The Roots of Mental Illness

Mental illness is a major growing issue in society today. Millions of Americans suffer from some type of mental illness every year – about 1 in 5 adults. This includes Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Mental illness is incredibly painful, difficult to describe, and sometimes deadly. As humans, we were created by God. Under the presupposition that we have an all good and all powerful God, and that we were made in the image and likeness of God, how could there be such a thing as mental illness? This question is one that many Christians who suffer from mental illness find themselves asking. In the Christian world, many even have doubts that their mental illness is really a medical problem, and can find themselves blaming their faith, or lack thereof, for the troubles they experience from mental illness. However, lack of faith is not the issue. The issue is about real chemical imbalances in the brain. “Mental health is rooted in the body, in nervous and hormonal dysfunction, and especially in a defective habituation of the internal senses and feelings to which nervous and hormonal dysfunction can dispose the sufferer” (Benedict Ashley). Due to our fallen nature, things are not quite as they are supposed to be. Original sin destroyed our relationships with God, nature, and even ourselves. “Were the world as it should be… particular creatures would lack none of the qualities they ought to have in order to be as beautiful as they could be” (Paul Griffiths). While this remains true, “God does not make absences, non-beings, failures” (Herbert McCabe). Mental illness is not a defect of free will or intelligence, but it is a defect in the material body. Therefore, mental illness is not a mistake on God’s part, but rather a result of the fall, and proof that “living as a human is to live in a state that is vulnerable, insufficient unto himself, and interdependent” (Emily Stetler). Mental illness comes not from God, but from the fall of man. Because of the fall, human nature, though not completely corrupt, is disordered so that our facilities “are at war with each other,” which can cause a lot of anxiety for someone experiencing difficulties with their mental health (Benedict Ashley).

Human fullness is reaching that harmony with God that we lost in the fall, and becoming who God created us to be. With the concept of this fullness completely lost, mental illness can cause extreme sorrow, agony, and even a loss of hope. “What occurs within our bodies inevitably has theological significance” (Emily Stetler). As humans, we are connected, body and soul. There is a necessary relationship between our bodies and our soul. Since the fall, this unity is no longer in complete harmony. “Theological well being…” John Swinton points out, “… has to do with the presence of God in relationship.” This relationship can appear to be cut off in the midst of the torment of mental illness. “Because religion is a person’s worldview and value system, which is basic to all free decisions and therefore sets the relative importance of a person’s life goals, it necessarily is involved when a person’s freedom is inhibited by mental illness” (Benedict Ashley). Thus, when treating mental illness, it is important to treat not only the mind and the body, but also the soul. Faith and religion can be very helpful for a person to come to a “truer self understanding and seek to regain mental and physical health” (Benedict Ashley). However, psychology and theology, while both need attention, should be kept separate. “Grafting theology into the goals of medicine simply on the grounds for potential therapeutic benefit will inevitably lead to confusion, dissonance, distortion, and contradiction” (John Swinton). Swinton also notes that the goals of medicine are not the same as the goals of theology. This is exactly why both need to be treated. If the theology of mental illness is ignored, those suffering from it can experience extreme spiritual dissonance and anguish. 

Each symptom of mental illness originated from man’s fall from God. Adam and Eve had harmony with God, and their appetite, intellect, will, bodies, emotions, and relationships were in harmony. “Christian revelation shows that depression,” and other mental illnesses, “while real and present in our fallen state, (are) not original to human nature” (Aaron Kheriaty). If this is true, then where did mental illness come from? Kheriaty states: “Christian revelation locates its origin in that fateful decision of our first parents to seperate themselves from communion with God,” and that this separation destroyed our union with God, and “our emotions were no longer harmoniously integrated with our intellect, will, and bodily health.” Thus, our fallen nature gave way to various kinds of mental illness. “Mental illness is a feature of the human condition, and Christian faith tells us it was never the Creator’s intention but has been acquired by the human race’s own sins, the innocent suffering from the sins of the guilty and the guilty dragging down the innocent with themselves” (Benedict Ashley).

People who experienced some kind of mental illness view the world differently. We can learn from them, for weakness leads to God. In John chapter nine, Jesus says that a man’s disability is not because he or his parents have sinned, “but it is so that the work of God may be manifested in him” (John 9:3).