Skip to content

3 things Christians must recognize about anxiety and depression

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
As people suffer, support is the best thing the church can offer.

Depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses are often misunderstood, even by Christians. Due to the personal and internal nature of the conditions, treatments and attention needed are not what we usually think of; sometimes it takes more than countless of hours of church to help patients. Mental illnesses are also like any other disease but like the others, it requires specific care and recognition -- recognition in order to trace the root of the cause.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Misconceptions about anxiety and depression make things worse, and people afraid to get noted for all the wrong reasons, even in their church, will do things to hide their conditions.

Anxiety and depression are both real, that's one thing we all have to keep in mind. Here are other things, thanks to Crosswalk.com, that we should recognize about the two mental illness.

1. It is not a sin.

Anxiety and depression, as well as other mental illnesses, are usually thought of as sins, especially when at times the church is diagnoses them wrong, due to very short and infrequent discussions. What would be wrong is these patients need our support and we couldn't fulfill it if we treat the condition as a sin.


2. Anxiety and depression could look like something else.

According to WebMD, depression is more than feeling sad -- it's more complicated than sadness; sufferers lose interest in life. You can see these people smile, but that doesn't mean he/she was just sad for a moment. Anxiety, in this case, is the disorder where sufferers experience too much distress that it begins to intervene with their daily life, lasting for a longer period of time. Fear and worry is constant, which we may believe is something only momentary. Take time observing and talking with the people around you who you suspect may be suffering, and please don't insist that they are just going through a phase that lasts a moment.

3. The church cannot "fix" the mental illness.

What the church can do is give support, warmth and prayers, as well as guidance through their medications, to people suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. They need us to understand the situation that drags their life down. Depression will pull down whatever positive feeling one might have, the sufferer may end up with more mental breakdowns if people around him/her are not aware or supportive. Help, not fix, for it could do more damage if we put them into a category of even less hope.

We must pray for each other and for ourselves to see our brothers and sisters' conditions in an enlightened way. They need us and our strength from God to help them out of the darkness of their lives.

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Prayer of the Day logo
Saint of the Day logo

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.