Brittney Moses 00:17
Hi there, my name is Brittney Moses, and thank you so much for choosing to be a part of this conversation and for taking the time to tune into this session with me today, if we haven't met I'm a Los Angeles native currently residing in California, and a graduate of Psychology at UCLA while research assisting at UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and human behavior law. I know it's a mouthful. But I've had the honor of just walking alongside people's stories both in the church and in the community for years, particularly those living with a mental diagnosis as a Nami, certified support group facilitator, and crisis counselor on the national Crisis Text Line. All of that being said, a lot of what I'm passionate about is at the intersection of faith, mental health and wellness, and having a holistic and integrated approach when it comes to all of the dynamics that make us human, and make up our experiences as we show up for the lives that God has called us to live. Amen. So I love that we are having conversations and events like this today around the church and mental health. In fact, a lot of the reason why I went into the study of psychology and mental health was because of my own experience in the church and in ministry. When I was in my early 20s, I had actually founded an international youth and young adult faith based nonprofit called unashamed impact. And during this time, I had also been a part of a couple new church plants in Dallas, Texas, were both in the church and in my own ministry, I encountered people who love Jesus, who attended church, who knew scripture, and still found themselves distressed with deeply rooted anxiety, depression, trauma, and PTSD, and so on, that sometimes blocked them from seeing themselves clearly. And from seeing God clearly. Sometimes it created interpersonal conflicts and inhibiting their ability to have healthy and thriving connections with those around them. And I essentially found myself in a position of constantly managing mental crises. And they weren't the only ones. I had also had my own experience and encounter with severe anxiety and paralyzing depression at different points in my own life that I ended up eventually seeking therapy and support with. So I experienced the practical side of having both evidence based treatments that provide real solutions, and the value of having a church community who does life with you and speaks truth into you and reminds you of who you were created to be along the way. So it's been so clear to me that both are very important. And all of this has led me to study and research more about mental health personally and academically. And now, you know, looking back this conversation on the church and mental health makes so much sense because research for over 20 years has shown that when an individual is in psychological distress, they are more likely to turn to their church or their clergy, their ministry leaders before they ever step foot to a mental health professional. And on top of that, research has also found that people delay an average of nine to 23 years before seeking help with severe anxiety and delay six to eight years on average for general mood disorders as a whole, such as major depression and bipolar. So people are suffering in silence, yes. Also in the church, statistically, we see that one in five Americans experienced a severe mental health condition in a given year. And that number is likely underreported, but it certainly exists in our congregations. And the longer that people go without the help, the longer these thought patterns and symptoms not only can increase but can become a way of life. And the church really is a major gateway, or I see as a first line of response to people's journey to healing and recovery, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. So we have to get involved. And I'm sure you're no stranger to this, but this is also what makes it so vital that we have a baseline understanding of the dynamics of mental health and have a comprehensive perspective so that we can see ourselves and others who we love, you know, through to complete healing when they need it most. And so that people aren't suffering silently sitting in our churches and so that our church leaders aren't so frustrated or discouraged when they feel like They're hitting a wall and don't know what to do when someone's mental health condition persists and doesn't seem to be getting better, because there are real solutions that we have to open ourselves up to. So today, we're talking about developing a holistic understanding of mental health, mind, body and soul. And I thought, you know, today I wanted to share the things that I wish I understood more when I was initially serving in ministry. So my plan within this limited time that we have is to touch on one some of the main factors that play a role in mental health, which too will hopefully clarify some common misconceptions and stigmas in the church. Three, how we can partner with resources and real solutions to help you know our communities in severe mental distress, and for how we can pray for mental health in the church. So if that sounds good to you, let's dive in. So we use the term mental health a lot, but what does it actually mean? Commonly, mental health refers to our cognitive and emotional and behavioral well being, it's all about how we think, feel and behave. The World Health Organization provides a more detailed definition of mental health as a state of well being, in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. So