[00:00:00] Hi and welcome to The Good Voice Collective.
[00:00:04] The show where we talk about culture, discuss theology, learn new perspectives, and grow
[00:00:09] in Christ.
[00:00:10] Each one of us has a unique voice.
[00:00:12] A unique perspective and we want to use our voices for good.
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[00:00:20] Hi everyone and welcome to The Good Voice Collective.
[00:00:33] My name is Naya and today we're going to be talking about mental health within the church.
[00:00:39] I want to make sure that this is all perfectly backed up alongside my own first hand account
[00:00:50] within the site.
[00:00:51] As a team, we're going to go through this and see where there could be some misconceptions within
[00:00:55] the church and how we can deal with this as brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:00:59] If you don't know much about anxiety and depression and other mental health disorders,
[00:01:04] this is a great discussion I have because we can see what we can lean from and how
[00:01:10] we can support others and whatever they're going through.
[00:01:20] I wanted to open this discussion up to the rest of you guys and see what misconceptions
[00:01:24] you guys might have heard of within your own church or experience with other believers.
[00:01:29] So if you could share your own first hand accounts with that stuff, that would be awesome
[00:01:33] and we could just kind of talk through it.
[00:01:35] I think having grown up in England that people tend to have a sort of stiff upper lip attitude
[00:01:41] and in general, the culture has gotten more aware of mental health problems and disorders.
[00:01:46] But I think it could be that the church is perhaps a little bit stuck.
[00:01:50] I know there's definitely some older people in my congregation who might not have like a
[00:01:55] super great grasp on the biblical approach to mental health problems.
[00:01:59] Yeah, if you're like in general, it's something that's not talked about a lot.
[00:02:04] Like how you've mentioned that kind of earlier.
[00:02:06] It's a difficult thing to talk about and so I think it makes some people uncomfortable
[00:02:09] and so I just doesn't get talked about enough.
[00:02:12] And so that creates an environment where people who do struggle with that feel uncomfortable
[00:02:17] or feel scared to talk about their own things they deal with or on issues when they struggle with it.
[00:02:22] And so yeah, I think it is kind of general as something that could be talked about more
[00:02:25] just to maybe make more or more common and easier to talk about.
[00:02:28] Another problem that I can think of is that if you've grown up in a Christian bubble where no one talks about mental health problems
[00:02:34] and you have a mental health problem, you don't even have a context to you process that.
[00:02:39] I have thought it various times in the past just like looking at myself.
[00:02:43] I can't wonder sometimes if I have a mental health problem, you know?
[00:02:47] I think maybe everyone does it some point in their life but I definitely don't have a
[00:02:51] super great context for doing any self-measuring which of course is maybe not the best thing to do anyway.
[00:02:56] I know for me growing up in the church in Southern California we didn't really talk about mental health a lot.
[00:03:03] The only one that really ever came up was depression but I know that especially with depression
[00:03:09] the idea was basically well you just need to let God get a hold of your heart and change it
[00:03:15] or just read the Bible or pray more.
[00:03:17] I know that psychology was something that was generally for a long time looked down upon.
[00:03:23] My dad is a pastor and I worked at his church and we had a staff meeting one time and he brought this up
[00:03:27] and he was like hey we need to talk about mental health because when I was you know in youth ministry in the 80s
[00:03:33] and 90s, no one talked about this and it was almost like you don't want to mix psychology because it's secular
[00:03:39] so let's just read the Bible and pray.
[00:03:41] So I know that a lot of church is kind of have similar mentalities.
[00:03:45] Right I think that's a really great perspective on that.
