Page 117 - Biblical Counseling II

Mental Illness
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
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learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy,
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and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Connect…

Read the following three different examples of mental illness:

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my
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son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I
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brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” “You unbelieving and perverse generation,”
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Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the
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disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have
so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:14-20.

Depression: “I know what it’s like to be lying on the bathroom floor, eyes swollen, tears streaming down my
face, certain that the pain will never end,” Ostermann explains. “Not able to see the light at the end of the
tunnel—to be sad for no reason other than not being able to help it.”

Anxiety: “I didn’t want to be seen as a ‘crazy person,’ so I suffered in silence for years,” says 31-year-old NYC
resident Stephanie Morris, who recalls initially denying her anxiety symptoms when they first appeared in
her early twenties. “I would wake up daily with anxiety attacks,” she says. “My mind would race, and I would
often be paralyzed.” Her symptoms also included regular meltdowns in her work bathroom, as well as a host
of others like dizziness, shakiness, shortness of breath, fatigue, and rashes.

The Lesson ...

Mental Illness

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) There are many different mental disorders, with different
presentations or appearances. They are generally characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts,
perceptions, emotions, behavior, and relationships with others.

“Psychologists define a psychological disorder broadly as psychological dysfunction in an individual that is
associated with distress or impairment and a reaction that is not culturally expected. When considering if
something is a symptom of a disorder, consider the three Ds: Is it psychologically dysfunctional? Is
it distressing or handicapping to the individual or others? Is it associated with a response that is atypical
or deviant?” (Broadway, 2015).

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