Mental Health Information

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/get-help/mental-health?lang=eng

DID YOU KNOW:

1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year

1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year

1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year

50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-34

National Alliance on Mental Illness, https://www.nami.org/mhstats

RELIGION AND MENTAL HEALTH

Daniel K. Judd, professor of ancient scripture and Dean of the College of Religious Education at BYU, who also has a degree in family science and a PhD in counseling psychology, gives a brief introduction to this complex subject in his book Let's Talk About Religion and Mental Health.

"On July 29, 1932, George H. Brimhall, former president of Brigham Young University, [1904-1921] died at his home in Provo, Utah. [His] death was evidently caused by a bullet from a rifle... Members of his family observed that he had grown discouraged lately and his restless spirit chafed under the long siege which had sapped his strength. While it is possible the shooting was accidental, those closest to President Brimhall concluded that he had taken his own life. A disturbing and soberting ending to the life of a man who had done so much good for so many." (Judd, 2021)

PSYCHOLOGICAL, MEDICAL, AND SPIRITUAL HEALING

Brother Judd continues, "I often feel sad when I meet people who are clearly in need of help from well-trained therapists and knowledgeable and sensitive physicians but who insist that their mental health concerns can be resolved through more diligent discipleship. While I do not believe psychiatric medications are always the "miracle cure" some mental health providers and pharmaceutical companies would have the public believe, such medical treatment may have provided [President Brimhall] with significant relief. He was a man of great faith, and with the right psychological and pharmacological care, his depression might have been relieved and his death prevented. I find it instructive the the Book of Mormon includes examples of healing by priesthood power (see Alma 15:5-11), and by the use of the "many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases" (Alma 46:40). While I admit my own skepticism concerning herbal cures that lack scientific validation, I also acknowledge that plants and roots are the origin of many of the proven medications in use today."

"Similar to the Savior's and His latter-day servants' teachings on the importance of both the spirit and the body, Latter-day Saint theology includes both sacred and secular truth. Healing can come through priesthood power and personal and prophetic revelations, as well as through clinical interventions. President Hugh B. Brown (1883-1975) once taught: 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepts newly revealed truth, whether it comes through direct revelation or from study and research. We deny the common conception of reality that distinguished radically between the natural and the supernatural, between the temporal and the eternal, between the sacred and the secular.'" (Judd, 2021)

DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL

It is important to recognize how misguided advice - like praying more fervently, reading scriptures more diligently, increased fasting, or attending the temple more often - in an effort to “overcome” clinical depression and chronic anxiety may be.

As critical as these actions are to our spiritual wellbeing, they are not always an appropriate solution for mental/emotional conditions caused by physiological implications.

When we consider revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith, the doctrine of the soul is explained as a combination of the spirit and the body, “And the spirit and the body are the soul of man,” (D&C 88:15). This can help guide our thinking, with increased understanding, of the importance in caring for the spirit and the body both individually and collectively.

The physical body has needs, independent of our spirit. We maintain our physical health with nutritious foods and exercise, but our spirit requires different forms of nourishment. If left unattended, we can easily suffer spiritual malnutrition which include, “reduced ability to digest spiritual food, reduced spiritual strength, and impairment of spiritual vision.” (Oaks, Nourishing the Spirit, 1996)