Breaking past the stigma
that mental illness has,
It’s time to break through
that unjust normalcy of life,
For, every person is dogged
with a sense of struggle,
Everyone at some stage has their share of
strife.
Mental illness, when contrasted with
physical illness, is seen for what it is: a normal phenomenon, with hope for
prospective healing and pain management. Some physical afflictions last all our
lives, so do some mental afflictions. They are managed. The more we can accept
that mental health and illness are similar if not the same as physical health
and illness, the more we break down these silly stigmas.
As a former safety and health professional,
I know it is acknowledged in the secular world: mental health, mental wellbeing,
and mental illness are all dynamic themes in all our lives.
When Christians dispel mental illness they
twist the biblical mandate and play right into the devil’s hands – of course,
Satan wants those who are struggling with their mental health to be further
isolated, undermined, and compromised.
When secular world entities disparage the
rites of mental illness they deny the deafening science behind a plethora of
decades if not centuries of data and findings.
At the core of a sufferer’s hopes of recovery
from an episode of mental ill-health is, first, the wider recognition – the
validation – of the truth of matters. Recovery and resurrection out of bad
states of being is stifled when there is an avoidance of the truth. Fear has no
place in these matters, yet it’s often given a place because its motives are
not questioned.
There is great empirical support for the
equivalencies of physical, psychological, biological, and physiological health
and ill-health. Similar cause-and-effect patterns are known, though the
antecedents to injury and illness may be markedly different.
Injury and illness – regardless of whether
it’s physical or non-physical in nature – represent harm done. Harm done can
have a knock-on effect whenever initial treatment is left for wanting. The
visible injury or illness gets treatment – we can see it. But how often do we
shame someone for seeking treatment for an invisible injury or illness? Can’t
people trust what their ears hear – the need of help? No, this speaks to scared
people; they don’t want to admit the possibilities that someone is affected by
what has been either done to them, or what can’t be readily explained.
***
Mental health, mental wellbeing, and mental
illness are all dynamic themes in all our lives. We bring glory to God by
supporting those with mental illness, by destigmatising them, and by loving
them into health as much as we can. Let us pay tribute to anyone who struggles
with their mental health more than we do.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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