The Secret Of Mental Health

Meaning of Mental Health ............................................... 3
Dangers to Mental Health ............................................... 5
- Fear/Anxiety/Worry .................................................... 5
- Resentment/Bitterness/Hatred .............................. 11
- Shame/Inferiority/Withdrawal .............................. 13
- Guilt/Hopelessness/Self-Destruction .................... 15
Overcoming These Dangers .......................................... 19

MEANING OF MENTAL HEALTH

We are being confronted these days with much advice from psychiatrists and psychologists regarding mental health. The average person is becoming more and more aware of the increase of mental illness and is watching the progress of medical science in the treatment of these conditions with keen interest. Many people are wondering whether or not Christianity has anything to offer by way of treatment or even prevention of mental illness. The answer will be found in the Bible.

The term mental health implies the normal, well-balanced, happy experience of one who is conscious of being at peace with God and in a state of goodwill towards mankind. Mental health is a positive experience. It is not just the absence of mental illness. It is not just sanity as opposed to insanity. It is a positive sense of well-being. It is the very joy of living itself.

Not all psychiatrists would agree with this definition of mental health. Many describe this condition in terms of being able to adapt oneself to any environment. They consider that in order to have mental health one must be able to compromise, to find a middle course. To many psychiatrists, the teaching of such concepts as “right and wrong” and “sin and punishment” is looked upon as poor mental hygiene. They regard Christianity as superstition.

These psychiatrists fail to recognize the three-part nature of man. Just as God is a Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—so also is man a trinity—spirit, soul (or mind), and body—because “God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him” (Gen. 1:27).

Therefore, man is a three-in-one creature, and to speak of health is to refer to a condition of the whole being. Our spiritual health affects our mental and bodily health. In fact, illness in any one of the three aspects of our being can and does affect the other two aspects. True mental health is impossible without spiritual health.