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About our articles
On this page are many articles about mental health and how it relates to Christianity. Because it can be difficult to categorise all our articles, we have put them here in a big long list for you to browse. Please use the Tag Cloud on your right to help you navigate or the search boxes.
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| Prayer and Healing Research | | Praying for people with the aim of healing is something Christians have always done, but is it effective and what does current research say? In this article, Anne Douglas summarises the current understanding and explores how local groups can develop
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| | Anne Douglas |
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| Where do Christians go for help? | | If you ask Christians who they would like to see, most will say they would prefer a Christian health professional, all other things being equal. But that is the rub - are all other things equal?
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| | Tara Gormley |
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| Words of encouragement | | A list of encouraging Bible verses straight from God himself. He is able to help us because He understands!
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| | Christian Mental Health |
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| Psychosis and Hearing Voices | | Psychosis and hearing voices are disturbing problems for both the sufferer and the person trying to help. Learn about causes and getting help
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Mindfulness | | Mindfulness has a bad press in Christian circles, with many people thinking it to be somehow Buddhist or occult. However, it is a powerful way to deal with stress and in particular recurrent depression - about which there is a growing
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| | Phil Monroe |
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| 16 things not to say | | Yes, these have all been said! Yes, actually to people's faces! Try something else instead
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| | Alan and Amanda Stephenson |
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| Anger Management | | Anger Management is a hot topic in psychiatry at the moment - not because anger is a mental illness but because the two frequently coincide making it part of the problem and hance part of the treatment focus. In this post, I want to
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Exhausted church leaders | | Being a church leader is a real challenge and it is essential to realise that the task is endless, the needs definitely outstrip supply and the difficulties are persistant. The challenge of spotting and supporting people who are
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| | Will Van Der Hart |
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| Premier Lifeline - Confidential Christian Helpline | | Premier Lifeline, this year celebrates its 15th birthday and has taken over 750,000 calls. However, the last few weeks has been a time when a shockwave has hit the Helpline world. The trust of the public built up over decades has been
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| | Jonathan Clark |
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| Eating Disorders Awareness Week | | Each year Anorexia/Bulimia Care sends a campaign to churches and Christian organisation in order to raise awareness of eating disorders and increase understanding for those affected and their families. Last year together with
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| | Mind and Soul Team |
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| Mental Health Professionals | | As a psychiatrist, I am always getting confused with a psychologist! This new resource explains clearly what each different type of mental health professional does. This will vary a bit in different parts of the country but
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| | Rob Waller |
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| BBC Headroom | | www.bbc.co.uk/headroom is another great site from the Beeb. Full of information, stories and interviews [many by Ruby Wax!] it has lots on offer. my favourite is a little program to create your own moodscape - go on, you know you want to!
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| | Mind and Soul Team |
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| Bereavement due to suicide | | Health Talk Online, the UK's largest online collection of real-life health stories and shared experiences of health and illnesses, has launched a new section that gives a unique voice to people who have been bereaved by suicide
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| | Mike Bush |
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| Suffering from an eating disorder | | Anyone who has experienced anorexia or bulimia can describe that tantalising paradox as it offers everything you feel as if you are looking for, and at the same time steals your life from you and robs your future hopes. One-sufferer describes
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| | ABC |
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| The Church and Eating Disorders | | Research carried out at events and conferences found that 90% of church members knew someone who was suffering with an eating disorder. 70% of them knew someone in their own church. The majority said that their church was not able to offer
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| | ABC |
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| Recovery and Faith in Eating Disorders | | Recovery is something you may find yourself thinking about a lot when you are struggling with an eating disorder or if you are caring for someone with one. Maybe it’s something you fear – or something you long for. For sufferers it can be both
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| | ABC |
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| Eating Disorders - the reality for families | | Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder, Food Phobia, Food Avoidance Emotional Disorder? Since 1980 Anorexia and Bulimia Care has helped thousands of sufferers and their families care for and cope with eating disorders through the illness to
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| | ABC |
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| CBT for Anxiety | | Anxiety has a myriad causes, but clinically can be divided into three pictures: A. isolated panic attacks [such as specific phobias], B. panic with in between background anxiety [such as scocial phobia] and C. constant background anxiety
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| | Rob Waller |
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| 20 Ways of Staying Afloat... | | Mental distress in whatever form it takes triggers a whole range of responses from people. When I ask a group of people to list any words, terms or phrases which in some way relate to mental disorder the list is surprising long.
