MENTAL HEALTH

The subject of mental health and mental illness have flooded the media headlines in the past five years, more than it ever has before. Today our culture is more open to having the hard conversations and breaking down walls that once were built up a mile high. Those that once bottled up all their emotions, now have a platform to be a voice.

Mental health issues come in many different forms and we hope that the following resources will help you as you work your way through the complexities for mental health and mental illness.

Websites

• Good Therapy.org

Videos

• When Anxiety Attacks | Pastor Steven Furtick | Elevation Church

  “When anxiety attacks, running is often times our default reaction. But is there a better way? Discover what is at the center of your anxiety and learn how to resist it instead of running from it.”

• Rich Wilkerson Jr – Are You OK?: The Suicide Deception

  “Sometimes on the outside damage can’t be seen, but on the inside turmoil is taking place. We tend to hide the signs of mental illness until it’s too late. When this damage progresses, unseen by others, it prevents us from being able to receive blessings in our lives and destroys us from the inside out.”

• Mental Health Panel – A Conversation on Conquering Anxiety & Depression

  “A conversation about hope, healing and wholeness with Henry & Alex Seeley, Carlos Whittaker & John Elam.”

• Detoxing Your Mind: An Interview With Dr. Caroline Leaf

  “Dr. Caroline Leaf is a world-renowned cognitive neuroscientist, author, and speaker. In this interview, she reveals how to practically stop toxic thoughts and rewrite the way we think.”

• Rick Warren’s message for those considering suicide

  “If you have ever struggled with depression or suicide, Pastor Rick has a message for you. The pain you are experiencing will not last forever. There is hope!”

Books

• A Relentless Hope: Surviving the Storm of Teen Depression

  “Depression and related illnesses threaten to wreck the lives of many teens and their families. Suicide driven by these illnesses is one of the top killers of young people. How do teens become depressed? What does depression feel like? How can we identify it? What helps depressed teens? What hurts them? How do families cope with teen depression? In A Relentless Hope, Dr. Gary Nelson uses his experience as a pastor and pastoral counselor to guide the reader through an exploration of these and many other questions about depression in teens. He’s worked with many teens over the years offering help to those confronted by this potentially devastating illness. The author also uses the story of his own son’s journey through depression to weave together insights into the spiritual, emotional, cognitive, biological, and relational dimensions of teen depression. The book is written for those without formal clinical training, so it appeals to teens, parents, teachers, pastors, and any who walk with the afflicted through this valley of the shadow of death. Through careful analysis, candid self-revelation, practical advice, and even humor, this pastor, counselor, and father, reminds us God’s light of healing can shine through the darkness of depression and offer hope for struggling teens and their families. ”\

• Anxious: Choosing Faith in a World of Worry

  “Our culture is frantic with worry. We stress over circumstances we can’t control, we talk about what’s keeping us up at night and we wring our hands over the fate of disadvantaged people all over the world, almost as if to show we care and that we have big things to care about. Worry is part of our culture, an expectation of responsible people. And sadly, Christians are no different. But we are called to live and think differently from the worried world around us. Worry is a spiritual problem, which ultimately cannot be overcome with sheer willpower–its solution is rooted entirely in who God is. Challenging the idolatrous underpinnings of worry, former Christianity Today executive Amy Simpson encourages us to root our faith in who God is, not in our own will power. Correctly understanding the theology of worry is critical to true transformation.”

• Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith

  “In gripping fashion, Monica Coleman examines the ways that the legacies of slavery, war, sharecropping, poverty, and alcoholism mask a family history of mental illness. Those same forces accompanied her into the black religious traditions and Christian ministry. All the while, she wrestled with her own bipolar disorder. Bipolar Faith is both a spiritual autobiography and a memoir of mental illness. In this powerful book, Coleman shares her life-long dance with trauma, depression, and the threat of death. Citing serendipitous encounters with black intellectuals like Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Angela Davis, and Renita Weems, Coleman offers a rare account of how the modulated highs of bipolar II can lead to professional success, while hiding a depression that even her doctors rarely believed. Only as she was able to face her illness was she able to live faithfully with bipolar.”

• Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness

  Grace for the Afflicted is written to educate Christians about mental illness from both biblical and scientific perspectives. Stanford presents insights into our physical and spiritual nature and discusses the appropriate role of psychology and psychiatry in the life of the believer. Describing common mental disorders, Stanford asks of each: “What does science say and what does the Bible say about this illness?”

Podcast

• Fresh Hope for Mental Health – Pastor Brad Hoefs

  The purpose of Fresh Hope for Mental Health is to empower those with a mental health diagnosis to live a faith-filled and rich life in spite of having a mental health challenge.