promises to never leave you, nor foresake you. You are not alone.