[00:03:47] That's something that I've run into a lot as I opened up about my own mental health issues
[00:03:53] to other people in the church and the main thing that I had received back was oh if you're an
[00:04:00] extra-sort of press it's because you don't have enough faith and there's nothing that you can do
[00:04:04] it's just for attention or it's not a real disorder but I spoke with pastor Brian Broderson
[00:04:10] and he had told me having someone tell another person to not take care of their mental health
[00:04:17] or to not go see it professional and get the medication that they need is like telling someone
[00:04:23] who died, he did not take their insulin. I think that's really important to understand
[00:04:26] that it's okay to talk about neurological imbalances within the church is something that we can
[00:04:32] all do to work together and to love on other people and to just understand where we're all coming from
[00:04:40] because the beautiful thing is the Lord did build us in all sorts of different ways. The whole
[00:04:44] with God all things are possible and he can free you if you want to. That is so, so true but
[00:04:50] from my experience there's something that's really difficult to hear because I've seen God
[00:04:55] create other people of their anxieties and those burdens but with myself he hasn't done that.
[00:05:02] That was a huge struggle in my walk because I was so angry for so long wondering why he wouldn't do
[00:05:08] that for me and that's why it's so harmful to tell someone that oh you just you don't have enough faith
[00:05:13] that's why you're not being free from this. That is something that took me a long, long time
[00:05:18] process and here's what I've found to be really, really true. Although I personally do carry my own
[00:05:24] burdens of fear and God hasn't chosen to free me of those things it has become so much more
[00:05:30] bearable with him by my side. It's a misconception to say I don't have enough faith. I struggle
[00:05:35] with anxiety into question because I know that's how I'm wired and it's genetic but also I choose
[00:05:40] to accept his peace every single time and he does grant like if you and he meets you in the middle
[00:05:46] of storm and that's a promise. I think that's another view that would be great to introduce
[00:05:51] two church when we talk about taboo and topics like mental health because like all you're saying
[00:05:56] it can feel really lonely when you don't know what to look towards or you don't have the guidance
[00:06:01] that you need and the Bible does it talks about it. It's really strange to me that it has become
[00:06:07] such a like brush under the rug topic because it's so many people like you will get statistics
[00:06:13] and it's way more people than you would think struggle with the stuff. I think that the church
[00:06:17] can become such a safe place in a sanctuary for those that do struggle with it.
[00:06:30] Now can I interject with a question? Yeah of course. We're our audience and for us can you
[00:06:35] define what are some of the most common mental health problems and then another question I would ask
[00:06:42] is do you think mental health is something that everyone struggles with or is it just certain
[00:06:47] people that have struggles with mental health? Is it kind of a universal thing and a lot of
[00:06:51] people just don't know that they struggle with mental health like maybe they wouldn't define it that way
[00:06:55] or is mental health sort of like a specific illness you know like not everyone struggles with cancer
[00:07:02] but some people do. Those are really really great questions for most common mental health issues
[00:07:08] I would say anxiety and depression which are the ones that I struggle with and in most familiar
[00:07:14] with so that's why I'm going to be talking about those most. I know a lot of people that have
[00:07:18] bipolar disorder and really really struggle with that. I know some people that have been diagnosed
[00:07:24] with dissociative identity disorder from things that have happened to them as kids or trauma
[00:07:29] that they're trying to work through so it's a whole bunch of different things that do need to be
[00:07:34] brought to light and needs to be shoured with love as we're saying do you think that everyone struggles
[00:07:41] with mental health in some way? I personally don't think so and the reason why I'm kind of being very careful
[00:07:48] with my words is because I don't want to speak for everyone else's way of processing if that makes
[00:07:55] sense because if I have an anxiety disorder and let's say my sister has an anxiety disorder,
[00:08:01] I'm not going to tell her oh I totally get it. I know what you're going through because I don't
[00:08:05] everyone processes things completely differently but there's a difference between being anxious and
[00:08:11] having anxiety for myself. I had my first panic attack when I was in third grade and I didn't know
[00:08:18] what it was because it was never talked about and I had just looked with it for so long thinking
[00:08:23] that it was normal until I realized no like some things wrong I most people don't feel like they're
[00:08:30] like a small inconvenience happens but there's so many different views on that and like I
[00:08:36] have so many different things that would contradict myself on the topic so I'm like trying to
[00:08:41] process my words well. I would maybe interject real quick that I think to some extent everyone
[00:08:47] might struggle with their thought life like everyone has things that are in their head that they
[00:08:53] don't want to be there. That's just because the world is falling right but that doesn't mean that
[00:08:57] you necessarily have a mental health issue because some people even if it is a struggle are
[00:09:02] more able to combat those things than other people. It's when you are in an alluding fight that you
[00:09:09] have a mental health issue. Is that maybe something you would agree with? Oh I would definitely
[00:09:13] agree with that. It's okay to struggle with your thought life but we all know that as Christians
[00:09:18] we can't give into our thought life a lot of the time and what's really different and difficult
[00:09:24] with anxiety and depression and bipolar disorders like children the blank is that you don't have
[00:09:29] a rational mindset to be able to get through those things. Like your brain gets so overloaded with fear
[00:09:36] and with your own self fighting with your own beliefs whether you're not good enough, whether you
[00:09:43] think that you can't process it or whether you think that you are the captain of your own problems
[00:09:50] like all of that's not true and it's not been completely backed up which I feel like is where
[00:09:55] things get twisted within the church to say like oh you're allowing fear to roll your life or
[00:10:00] to captain your heart but the issue is that when I'm going through it my brain isn't in the right place.