it's really this idea of your level of functionality mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally. And we all have mental health, just like we all have physical health. And our experience with mental health is really going to be on a spectrum. For example, we've all experienced some level of sadness in our lives, it's a universal human emotion. Many of us know what it feels like not to have any energy or motivation to do things, or maybe just feeling hopeless, or really weighed down by life. Now, on the further end of that spectrum would be something like major depression. But unlike sadness, which we can typically recover from on our own time, depression is more severe, lasts much longer, and really impairs a person's ability to function in life, they might or might not be able to work or get out of bed, or find any interest in life. And there's often something happening in the brain on a neurochemical level, which makes this more complex than just willpower alone, or just thinking better thoughts. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in a bit. So for years, we've had the tendency to strictly spiritualize the mind, right as if it's just this metaphysical place. But the brain is an organ and brain functioning does contribute to our cognition, our mood, our personality, our behaviors, and our thinking. And while there is something to be said about truly taking our thoughts captive and the benefits of staying rooted in our faith, there are also a number of factors that can make up a person's mental health challenges that aren't so black and white. So some examples of common factors that could be contributing to mental health challenges are things like biological dysfunctions, for example. You know, the thyroid, right, the thyroid plays a role in metabolism. And it's been found that when someone has an underactive thyroid or their energy is really low, you know, they feel sluggish lacking motivation having the similar symptoms of depression. It's because of an underactive thyroid or what we call hypo thyroidism. That's one example. Another thing that's commonly found is a deficit of the neurochemical serotonin in the brain when someone's struggling with major depressive disorder. So serotonin is kind of known as the happy chemical in the brain as the mood stabilizing neurochemical in the brain. And when a person who is lacking that oftentimes the medication that's prescribed are called SSRIs, which are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, basically making the neurochemical serotonin more available in the brain to help restore their mood and energy to a normal and more functional state. Right. So those are just a couple examples of many examples of some biological underpinnings that could be taking place that makes you know, that creates some mental health challenges for someone that is a physiological root of physiological cause that may need an assessment to see if there can be some help there. Another common factor that can play a role in mental health challenges is genes, genetics heredity Bill Edie, if a parent or both parents have struggled with major depression or bipolar disorder, you know, then the child has an increased vulnerability risk, it doesn't mean that they will inherit these things, but it does increase the chances. And this is why a lot of times doctors and clinicians will ask for family history because there could be a genetic link there. Anxiety is known to commonly run through the women in the family. And when it comes to alcohol and substance abuse and men, genetics tend to be 50% of the underlying reason for alcohol use disorder. So these are how we kind of see genes playing a role. And a really cool way that researchers kind of sort this out as well is through twin adoption studies, where you have two twins who have shared the same egg, right, and that egg split, so they are sharing all the same genes, they have the same genetic makeup. And even though they go on to live in two different environments, two different households, you know, you follow these twins over time, and you find that if both twins or even triplets went on to develop a mental diagnosis went on to develop schizophrenia, or depression or what have you, that really increases the likelihood that there was a genetic factor that was underlying this. And it wasn't just, you know, environment or thinking patterns alone, right. So these are some biological examples that I just hope will help that I bring up in hopes that it will help people give an understanding that it is not always just a matter of someone's faith or character or willpower. Sometimes there are factors that are beyond our will, beyond our control, that play a role in this. But again, we always say genes are not destiny, there are solutions for this, but it's just important to be aware of something else that we want to consider is environment and how our environment is playing a role in someone's mental health, you know, especially at home, you know, is it a more hostile home? Is it a more stressful home? Is someone constantly feeling on guard? Or is it a supportive household? Is it a more harmonious household, all of these things are going to play a role in how someone copes with their mental health. And this is really cool, because it kind of dives into the study of epigenetics, which is a field of research based in how our environment affects our genetic makeup, how, you know, more stressful or traumatic environments can turn on certain genes that were