Megalungs Health Week - Thursday
Grace Walsh
Mental health and abuse
Mental Health is one of those areas we don't like to discuss. There is a stigma to the word and to the thought that strikes too close to home and provides us with a scare. Grace Walsh, the Health Ministry Director for Seventh-day Adventists in the north of England has studied and taught about mental health for years. She came to us to open eyes about the need for caring for our own mental health and to care for the mental health of others.
The first reminder came as our speaker told us that Jesus did not come to provide renewed health for the physically sick. The healing that Jesus gave also included the healing of the mind. That healing was then not to exclude people at the edge of society but rather to include people in society. Jesus saw people in need. He gained their confidence by coming close to them and then ministered to their needs. People then trusted, not only in Him but also in His Father.
That picture illustrates the real nature of health. The World Health Organisation gives an expansive definition of health that includes mental well being. Good health is " …a state of (complete) physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
A definition that addresses mental health more specifically follows, Mental health is, "…the emotional and spiritual resilience which allows us to enjoy life and survive pain, disappointment and sadness. It is a positive sense of well-being and an underlying belief in our own, and others’, dignity and worth."
The reminder here is for the whole of society. We are to recognise that health includes the inclusion of all people in the society we live in, and that inclusion includes recognising the dignity and value of all people, including those who are unwell.
There are six components to health, and all six need to be present in order to claim personal health.
Healthy people are thus physically and intellectually well. They can learn and function along with the rest of society in a way that society perceives as 'normal'. Good health also includes spiritual wellness, an ability to perceive spiritual things, which as Christians would include the ability to communicate with God as a normal healthy practice. Good health also includes emotional, social and environmental health.
A healthy person thus has the right to a life where he, or she, is able to fit in with a whole society and not be excluded by outside influences.
Addressing the issue of mental health Grace Walsh noted that current spending on the treatment of mental health is around £105 billion each year and is set to double over the next 20 years.
Such figures suggest the massive scale of the problems society has to address in the area of mental health. The British government however recognises not just the enormity of the task but the relevance to the health of our whole society. The government's aim is this, "
In their strategy on mental health we read, "This Government recognises that our mental health is central to our quality of life, central to our economic success and interdependent withour success in improving education, training and employment outcomes and tackling some of the persistent problems that scar our society, from homelessness, violence and abuse, to drug use and crime."
Grace Walsh then pointed out the massive scale of the mental health issues that we face. The current cost of mental illness to the publci is around £105 billion and is set to double over the next 20 years. As such we can recognise that good mental health is a desire that as a church we can begin to address.
In an interview given before the Megalungs health event with Sarah Julian on BBC Radio Nottingham, Church Elder, George Mabeza and Pastor Peter Jeynes, the question was asked, "why does a church get involved with health checks?" The suggestion was perhaps one of surprise that a church should become involved with health issues. For us, health is an example of the holistic nature of the message we want to follow and also impart to others. Good health includes an awareness of mental health issues.
The graphic to the left gives us, as a church, some idea of what we should understand in the area of mental health, and may give us an indication of how we can help address mental health issues in our own community and in the wider community around us.
At the very least we need to understand that the stigma associated with mental health problems may lead to disassociation from society - an area in which we can respond. We can do as Jesus did and include people within our society.
As a church with a proven interest in, and knowledge of health we may make further contributions. The principles behind NEWSTART, good nutrition, proper exercise, the use of water, sunlight, temperance, enough rest and relaxation and trust in God, enable us to recognise the role we can play in helping people overcome mental health issues - at the very least in a preventative way.
We can also help to reduce stress in people's lives. At the very least we can provide hope to people that we know and meet. We can enhance our own mental health by recognising the hope we have as Christians.
We may well also be able to provide more than hope. Education and support may well be major factors that we can provide to help people through stressful situations.
Indeed, stress is a major issue in the development of mental health problems that we can illustrate using the 'stress bucket' graphic to the right.
People who encounter such stressors are more likely to develop mental health problems. In the society in which we live today, with the financial stresses and the environmental stresses we face the stressors are abundant. As stress increases pressure needs to be releived. As Christians we may not be in a position to provide clinical help with mental illnesses - but we can help relieve stress.
The 'stress tank' graphic, to the left, outlines a possible role for the church and the church member who meets people under stress.
We can pray for people. We can help people relax. We can help ensure that people under stress eat healthily. We could become part of a food bank, or even provide some cooked food ourselves to a family or individual under stress. We can develop loving relationships with people who feel isolated.
A key role then for the church is to help releive stress.
From a general discussion about mental health we were moved on to a more specific mental health issue. Depression is the most common mental health issue. As one in four people are likely to have some form of mental illness during their lives it would be sensible to recognise that we are probably going to meet a person who is suffering from depression at some time in our lives.
Depression has been defined as, "… a loss of interest and enjoyment in ordinary things and experiences... low mood and a range of associated emotional, cognitive, physical and behavioural symptoms” National Clinical Practice Guideline No 23 (NICE 2004).
The symptoms of depression may be recognised in the following graphics.
We may well find ourselves alongside someone who is suffering from depression.
What should we do? Have we a role in diagnosis? Perhaps not in diagnosis, but perhaps there is a real call here for mental health first aid.
At the very least we can pray. We might even take the opportunity to suggest that we take up the suggestion offered in the New Testament that we call for the Elders for anointing with oil for healing. Of course we would always recognise the dignity and human rights of the person we care about.
We would also recognise that a person with depression may well need the help of doctors. As our own Doctor Mabeza pointed out, the first resort of a Doctor these days is not neccesarily to provide pills and potions. Anti-depressants are not the first thing a Physician will provide. A course of exercise might well be the prescription.
As Christians we may well want to leave our help at 'trust in God', but Ellen White, an authority trusted by millions of Christians suggests that the advice and influence of physicians and what they can provide is importance in the pursuit of a return to health.
"The Saviour would have us encourage the sick, the hopeless, the afflicted, to take hold upon His strength. Through faith and prayer the sickroom may be transformed into a Bethel. In word and deed, physicians and nurses may say, so plainly that it cannot be misunderstood, "God is in this place" to save, and not to destroy. Christ desires to manifest His presence in the sickroom, filling the hearts of physicians and nurses with the sweetness of His love. If the life of the attendants upon the sick is such that Christ can go with them to the bedside of the patient, there will come to him the conviction that the compassionate Saviour is present, and this conviction will itself do much for the healing of both the soul and the body."
The link here provides a little extra guidance on our church stance on the relationship between health and holistic lifestyle programmes - see page 8.
In closing Grace outlined the idea that Depression and mental health problems may result in domestic abuse. We were informed that a growing body of evidence points to a contributing factor in mental health problems can be a disfunctional family life.
However we should not recognise that a different family life need not neccesarily result in a disassociated and disaffected family life that may lead to possible problems with mental health in later life.
The example of Dr. Ben Carson was noted. While he came from a single parent background his mother was a good mother who evidently cared for his social, physical, emotional and spiritual welfare.
We have resources from the event. The pictures from the PowerPoint used during the evening are in our Gallery while the PowerPoint itself is available Here
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to use the following contact form. You will be contacting Grace Walsh. Click here