[00:10:08] It's not in a right frame of mind and that's why the first thing I do is I tell people to take
[00:10:13] their own thoughts captive and these are my favorite verses in the Bible it's Philippians 4 6
[00:10:19] through 8 be interest for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with things
[00:10:24] giving let you request being made known to God in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding
[00:10:30] will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus finally brethren whatever things are true
[00:10:35] whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are
[00:10:40] lovely whatever things are of good report there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy
[00:10:45] meditate on these things and I have never found anything true or I've said this before and I'll say
[00:10:50] again it is okay to have weaknesses and our creator knows us and he fashion us in his own likeness
[00:10:58] and he knows that we live in a fallen world and that what we struggle with is a result of that but
[00:11:04] if you are able to take your thoughts captive and meditate on the good that he has given you
[00:11:09] it takes you out of the pit of yourself and of your own understanding and it brings it into a
[00:11:15] light that only God can provide that is something that has brought me so much peace because that
[00:11:20] is a gift that I always forget about you can rest at the feet of Jesus with myself and with my own
[00:11:26] anxieties and fears my issue is that I personally feel like I'm not doing enough or I don't know
[00:11:32] where things are going and that's my fault but it's okay to rest I think that's the difference
[00:11:37] of people that actually have disorders versus just being anxious receive fear is a totally normal
[00:11:44] emotion the things are elevated to a degree that is not bearable if that makes sense and that's why
[00:11:51] I would recommend talking to a doctor if you felt any of those kinds of symptoms I guess
[00:11:56] of just shaking and not being able to breathe and having like actual panic episodes because
[00:12:02] being on medication is something that has helped me so much and has helped me be rational in my
[00:12:08] own thought life like you're saying Holly bringing it back to that and it's brought my relationship
[00:12:13] to Lord even closer because I can rest in the stillness and the quietness of his own voice
[00:12:18] enough his own guidance. Yeah on that topic of medication it's interesting because for me I went through
[00:12:30] a season of life when I was in elementary school and middle school where I found myself like very sad
[00:12:36] a lot just about different circumstances and things in my life and you know just kind of that
[00:12:42] typical stuff you go through as a young person I don't know what you guys were like in middle school
[00:12:47] but for me I've thought of myself as going through seasons of feeling depressed but then when I
[00:12:52] compare it to people with actual clinical depression I know it's not the same thing I know that
[00:12:56] there can be times where we feel depressed but there's a difference between actually being clinically
[00:13:02] depressed where you need some extra help and when it comes to medication there's some people
[00:13:07] in my life that are very dear to me and I'm very close with they do suffer from very extreme anxiety
[00:13:12] they have been diagnosed by a doctor is having anxiety issues where they need medication
[00:13:18] and you know panic attacks and the kind of thing where it hits you and it's like you can't convince
[00:13:23] yourself that something horrible isn't about to happen to you. I've seen some people in the church
[00:13:28] be against the usage of medication where it's like no you just need to pray you just need to read
[00:13:33] your Bible and then the problem will go away but the weird thing to me is like we don't really
[00:13:38] take that approach with anything else like right now I'm sick so I took Tylenol and Benadrill
[00:13:43] and I've never had a pastor tell me not to take Tylenol and Benadrill so I don't know it's
[00:13:47] interesting that we can judge people and look down on people for taking mental health medication.