vulnerable to such as depression and anxiety, and how maybe more safe and supportive environments can keep some of those genes dormant. So it's a really cool field of study and the gene environment or nature versus nurture interaction. But environment certainly is a role that we have to consider and why someone may be feeling the way that they're feeling. You know, other factors that we want to consider are things like childhood upbringing, if especially if there was any form of severe trauma that took place in childhood, we know that trauma stores in the body, and plenty of research has shown that it can play a role in how well a person is able to self regulate, able to cope with their emotions and how you interact with your relationships based on the internalization of those traumas, especially in the formative years of childhood. That can be an underlying risk factor for a number of mental health challenges. So I know all of that was a mouthful, but I say all that to help bring a bigger perspective of this idea that there are a number of factors, again, that can be playing a role in mental health challenges, that aren't always solely spiritual, but maybe environmental, maybe biological, or psychological or social. And that really brings me to my next part of this talk, which is a question that I get a lot is, you know, Brittany, what are some of the main challenges that you see with mental health in the church? And I think if the there was one that I would just highlight, that I think a lot of the other stigmas and difficulties would fall under is a matter of perspective, our perspective of mental health. So there tend to be two major perspectives I've seen, that can sometimes be polarizing when it comes to the idea of mental health. So there's this you know, secular view that I think a lot of Christians may be sometimes skeptical of, because it doesn't have a biblical worldview all the time and may not include faith or God. But it's more about what is evidence based what is proven to be true. You know, what is research based, and it does lead us to discoveries and methodologies that can be helpful improve real estate Lucians, but it might not have that faith element. And then there's this 100% Spiritual view, which takes the idea that everything is a spiritual matter, everything is a spiritual route.
And so therefore, if you are having mental health challenges, if you're having a mental health crisis, it must be because of some spiritual matter, well, maybe you're not praying enough, maybe you're not reading scripture enough or believing enough, right? Because the logic is that if all of it is of a spiritual matter, then the problem must be spiritual. So that is the 100% Spiritual view. And something that I think I am trying to encourage and to kind of move along. And I think a lot of us who are involved in the world of faith and mental health, is to come to this more integrated view, where on one hand, we can understand the benefits of evidence based treatments that have proven to work and provide real solutions that lead people to complete healing. Well, to having the foundation of our faith and understanding the hope that we have in Christ and our identity and what we believe to be true, regardless of our human state, and natural conditions, which sometimes fail us, right. So it's really about coming to this integrated view of what is evidence based and proven to be helpful, while also accompanying our faith and how the two work together. So something that I primarily like to advocate is that we are bio psycho social, spiritual beings, right? Mind, body, and soul, we have all of these dynamics that make us human. So bio, that means we are biological beings, we are physical beings, even Jesus himself was 100%, God, and 100% man, and he still had to live the human experience and human skin, and he was not immune from it, and neither are we. So we have brains functioning brains, and you have hundreds of 1000s of neuro chemical reactions taking place every second, as you're listening to me. And unfortunately, living within a fallen world, any one of those things can also go wrong, and play a role in our mood and behavior. We have hormones that are taking place that play a role in our mood and behavior, right, we have our nervous system, which is really also responsible for our flight or fight response and how safe we feel and how activated we are in moments where we feel distressed or are feeling anxiety, and how we regulate our nervous system also plays a role. So that's just one part of the biological side, right.
And then we have the psych side, or psyche, which is Greek for all of the elements of the human mind, both conscious and unconscious. But this really is the mental framework of how we perceive the world around us how we intake information from the world around us how we interpret that information, in our relationships, and events, and even around our own personal circumstances, and how our mental framework, our thought patterns are organized, are oftentimes based in associations and our experiences and what we've gone through. And so as you can imagine, we have all had different experiences in life that have shaped how we view the world, how we view people around us, even cultural experiences, and what we believe and how we see things. So that is a psychological aspect. And then there is a social aspect, and that is that we are created for connection, amen. We know that in Genesis, God says that it's not good for man to be alone, and that he really did wire us for connection.
