CHURCHES PROVIDING PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES?!

A recent opinion piece in the New York Times by T.M. Luhrmann reported on an initiative to involve members of church congregations in the care of people with serious mental illnesses.  Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, has joined with the local Roman Catholic Diocese and the local National Alliance for the Mentally Ill to start training members of local church congregations in how to provide mental health care.  Mr. Warren's son struggled with depresson and killed himself about a year ago. Mr. Warren hopes that members of congregations can be trained to manage psychiatric crises, run groups and help people with major psychiatric disorders to cope better and to receive the services that they need.  

A major problem in people with major psychiatric disorders receiving help is a resistance that some people with mental illness feel about psychiatric services as they do not want to be stigmatized or labeled.  In addition, they were often stressed by difficulty using the services as they often need to go to separate places to get help and may have to go to different pharmacies to get their medications filled. Also, many people with chronic mental illnesses are homeless and this further complicates their abiity to get help.  Importantly, while many of the chronically mentally ill complain of feeling stigmatized by their illnesses when they get mental health services, they will identify that they attend a church and do not feel stigmatized there.  A study of almost 90 women with psychotic symptoms and who were homeless by Mr. Luhrman, found that half of them had a church that they attended at least twice a month.  Also, over 80 % said that God was their friend.  When this initiative was announced many people there with major psyhciatric disordrs, stated that they were a person "I am not defined by my mental illness.  I am a person with mental illness, and I am defined by Christ. This would seem to increase the possibility that members of congregations of churchs can be helpful and a recent study published in Lancet indicated a small additional benefit for services connected to churches compared to those in psychiatric facilities.

So, one of the questions is whether or not people in the congregations of churches can be trained to help people in their congregations with chronic mental illness.  Considering that coping with mental illness can be isolating and stressful, it can be very helpful and stress reducing if they are helped to negotiate the different services, keep up with their medications and getting them filled on a regular basis; and providing a place that they trust to come to when they are feeling stressed.  Regardless, it is very helpful and necessary for all of us to feel part of a community where we are cared about and not judged!