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| | Jonathan Clark |
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| Stress - Friend or Foe | | “I feel stressed, I am stressed out, I am under pressure, I just wish this stress would go away. I can’t cope with this stress any longer.” When people talk about stress it invariably comes across as a negative. However, I am well aware that
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| | Jonathan Clark |
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| Challenging Attendees | | How does the church deal with people whose behaviour presents a challenge - to the running of services and the safety of others? We need to be wise in managing risk but also loving. This article offers a framework for managing and reducing
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Remembering Combat Stress | | 90 years ago, the armistice ending World War One was signed. We often remember those with amputations and scars, but the psychiatric casulaties are just as numerous. WW1 was when the term 'shell shock' became well known and today, though
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Worried Why | | It true to say that at no point do we truly view the world with objectivity (that is how it actually is) instead we view it subjectively (that is through the damage, memories and beliefs that we have formed around our world-view)
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| | Will Van Der Hart |
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| Mental health bible study | | This Bible Study is designed to be used in a small group, maybe as a way of introducing the topic in your church. Start by considering "What is good mental health like?".
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| | Martin Hird |
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| Mercy for eating disorders | | Mercy Ministries have written this book as a unique approach to dealing with the root of many eating disorders. Contains many testimonies and advice on where to go for help. It is part of their 'Mercy for...' series.
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| | Nancy Alcorn |
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| Depressed pastors | | 25% of Clergy time off in the Church of England is caused by depression - but no-one seems to be talking about it. In the February 2008 Podcast we look at some of the reasons behind this and what can be done about it.
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Attitude to suicide | | One of the hardest things to deal with when someone is suicidal or has died from suicide is that there are so many negative attitudes aboout the subject. It even used to be illegal until recently -
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Dissatisfaction | | Depression is a common illness in both general practice and hospital settings. Its severity ranges from mild to severe. The more severe cases certainly warrant treatment.
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| | Peter Davies |
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| Depression symptoms | | Depression can present with many symptoms. As a rule men tend to get angry to cover their grief and sadness, whereas women tend to get sad and tearful to cover their anger. Anxiety overlaps significantly with depression
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| | Peter Davies |
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| Losing someone from suicide | | There are a number of sources of help available. Start with this testimony about how one person came back 'out of the ashes' and worked through their problems - with God's help. There are also some links to helpful online resources and books.
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| | Mike Bush |
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| When it gets risky | | It can be very hard to know when you have done all you can and things are now getting out of hand. This article explains some of the key things to look for.
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| | Mike Bush |
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| My inner eye | | I have spent the last 24 hours in Newcastle studying anxiety disorders, in particular how people keep living according to their own internal logic because in some way this makes sense to them.
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Obsessional confession | | I was talking with two Christians recently who disclosed that they felt very distressed by they constant desire to ask God for forgiveness.
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| | Will Van Der Hart |
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| Panic attacks | | I have had quite a few requests recently for information on panic attacks from younger Christian people so I thought I should have a go at explaining things and putting them in a bit of context -
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| | Will Van Der Hart |
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| Seeing your GP | | It is very common for people to go and see their GP with common mental health problems like anxiety or depression. We see two or three new cases of depression most days.
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| | Peter Davies |
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| Types of Christian counselling | | There are so many counselling options available - how do you know which ones to go for? Most people identify three levels of counselling: support, counselling and therapy. This can be biblical, 'nouthetic' or person-centred.
