Guest commentary by Kathy Dale McNair Good mental health is important. But what does faith have to do with it? A lot. All of us go through life experiences that challenge our mental health. But mental illnesses are more serious than the common ups and downs that most of us experience. Anxiety is the number one mental illness in America. Depression is second. With mental illness, the desire to be part of a faith community, to worship, to participate in outreach activities and even the desire to pray can fall away. Most people with a mental illness isolate and withdraw from normal activities. They feel hopeless and helpless, weighed down and shut down by the stigma attached to mental illness. Mental illnesses are disorders of the brain, affecting behavior and mood. Although behavior and mood disorders are the identifying markers, mental illness is felt in the whole body. Mental illness is an illness just like cancer. Just as there are many kinds of cancer, there … [Read more...]

Guest commentary by Tara Bulger Recently, an old picture of my daughter and me came across my social media feed. My daughter, who is now 12, is only two months old in the picture and she has the most glorious chubby cheeks you have ever seen. I look impossibly young. I am smiling at the camera and somehow, despite having a newborn, I look radiant and happy. My loving family and friends noted as much in their comments on the photograph. But I remember vividly the day that picture was taken and that time in my life. Despite those precious cheeks of my baby girl and my deep and abiding faith in God, every day during that time I thought about killing myself. I would sit, on the second floor of our home, nursing the baby and tell myself how much better off my family would be without me. It all culminated one night when my husband found me walking circles in our kitchen and I asked him if he would tell me where he kept his gun. Instead, he demanded that I either figure out who I … [Read more...]

  Guest commentary by Kathy Dale McNair My sister died of alcoholism at 52. It broke me. Growing up, my siblings and I were told to study hard, work hard, find a career that has meaning, give back, help others, be part of a faith community. I heard the same messages my sister did. I asked myself, how could she destroy her life when she had so much to live for? I blamed her. I was angry. I didn’t know alcoholism is a disease. I blamed myself because I could not save her. I didn’t realize that after a certain point in the disease of alcoholism, the brain chemistry changes. That is when alcoholism becomes a mental illness, a brain disorder. She had crossed over and I couldn’t pull her back. Two months after we buried my sister, I descended into a deep, intractable depression. After several months of my spiraling down, I accepted how serious this was, and my husband helped me seek treatment. I got an accurate diagnosis: clinical depression. I had the greatest confidence … [Read more...]