Suicide Is Our Modern Day Leprosy

When I was preparing a talk about suicide prevention for a local church, there were moments when I become emotional just thinking about the subject matter. I felt confident when I started the presentation for a fantastic group of lay counselors, but did not plan for the water works to begin five minutes into the talk.   It wasn’t just the heavy topic matter, it was looking at a room of people and realizing they took time from their busy schedules to learn more about what they can do to prevent suicide. I was overwhelmed by their compassion. Suicide prevention needs to be discussed everywhere and it’s a must-have discussion for our churches. Church is a place for broken people, not perfect people, and should be the safest place for people struggling with thoughts of suicide. Unfortunately, some of the messages that have come from churches make the assumption that mental illness — depression especially — can be fixed if people would “pray more,” or “have more faith.” When this is the message congregants hear, of course they’re not going to seek mental health treatment. And they are certainly not going to consider medication regardless of how depressed they may feel. During my talk, I referenced scriptures these lay counselors may want to use when they encourage people since this was a Christian ministry. However, I said that offering comfort to the hurting person needs to come first from the helper before the hurting person hears scripture. Although t...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Depression Personal Stories Spirituality Suicide Bipolar Disorder Christianity Faith Mental Disorder Parasuicide Religion Suicidal Ideation Suicide Prevention Source Type: news