[00:13:52] Yeah I think it's really something that you can't judge if you haven't been through it right.
[00:13:58] I've never had to take medication for my brain and so I don't know what it's like to have it
[00:14:02] and to not have it the difference that it makes and where that leaves me. I have a lady in my
[00:14:08] church who is so virally bipolar and she takes medication she gone medication way back when they
[00:14:14] didn't know a lot about mental health medication and so she's on some wax stuff that is probably
[00:14:20] not super healthy for her but since that era you know doctors have made a lot of new discoveries
[00:14:25] and medication has got a lot better and that's not to say that it's not sometimes hit miss but like
[00:14:31] Naya said she has experienced success with her medication that helps her to live a life that is
[00:14:37] more pleasing to the Lord in that she can rest better that she is able to take her Fox captive
[00:14:44] and that is a get medicine and science is a gift and that's something that we can't ignore
[00:14:50] that we can't just write off as not being a spiritual thing. Paul told Timothy take a little line
[00:14:55] for your stomach you had some problems take a little wine for it's like if there's a solution
[00:15:00] take advantage of it right I feel like that's how you know whether or not you are anxious
[00:15:07] or you're having anxiety disorder like regular anxiety it just comes up when you're in a stressful
[00:15:12] situation it's like there's so much happening in my life like this is crazy I'm having breakdowns
[00:15:17] I can't do this but it only lasts as long as the situation is when you have an anxiety disorder
[00:15:23] it can come up whenever and your response to it isn't natural it's irrational and that's a word
[00:15:30] that I keep using because it's a word that helps me so much I know that what I'm going through
[00:15:37] in my brain isn't reality and it's really really difficult to take those thoughts captive which is
[00:15:44] another thing that I will keep repeating because again if something in my walk that I realized
[00:15:50] is of the utmost importance letting Jesus have control and to let him give you peace is to be able
[00:15:56] to surrender your irrationality to him but that's why I think medication is really important
[00:16:02] and it shouldn't be like a taboo thing because it helps like in every person's different I'm not
[00:16:07] going to speak for every single person's disorder every single person's struggle but for me to be
[00:16:13] able to put into words my worship and praise when I don't feel like worshiping and praising
[00:16:19] is far more worth it than just sitting here and my own fears that's kind of my own first hand
[00:16:29] experience with mental health issues so I just wanted to open this up to you guys I have a very
[00:16:35] important question where do matters of faith and mental illness intersect? Well I think the first thing
[00:16:43] that comes into my brain is just that the Bible says that we should love a Lord with all of our
[00:16:47] heart soul mind and strength so right there the mind is a really important part of our relationship
[00:16:52] with the Lord you know he made us with a mind he made us in his image in that sense and so what we do
[00:16:59] with our minds and how we treat them how we take care of them is really really important in our
[00:17:04] walk with the word yeah I think that's really true Holly and that's something that comes to my
[00:17:09] mind when I think about mental health I don't personally struggle with mental health like I
[00:17:14] don't have clinical depression but I've gone through seasons where I felt depressed and I think
[00:17:19] even in that there can be misconceptions about even just the mental plane of your existence
[00:17:25] I've gone through like storms and trials where I have felt really depressed and I've reached out
[00:17:30] to believers and I've been told Bible leaders that I must not be trusting in God like I must
[00:17:36] not be very strong in my faith because God should be the source of my joy and I shouldn't be feeling
[00:17:41] like this you know I always remember thinking like I don't like how do you even get there that
[00:17:46] seems so silly because you see in the Bible like David and writing the songs like he had seasons
[00:17:53] of depression and all these figures in the Bible has seasons of depression Jesus had trials
[00:17:57] and this is something that's part of our nature is emotion and mental struggle God has created us
[00:18:04] and fashioned us and he knows us and he knows every part of our being he created us mentally not just
[00:18:10] physically you know where emotional beings and where spiritual beings as well as physical beings
[00:18:15] if you know that it's important to take care of yourself spiritually and you know that it's
[00:18:20] important to take care of yourself physically like why would you write off taking care of yourself
[00:18:24] mentally I almost feel that there's kind of this stigma around mental health because I feel like
[00:18:31] our culture perceives it as like a weakness like if you have a physical weakness it's almost like