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| | Rob Waller |
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| The drugs don't work | | When the Verve complained the drugs didn't work, they were (I assume) talking about illicit drugs. But what about antidepressants (and other psychiatric drugs in general).
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Unhealthy professionals | | Should mental health professionals be 100% healthy? Should they have had a personal experience of mental illness? Should they have 'sorted themselves out before they try to help others? What does Christianity have to say about this?
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Mental health of students | | Students leave home, move town, lose support and friends and start a major academic challenge all in the space of Freshers Week! Some thrive, but many really struggle. Most will have some mental health difficulties throughout University
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Sabbath serenity | | Most stress workshops explore the flight and the fight alternatives. And there certainly is a right time to do one or the other. Joseph ran from the seductive Mrs. Potiphar (Gen 39); Moses confronted Pharaoh (Exod 5-11). But there is a third
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| | R Paul Stevens |
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| Stress and distress | | Stress is about two things. One is force, the second is ability to withstand that force. The term was originally borrowed from engineering where it is a key concept in assessing the strength of metals. In medicine we tend to focus on stress
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| | Peter Davies |
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| Solitude and being alone | | Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude. Loneliness is inner emptiness, whereas solitude is inner plenty. It is a journey through personal maturity to communion with God. Solitude exists in a tension of benefits and risks and is an elusive
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Stigma | | People with mental health problems often find themselves on the outside of society and rejected by friends. Why is this? And why this is not an option for Christians.
When the stranger says: "What is the meaning of this city?
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| | Rob Waller |
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| How to dismantle your father | | I was listening to U2's great new album yesterday - "How to dismantle an atomic bomb". It seems to be everyones favourite 'music for the journey' right now. The first track to get my attention was track 3. Bono is talking about his
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Talking about your faith | | When I first meet a new patient/client, I want to make sure that i have identified all the things that are important to them. I ask about housing, relationships, symptoms, etc. For a lot of people, spirituality is an important part of who they
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Counselling is painful | | The process of therapy or coming to a true understanding of ones-self is painful, usually because it involves coming face to face with some stuff that we had been hiding from for many years. Yesterday I was reading John's Gospel chapter 21
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Multiple personality disorder | | I was asked by a lady at a conference yesterday what my views were on Multiple Personality Disorder. This is a set of symptoms where it seems like there are two or more distinct personalities present within one person. It is called
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Images in the mind | | I have spoken to a number of people over recent weeks, all Christians, who have been troubled with intrusive thoughts. These are often sexual or violent in nature and, whilst recognised as the persons own thoughts, they are not the thoughts
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Christians and Therapy | | There seem to be so many out there... I mean, should I look analytically at my self, socially at my relationships and work, psychologically at my thoughts, biologically (with drugs) at my brain chemicals, naturally at my links to nature, exist
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Common problems | | Here are some ideas for help with problems we have not covered in detail elsewhere on the site. This page contains extracts from another website - the Student Counselling Centre at Royal Holloway College in London [©]. They have written some
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| | Royal Holloway College |
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| Debt and Mental Health | | There is a strong link between financial stress, debt and mental health. Listen to a day of teaching for Christians Against Poverty
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Shrinking the Inner Critic | | In my work with clients repetitively traumatized in childhood, I am continuously struck by how frequently the various thought processes of the inner critic trigger them into overwhelming emotional flashbacks. This is because the PTSD-derived
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| | Peter Walker |
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| J.John's Worry Letter | | Did you know that most people's anxiety is focused and preoccupied with 40% of things that will never happen, 30% of things relating to the past that can't be changed, 12% of things...
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| | J.John |
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| Christians and Addiction | | This article was written for Artisan Magazine. Artisan is a forum for people working in the arts and media industry, "to simply provide safe spaces in different hubs around the world for industry people to come and get spiritually hydrated
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| | Rob Waller |
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| Attitudes to suicide | | One of the hardest things to deal with when someone is suicidal or has died from suicide is that there are so many negative attitudes aboout the subject. It even used to be illegal until recently - though how you charged the person who had
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| | Rob Waller |
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