And science absolutely backs that as we see that we have, you know, processes in our brain that are really wired to connect us in healthy relationships with others, such as the fact that, you know, we release dopamine kind of this feel good chemical and oxytocin upon healthy intimacy, or that we have these mirror neurons that, you know, when we're all watching something together or engaged in a conversation, our brainwaves kind of sync up, which is really, really cool in seeing how we were created to really be wired together. And then there's the spiritual aspect, right, which is what we ultimately and objectively believed to be true. beyond ourselves, beyond this world, beyond culture, beyond the scripture that may be posted in our bio, beyond what we recite, what do we actually believe to be true? When we are tested by fire? You know, what do we actually believe to be true about God about who God says He is about his word, and about who he calls us to be in this world? Right. So all of these dynamics, the biological, the psychological, the social and the spiritual, not only make up our human experience, but make up our human, but make up our mental health. And so we want to be considering the whole person and all of the dynamics that make up who they are when considering their mental health, okay, so here's the part where we're just going to take a deep breath and let everything soak in. Because I know that was a lot of information. And I don't mean to overwhelm anyone with information.
But my goal in all of that is to hopefully give tidbits and glimpses of the holistic perspective of mental health. And that being said, what can we do as a church to really provide a safe and supportive environment for mental health challenges? You know, one of the things that I think we could definitely do in the church is have some type of basic foundational education, when it comes to understanding the signs and symptoms of mental health challenges. So something like mental health first aid is really, really great I got certified in it years ago, it's like an a one day training, where you kind of get a full background on how to be a first responder to mental health crises, at least to get a person to a resource that can help them long term. So maybe we host a Mental Health First Aid session for our, you know, lay leaders for our ministry leaders in the church. Or maybe it's not mental health, per se, but maybe there's a mental health professional that you know, or may already be sitting there in your congregation who has this training, and who has this professional experience that can offer their expertise and wisdom to those in the church or within church ministry, to learn more about how to interact with these mental crises and situations. So either finding a trusted mental health professional in your community, or maybe having someone who's already there, who is already trained in mental health, to help give a workshop or lesson to the leaders that is going to help get everyone on the same page, or even just how to respond to mental crises. Another idea that comes to mind is partnering with a trusted mental health professional, again, whether in your church or within your community. And often, a lot of times, therapists or counselors may be looking for some office space, they may be having their own private practice.
So maybe if your church has the available space, or a room that can be offered to them, where you can house, a therapist, or you can house a counselor at your church. And maybe there's an exchange there where they can have free office space for maybe a limited amount of sessions or timing with those in your congregation, that's something you obviously would have to work out as to what is fair and ethical. But that's another idea is housing a mental health professional right there within your church or church office, to have that immediate resource, or at least someone who can provide more resources, who is in that field. Another thing we can do is, you know, I know this sounds pretty basic, but just mentioning, you know, mental health, within sermons, whether it's mentioning, you know, that depression is real or mentioning anxiety, or understanding diagnoses, or normalizing therapy, or whatever it may be, by you, as a leader, or as someone that people regard and trust, saying this and normalizing it, you'd be surprised how that opens up a door of freedom for people who really want or are seeking help, or are on the fence.
You know, just having conversations, and even in sermons mentioning that, hey, you know, you can be Christian and struggle with depression, you can be Christian and struggle with, you know, anxiety, it doesn't make you less of a Christian, it just makes you human. And let's take advantage of the resources that God has given us to see ourselves through to freedom and healing, you know, using the people that God has given us, right. However, that works for you just having that kind of open and normalizing language within the church. Because there are oftentimes people in the pews people in the congregation who are struggling, but they never hear mention of it. And just that that lack and that bypassing of the conversation, maybe makes them feel like it's not a conversation that is totally welcomed to or understood or open to. So just opening that door, even with the language that we're using, is a really helpful and I think underestimated power. And lastly, if it's possible, having some type of support group there for either those who are struggling with mental health challenges, or even family and friends of those struggling with mental health challenges because it is affecting the family and friends as well. And that can sometimes be very isolating and lonely experience. But the church has such a great infrastructure for bringing people together in a socially supportive setting, and already kind of has that infrastructure. So just imagine if we created a space for mental health challenges and for the support of family and friends.