[00:18:38] oh you know there's nothing you can do about that but we have kind of a different perspective
[00:18:43] of mental health to great point our culture just kind of feels like you should be able to control
[00:18:48] your mental health and it's not like a physical impairment or struggle you know it's seen as
[00:18:55] weakness to be mentally unhealthy or mentally unstable when that's a part of us as well you know
[00:19:02] that's that's a part of our being like you said Holly we're called to love God with all our
[00:19:07] heart soul mind and strength physically spiritually mentally and emotionally and that's a huge
[00:19:11] part of ourselves that's something that we should take care of and it's something that we should be
[00:19:16] I think that's a really great thing to bring up Corey and I love what you said what makes us human
[00:19:22] it's our physical body or spirit in our emotions are feelings right and that's all mental
[00:19:28] that's all comes from our soul too though that's where I believe that faith and mental health
[00:19:34] intersect we see that we need to have discernment in our emotions rather than ignoring our emotions
[00:19:40] God is an emotional God and yet he's still our security feelings aren't sent aren't a weakness
[00:19:48] but it's all about bringing it back to God and how he would want us to behave right and it's
[00:19:55] about trusting in him and the leaning on him when things do get hard that's difficult to do I
[00:20:01] I will be the first one to say that's not easy and that I fail during that countless countless times
[00:20:07] but that's the beauty of having a gracious God and a relational God but he cares about how we feel
[00:20:14] he cares about where we're at yeah like you said earlier you know you reminded me in the Psalms
[00:20:20] we're told that we are beautifully and wonderfully made and even though we're broken you know and
[00:20:26] everyone is broken in some way because we live in a broken world and the world is not the way
[00:20:33] it was supposed to be because it was supposed to be perfection we're created by a perfect God
[00:20:38] and he understands our brokenness because he created us that's something that we can find beauty
[00:20:45] into because we have the hope that one day we're not going to be broken one day we're going
[00:20:50] to experience perfection and we're going to experience relationship like how we were supposed to
[00:20:55] like you said like we're relational beings who have relationship with a relational God humans
[00:21:00] were created for relationship first with God and then with others we can only have broken relationships
[00:21:06] here and we can only have a broken perspective of emotion and a broken perspective of mental
[00:21:12] health and a broken perspective of our world because we're all broken but one day it's going to be
[00:21:20] fixed and we're going to see what it should look like. Corey something you said just made me remember
[00:21:26] this book that I had been reading recently called a Navi Abosol by Kurt Thompson. He is a psychologist
[00:21:33] writing from a Christian perspective. The point that I was reminded of it's just that mental
[00:21:38] health or rather the life in our mind is not meant to be lived in isolation. Our brains connect
[00:21:44] with other people's brains and we need healthy relationships to have a healthy brain ourselves. So another
[00:21:51] way that mental health connects to the gospel and connects to our life with God is that connecting
[00:21:58] with him is going to change our minds and connecting with the people in his body is also going
[00:22:03] to change our minds. Right and really quickly on the flip side Jesus brings you peace like
[00:22:09] Jesus died for you and like he loves you which is also so true I went to Bible study last night
[00:22:15] with Pastor John Hwang and he said something that really really hit me. Jesus wasn't just sitting
[00:22:22] around like fucking flowers and just a total hippie like that wasn't Jesus with Lazarus when he
[00:22:29] called him from his tomb. He was yelling and he was angry at death and he was like you know what
[00:22:36] I have the last word. I get to call you out from where you are. He was upset that we see the effects
[00:22:43] of a fallen world because he knows what it's like in paradise and he knows what his father wants
[00:22:48] and he knew what he had to do. I think that's something that I forget in the enemy often uses
[00:22:55] the lies to get into my own head like you're not strong enough, you're too anxious what you're
[00:23:01] going through makes you weak and all of those phrases and so much more can torment me to my
[00:23:07] day to day life and the things that my flesh prioritizes and those lies that I tell myself are
[00:23:12] absolutely unbiblical and do not align with the heart of Christ. Through my anxiety tax, my insecurities
[00:23:19] and all of those things I know that I can take it captive in a little life that is strong in
[00:23:24] Christ and not dependent on my weakness of my flesh because I know my flesh is not my spirit
