Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. Did you know that there are about 7000 suicides in the UK every year? This means 19 people are likely to take their lives every day. Both suicide and the mental health factors leading to it including anxiety and depression sadly remain taboo subjects, the elephant in the room. Christians are not immune from mental health struggles and intrusive/suicidal thoughts. Sadly, among those people who have taken their lives will be Christians. This also means that Christians are not unaffected by the impact of suicide. Many of you will know people who have attempted suicide. Many of you will have suffered the lost of a loved one, family member or close friend. If you have not been affected directly., then there is a good likelihood that you know people who have been affected in some way.
Personally, I’ve experienced depression including one particularly acute bout back in 2019. I’ve never considered taking my own life. However, one thing that I’ve realised is that there are other ways that we can experience the urge to pursue self-destruction. This might include the urge to “walk and just keep walking”, or the desire to “just find somewhere to hide and to go to sleep”. It can also include hitting the self-destruct button at work (maybe you have the resignation email all ready to send) or in relationships, sometimes leading to reckless behaviours. It may well be that you have been experiencing a form of suicidal pressure over time without recognising it.
What we know is that it is far better to talk about these things. Often we don’t out of fear and shame. We can be afraid that talking about it, raising it with someone we are worried about will put the idea in their head and make it more likely for them to attempt suicide. We may feel shame because we think that it makes us look weak, especially spiritually weak. Sometimes, depression and suicidal urges have been treated as shameful, sinful even throughout church history and this has increased stigma. Yet it is clear from Scripture and from history that many godly people have experienced depression. We may also feel shame and fear because admitting to struggling with our mental health may also mean opening up about whatever we are struggling with, admitting that our lives are disordered. It may mean that things we’ve kept hidden, painful memories, struggles in home life and relationships etc may come into the light.
Finally, we can be nervous about talking about these things because we are uncertain about where spiritual factors fit in. Is my mental health affected by spiritual oppression from unclean spirits. Again, historically, Christians have fallen into two extremes. Some want to rationalise and medicalise everything ignoring the reality of spiritual forces. Others go to the other extreme and may see every example of mental illness as evidence of demonic activity. The former may lead to us ignoring something important, the latter may further stigmatise people due to health issues and delay seeking medical help. It is worth observing that when Jesus encountered demonic activity, he did not stigmatise the person. The woman in Luke 13 isn’t shunned or shamed but delivered because she is a daughter of Abraham and so it is right that she should receive grace and freedom.
If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or other forms of mental health issue, I would encourage you to reach out and get help. Find someone in the church that you can talk to, seek medical help too.
Faithroots 