Christian beliefs about mental ill-health

How communities interpret mental ill-health will shape the experience of mental ill-health of people within those communities. It will also affect the response people receive from their communities and even the kinds of treatment or therapies they will take or undergo. This chapter considers a range of beliefs about mental ill-health that may be encountered in Western Christian communities. These beliefs include aetiological accounts, such as that mental ill-health is caused by biochemical imbalances, social and psychological stressors, sin, and demonic possession or oppression. It also considers non-aetiological beliefs about mental ill-health; for example, that mental ill-health can bring one closer to the suffering Christ, or that it can in other ways be transformative of one’s moral and spiritual life. These non-aetiological accounts are silent about the causes of mental ill-health but instead draw on traditional Christian beliefs about God’s solidarity with sufferers and capacity to bring good out of evil. We argue that some accounts are often damaging to people experiencing mental ill-health, while others have the potential to bring meaning and healing to situations of suffering.