[00:23:31] and it's not my soul and I know that the things that I struggle with in my brain are not of
[00:23:37] paradise and are not of a perfect world just like you were saying God desires for us to live lives
[00:23:43] with him in eternity and so he did everything everything in the Bible has led up to our salvation
[00:23:50] and it is a love letter to each and every single one of us and we can decide what we want to do
[00:23:56] speaking of that love letter I'm just reminded in this discussion of Psalm chapter 3
[00:24:01] written by David who many would actually classify as somebody who struggled with his mental health
[00:24:07] if you read the Psalms there's so many mental battles and struggles that David is going through
[00:24:14] and this one Psalm 3 says Lord how many are my foes, how many rise up against me, many are saying
[00:24:20] of me God won't deliver him but you Lord are shield around me my glory the one who lists my head
[00:24:27] high I will call out to the Lord and he will answer me from his holy mountain I was listening
[00:24:32] to a really great sermon by Tim Mackie who runs the Bible project he was talking about prayer
[00:24:38] and how it fits into anxiety and fear and he points out that verse you Lord are shield around me
[00:24:45] it's just so simple but it was so good he brought up this idea of like okay what is a shield
[00:24:49] what does the shield do does a shield stop bad things from happening to you no like if you have
[00:24:55] a shield there's still going to be enemies swinging their swords at you there's still going to be
[00:25:00] enemies shooting fiery darts at you but what does a shield do it protects your vitals it protects
[00:25:06] your heart you know from being pierced I thought that was so good like God doesn't guarantee
[00:25:12] that we're not going to go through suffering or anxiety or depression or fear or any bad
[00:25:17] circumstance but he guarantees that he will protect the vitals of our soul and our spirit in our
[00:25:23] mind and our eternal security all that stuff I just think that's that's powerful
[00:25:34] from the perspective of people who don't necessarily struggle with mental health but maybe
[00:25:40] just being able to understand and be there for the people who do both my both my siblings
[00:25:45] do struggle with mental health in different ways and so one of the big things that I've
[00:25:51] come to realize and just helping them and understanding where they're coming from what they're
[00:25:55] dealing with is it can be hard that's not understanding it it can be hard to just realize
[00:26:01] what's going on I think I really loved what you said earlier quarry about how when you see
[00:26:05] somebody with a physical illness or a physical issue obviously like we talk about the doctor
[00:26:10] and get medicine or get help with that but I think we don't see mental health as legitimate
[00:26:16] a thing as a physical element or something like that and it takes a lot more effort for us sometimes
[00:26:22] to see the pitfalls in the way that people struggle with it because obviously there are external
[00:26:28] signs of it like when you struggle with an anxiety attack or something like that but for those
[00:26:32] for it's something that's in their head and I think in a lot of people that do start with it or
[00:26:37] good at hiding it because it's not something that you know you go around talking about a lot
[00:26:41] or one people know about a lot just coming from someone who doesn't struggle with it and for others
[00:26:46] who don't I think it takes a lot of effort and a lot of just love to you know constantly just be
[00:26:53] understanding and trying to just have a mind to be aware of how hard it is for people who struggle
[00:27:01] with that and that it's like a constant thing sometimes for those people who don't struggle with it
[00:27:06] I would just encourage to you know just be prayerful about it that we would just do a better job
[00:27:11] at staying aware of it and being mindful of it because it's something that can be really easy
[00:27:18] to overlook and just not think about because it's not something that's right there in front of
[00:27:22] our eyes all the time. It's good yeah I totally agree with that Kai I think that for those of us
[00:27:27] who don't struggle with it specifically we need to have so much empathy for people that do
[00:27:33] the worst thing we could do in the world is be closed minded towards somebody else's struggle
[00:27:38] and not acknowledging somebody else's struggle or making someone feel small or little because
[00:27:43] everybody is struggling with something and as Christians as people in ministry like we really need
[00:27:49] to be aware of all the different kinds of struggles that are out there somebody who struggles with
[00:27:54] something different than you is going to need different help than the help that you get for your
[00:27:59] struggles. You can't always apply the same strategies that you do for the things you struggle with
[00:28:04] to everybody else's struggles especially if it's a struggle you don't understand so yeah totally
[00:28:09] agreement and I think that's a helpful statement here's our own up there.