Now, when it comes to those who are actually having a diagnosis or mental health challenges in being ethical, you may want to consult a mental health professional as far as what that type of facilitation would look like, right. But at least providing some type of setting where there is support there that is welcome, that is non judgmental, that is gray space and is full of love, as I'm sure you already are, can be extremely supportive for people just to know that they're not alone. And not only are they not alone, but it is supported here among God's people in God's house, in this church, and that can be life changing and go a long way for a number of people. So how can we pray for mental health in the church, and I think this is even something great to do among the congregation. A Prayer for mental health was in the church where we are praying that the church has the wisdom and the resources and the humility to be a supportive entity for mental health, praying for families praying for the families of those who are supporting someone in their family who is severely struggling with mental health. We want to pray for our leaders pray for our pastors who, you know, LifeWay Research has found that I think I believe around 59% of pastors had counseled or met with someone who went on to receive an acute mental diagnosis, that means that there was something more severe going on that needed more assessment and more treatment. So chances are there are people who, you know, pastors and ministry leaders are encountering that do need more help.
So praying for our leaders in those situations, you know, and how to navigate those situations and wisdom and Holy Spirit lead, you know, and the humility to, to reach out for more resources when maybe we've hit a wall, or we've hit our wall of expertise, right, being willing and open to refer to someone with more expertise in that area. So praying for our leaders moving through with wisdom and grace in these situations, not only praying for our leaders and addressing those who are struggling with mental health challenges, but for the mental health of our leaders, because, you know, pastors are human to ministry leaders are human too, and therefore are vulnerable to the child human challenges, like mental health challenges. And we've seen that over the past years, we've seen, you know, some pastors who took their own lives, and it is incredibly heartbreaking and still just unimaginable to this day. And I think any time that we're doing, you know, people work or working with people, anytime that we are carrying other people's burdens and, and trying to sort through some of the messiness of what it means to be human that does meet God and grace, but still sometimes a little messy and a little heavy, that can be difficult. And that can take a weight and a burden on our mind and on our shoulders. So praying for our leaders to have a rhythm of of rest, and a rhythm of self care and to have the support that you all need to take care of your own mental health. So we definitely want to be praying for all of those things. Those are great things to pray for, as a church, and individually if there's anything to take away to pray for from this conference. And all that being said, I know that our time is cutting short here.
So just know that I am praying for you as you are navigating the church and mental health experience. It is not black and white. No matter how much you study. No one person is in a book with all of their dynamics and experiences. And so I think it really just comes down to meeting people where they are and having the humility to seek more help and resources when we've come to a limit in our understanding, and having the grace of Walking With people along the way without assumptions without judgments because we never know what factors are playing a role in someone's life. Right. And so I hope today's session was helpful, at least in giving an overview of having a holistic perspective of mental health that will hopefully lead us to, you know, seeking the support and resources that we and those around us may lead to really go on this journey of holistic healing mind, body and soul. Thank you for your time today. Feel free to connect with me and all the places I want to Instagram has Brittney Moses, Facebook, Twitter, you can go to brittneymoses.com That kind of houses everything on the blog, the website. And I also have a podcast called the faith and mental wellness podcast where we have conversations with mental health professionals from researchers, clinicians, psychologist, side, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, you name it, many of which are believers and those with lived experiences, to merge that conversation with faith, mental health and wellness.
So you are well more than welcome to come along and listen if you enjoy today's conversation and want to hear more about it. Other than that, thanks for tuning in, and I hope we stay connected. Until next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
