In her book Troubled Minds, Amy Simpson reveals the following highlights from her survey about dealing with mental illness in the church: Nearly half (44.5 Percent) of church leaders are approached two to five times per year for help in dealing with mental illness. When church people are on medication or diagnosed with a mental illness, over a third of church people keep the matter very private.
About three out of ten (29.1 percent) said that, on average, mental illness is never mentioned in sermons at their church. More than 40 percent of church leaders have never reached out to and ministered to a family within their congregation with someone who has mental illness.
Although 80 percent of church leaders said they believe mental illness is "a real, treatable and manageable illness caused by genetic, biological or environmental factors," only one out of eight (or 12.5 percent) of them said mental illness is discussed in a healthy way in their church.
'Families Affected by Mental Illness Feel Little Support From Churches'
...“Families with mental illness stand to benefit from their involvement with a congregation, but our findings suggest that faith communities fail to adequately engage these families because they lack awareness of the issues and understanding of the important ways that they can help,” said Diana Garland, Ph.D., dean of Baylor’s School of Social Work and co-author of the Baylor study.'...
