The African American community to this day still labels a person of color admitting to being depressed or seeing a therapist - as being "weak or crazy." This stigmatization creates a wall of silence and shame when a person of color is in therapy and/or is taking medication. The black church is also guilty of adding to this shame, when they do not encourage their members to seek therapy for a mental illness, as they would encourage someone to see a doctor when that person has a chronic disease. Yes, prayer does wonders, but it also does wonders when it is combined with therapy and/or medication.Jasmin Pierre has also addressed this issue in this article from Afro Punk,
"The Price of Prayer: The Absence of Mental Health in the Black Church"
For example: "Sister Tasha is going in for chemo therapy. Let's pray for the doctors to do their job and that she fully recovers in Jesus name"
Or
"Brother Malcolm just broke his leg and is in the hospital.
Let's pray he does well in physical therapy and is healed in Jesus name"
I don't see anything wrong with either of those statements.
They both involved getting help and prayer. I believe in God. I believe
faith without works is dead. However what I don't like to see is how
the church treats those who are dealing with mental illness.
Most of the
time you don't hear the preacher or assistant pastor tell someone
dealing with mental illness to go get help. No you hear a statement like " If you're depressed that's a Demon! You need to only fast
and pray to get that spirit out of you! You haven't been praying hard
enough!"
It's just a demon you say? No talk of going to get help?
How do you know this person hasn't already been praying? By not saying
it's ok to go get help in addition to prayer is like implying that their
illness isn't real. As for me growing up I noticed something. In the
black community a lot of us were raised to think that church was the
only way for mental Illness. We were taught that Depression is nothing
but a demon and mental illness is a big sign of weakness.
This is why so many sit in church on a Sunday stressed
and depressed but say nothing about how they're suffering. They go to
church and hear a good word but still leave out depressed. People don't
want to go through the hurt of the church not viewing their illness as
real. This is how many end up not getting help or ending their life.
I've actually even heard of people being kicked out of their church for
trying to end their life. How is that Godly? How is that loving or
caring?
I actually have a pastor that never treated me that way.
When I tried to end my life I wasn't bashed. When I said I was going to
get help I wasn't told that I was crazy. I was encouraged to both get
help AND I was prayed for. If you are a believer THAT is how you should
treat a person. You should not be condemned or shamed for being sick.
Church leaders need to be more mindful of what they say
when it comes to situations like this. I feel like more mental illness
training needs to be established as well. Making a member feel like they
aren't believing in God hard enough when they are sick is very
DANGEROUS. You wouldn't tell someone with cancer, diabetes, or the flu
not to get help. So DO NOT do that when someone is suffering from mental
illness. It could very well mean their life.
Credit: *Jasmin Pierre is a 27-year-old mental health activist
and author of the new self help book “A Fight Worth Finishing”. She is
from New Orleans, Louisiana. Jasmin is constantly fighting for the
rights of those suffering from major depressive disorder. She inspires
to become a life coach and continue writing to encourage others to never
give up.
Facebook: A Fight Worth Finishing Twitter: @afightworthfin Instagram: @afightworthfinishing