[00:28:20] Can I ask you a quick question before we all leave to me coming from someone who doesn't struggle
[00:28:26] with mental health just kind of my outside perspective. I've seen a lot on social media that
[00:28:32] the idea of mental illness is kind of romanticized like almost like it's cool to be depressed and
[00:28:38] like the idea of going to a therapist and taking medication is almost like glorified and like
[00:28:45] I don't know if that's like a cry for attention or they want to be a victim or if just everyone
[00:28:51] is going through mental illness but I just kind of wanted your thoughts and opinions on that for me
[00:28:58] who hasn't outside perspective and then kind of along those lines like what can I do as someone
[00:29:04] who doesn't struggle with mental health to help people who do struggle like what can I be aware of
[00:29:09] and how can I help people who do have mental struggles. I think those are great questions as for
[00:29:15] glamorizing and romanticizing mental illness that is one of my biggest pet paves ever. I hate
[00:29:22] when that happens I hate when I see that on social media just because it sucks it's something
[00:29:27] that is awful and not fun to deal with for me I'm a very private person with how I deal with my anxiety
[00:29:35] it wasn't up until this year that I really opened up about it because I found that of something
[00:29:40] that the word was going to use. I tried and tried to like pray it away and just like wait to see
[00:29:45] what the word would do because it's painful and it hurts and like I said it is not fun but I
[00:29:50] realized at this point in my life right now God does not want to take it away from me so I
[00:29:55] realize that I'm going to use it and I'm going to help people through it and that has been really
[00:30:00] fruitful so just being able to do things like this and talk about it in a positive way without romanticizing
[00:30:07] how it feels like it's really interesting glamorizing depression and finding beauty and sadness
[00:30:13] are two very different things and I think that that's a line that's crossed a lot. I don't ever want
[00:30:19] people to think like especially when it comes to eating disorders that specifically really breaks my heart
[00:30:26] when people are glamorizing that and leading young girls or young boys or just anyone into a
[00:30:33] patch that they think is beautiful because it is a false beauty and it is harmful and it is not okay.
