Mental Illness and the Church

[AmandaBroken]

I'm new here. I hope this is in the right place. If it's not in the right place will you move it and let me know where you moved it too.

I'm wondering if anyone else is facing issues like this.

A little History. I was raised in the church. I went every Sunday. I went to every youth group meeting, and every other event my parents took me too.

After my parents died I changed. I wasn't that pristine little girl anymore. I was rebellious. Angry. Very angry. My older sister was raising me and I went wild. Sexy clothing, piercings, tattoos, and cutting.

My church was not supportive. They called everything I was doing sin, and they put a lot of pressure on my sister and me to not go to doctors, to not take drugs, and to just rely on prayer and Jesus. It wasn't working. Maybe it was me. Maybe I was evil. According to them, I was evil, and over time there was talk of banning me. So I just stopped going. I felt I needed the medication, the doctors, and the counselors.

Jesus was not enough, at least not for me.

I then turned in a way that the church will never accept me. I turned my sexuality towards women. That was the final straw. Now it's change my life or go to hell. I don't want to go to hell.

[Zurg]

It can't be easy for you to lose the network that your church provided for you. With that being said i really don't think that people who cannot accept you for who you are while hiding behind their religious beliefs will ever be a good influence in your life.

As a christian myself i really do believe that god loves everyone, regardless of their sexuality and what clothes they wear and so on and so forth. And i also think that the people who say otherwise are having some problems themselves that they are refusing to face. And it says more about them than it does about you.

Don't be ashamed of who you are. And seeing doctors was a wise move in my opinion. Prayers can be good but they cannot stand alone. If prayer alone was enough i doubt that the world would be the way it is.

Do you think you have the strength and courage to pursue a new network instead of your old church??? I promise you that there are nice and accepting people out there who would welcome you into their lives. Sometimes it just takes a while to find them. Also, you are young and you are trying to find out who you are. I think most of us have been there and while it can be a very lonely and confusing time i think you already have a pretty good idea of who you are and what you want and need from your life. And that's a good thing.

Don't give up. There is hope. It's there even when we can't see it. I hope things will start looking up for you. Kepp talking here, we are listening.

[Aubergine]

Do you think you could try different churches? Not every church will judge you in the same way.


I go to church every Sunday and I am certainly not perfect. My church encouraged me to see the doctor when things were difficult. "Work as if everything relies on you, pray as if everything relies on God." That's the way my church works. I believe that's the way things work.


The congregation of the church I go to is very diverse. We have a lot of people who are in recovery from addiction. My vicar has baptised murderers and offenders of every kind. They are accepted. They are not expected to be perfect.


I would really encourage you to find a church that embraces people the way Jesus did. No judgement. Just love and acceptance.

[bitomato]

I was very active in my religious practices when I was younger. However, I realised when I was older that my personal relationship with my belief/ Supreme being was that I could not view myself as someone loved as I am.

Many people have traumatic experiences and unsupportive church networks (I would say I still believe church teaching but I cannot manage church people). I've stopped trying so hard for other people and looking for what I need from my spirituality.

It is possible to find an accepting community, an accepting church, an accepting surrogate family. But the scariest battle you will probably face is accepting yourself- and you need to find people and a place that can support and guide you through this in a way you can relate.

[Irisflower]

I am a Christian too and I regularly see doctors and take my medicine. I have been through the whole "Jesus is all you need" thing and it doesn't work. God can work through doctors and medicine.