Why I Wrote Help! I've Been Diagnosed with a Mental Disorder

for The Biblical Counseling Coalition Blog
"I know the term 'mental disorder' comes with a certain amount of social, cultural, and theological baggage. But to be clear, this mini-book doesn’t attempt to enter into the ongoing academic dialogs about terminology, diagnostic validity, or treatment efficacy (though those discussions are needed and important). Rather, it attempts to enter into the sufferer’s acute distress as he or she grapples with what a disorder diagnosis does—and doesn’t—mean for his or her life according to the great and many promises of God."
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, nearly 1 in 4 American adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.[1] As biblical counselors, it’s not uncommon for us to meet with men, women, and children who have sought out psychiatric care for the disruptive problems they’re experiencing. Personally, 80% of the women I’ve met with for counseling during the past year have been labeled with (and given prescriptions for) more than one disorder diagnosis. Unfortunately, this trend may not decrease anytime soon. A study recently conducted by a psychiatric research team in the UK[2] revealed that nearly one-third of the recovered COVID-19 patients they observed were diagnosed with a mental or neurological disorder within six months of their infection.

And yet, these heartbreaking realities aren’t the main reason I wrote Help! I’ve Been Diagnosed with a Mental Disorder. As is the approach of many of the LifeLine Mini-books[3], this resource is the fruit of my own lived experiences. I know first-hand what it’s like to be labeled with a mental disorder. I’ve been through the psychiatric hospitalization process on two different occasions—once as an unbeliever, and again as a disciple of Christ; once as a teenager, and again as an adult; once as a single woman, and again as a married woman; once as a child, and again as a mother of three. (Continue reading article here)