[00:30:39] Going back to where our faith needs mental health I think that there needs to be balance there
[00:30:45] and when there's not a balance in those things that you're talking about over social media I think
[00:30:50] it's more harmful so when we do speak out about it we need to speak of it in how it is
[00:30:56] it's awful and it's painful it's a struggle so I think it's really good to know the difference
[00:31:03] between being irrational and taking that irrationality and making it an excuse. As for the best ways
[00:31:21] to help though to see someone that's hurting the first thing to do someone's having a panic attack
[00:31:27] if they tell you to like go away and they need space go away but like check up on them every once in a
[00:31:32] while like just take a peek wherever they are make sure that they're okay and help the
[00:31:36] him stable but the best thing that you can do is they're asking for help to get them to slow
[00:31:42] their breathing down relax your shoulders breathe count to 10 like make it through 10 seconds
[00:31:49] and then start another 10 seconds once you're there pray for them love on them and again
[00:31:54] the only thing you can do from that point on is make sure that they are stable. That's really helpful
[00:32:00] for a panic attack. I thought that was a really interesting question that you throughout
[00:32:14] Corey because I've seen that pattern as well and I don't know where it comes from exactly but
[00:32:19] I feel like a lot of the times we see on social media a big push for any group that has been
[00:32:26] marginalized so like the black community people struggle with mental health body positivity it's
[00:32:32] groups that feel like they've been on the margins and they feel like people have looked down on them
[00:32:37] just like we've talked about with mental health where it's like people look down on you for having
[00:32:41] mental health problems people look down on you for taking medication so then there's this push where
[00:32:46] it's like well we want to get out on social media and talk about what's positive about us and what's
[00:32:51] beautiful about us and what is good about us and I think that's healthy but then it can be taken
[00:32:57] into the extreme where then you're glorifying things that you shouldn't be glorifying and that's
[00:33:03] a hard line to walk it's very easy to slip into for any group it's easy to slip from finding
[00:33:09] community and encouragement and support for one another to then like let's glorify things about
[00:33:14] ourselves that maybe we shouldn't be glorifying and then yeah people jump on the bandwagon. I
[00:33:19] grew that I think it's important to not trivialize mental health but to support those that are going through
[00:33:25] and generalizing mental health isn't okay either that's like super dangerous to do because then
[00:33:31] you're invalidating someone's feelings or putting something else in their brain that is not
[00:33:36] what they're going through and it's not rational like I said it all comes back down to a balance
[00:33:40] and I'm really really happy that we're able to talk about these things. Well Naya do you want to close
[00:33:46] us out with anything any wrap-up statements about mental health or encouragement for the listeners?
[00:33:52] Yeah definitely I just want to say thank you guys for talking about this and putting this out there
[00:33:59] it's something that I would have loved to listen to a few years ago before I knew what was happening
[00:34:05] to me and how that fit in with my walk. One thing I do want to close with to everyone that struggles
[00:34:12] with mental health or not it's that steps of faith aren't a destination it's a journey we don't know
[00:34:20] what tomorrow holds but we do know who holds tomorrow. I think that those are some words
[00:34:25] that the Lord has definitely inscribed on my own heart and I'd rather take a step of faith and fail
[00:34:31] than just sit in a weight in my own anxiousness or anxiety or fleshly mindset. I actually want to
[00:34:43] do something kind of different quarry would you mind praying us out? Yeah I'd love to. Lord thank
[00:34:50] you so much for this time that we can come together and have discussions like this in a positive
[00:34:56] way in a safe place. I thank you for Naya for leading this conversation and all the ways
[00:35:01] that she's given us. Lord I just want to pray that we as believers can be a light in this
[00:35:07] situation on this topic because people need you for all broken and we're in need of perfect God.
[00:35:14] We think you're so much that you can reach down and you can touch us in our brokenness
[00:35:20] Lord. I pray for everyone who does struggle with mental health, everyone listening to this. I pray
[00:35:24] that you would just touch them and let them know that there are people who stand for them and there's
[00:35:28] a God who has their back and who knows every bit of their being. I just thank you again for this time.
[00:35:33] I pray that you would bless this podcast and bless this topic. Bless everyone who shares it. We
[00:35:39] love you, Lord. Thank you. Amen. Thanks for listening to the Good Voice Collective. This show was
[00:35:49] put together by the Good Line Interns and our editor and executive producer is Erin Solvato.
[00:35:54] We are a proud part of the Good Line podcast network in CGN. You can find all our episodes
[00:36:00] and more great podcast content at their website www.goodline.io. We hope you enjoyed this episode
[00:36:09] and we hope it makes you think, leave you encouraged and helps you walk closer to Jesus.
[00:36:13] Thanks for joining us. It's our hope here at The Good Voice Collective that we can be
[00:36:18] a collective of Christ followers who use our voices for God's Kingdom. We hope we've inspired you
[00:36:24] to use your voice for good.
