God’s care for mental health part 1…
The purpose of this blog is to present a case study using the following scriptural passage. The case study will concern the mental health of Elijah during this recorded event. The objective is to understand mental health issues as presented here in the text and to examine how that God intervened with the prophet during this mental health crisis.
Before I start in the exposition, I want to briefly and generally define a form of talk therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. This therapy is one of the more effective therapies that is used to treat a variety of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, among others. The therapy itself is based upon several core premises including.
- “Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.
- Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.
- People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives (APA, 2017).
I would like the reader to take note of this as we look at the Biblical case study found here in I Kings 19. On to the text…
First off, the book of James 5:17 tells us that Elijah was a man “with a nature like ours”. This is important because our case study example is a good representative of general human conditions. Therefore, one can have confidence that the example of Elijah is comparable to our own trials in terms of his response. In other words, Elijah experienced depression and anxiety just as we do.
Next, we have the context. In short, an evil queen sent a message that Elijah would be killed. Let’s pause for a moment because this is an important premise that sets off a series of events for Elijah. The first thing to notice is that this is an external influence. Elijah has no control over this situation. This is the way things are. Next thing to notice is that this message is negative. It is negative in that it is a threat. A threat to what? Obviously bodily harm to the prophet. How would you receive this news?
This kind of message is given to people every day in doctors’ offices announcing the horrible news of cancer. The message is given by a police officer telling a mother that her son did not survive a car accident. Or maybe it is the drunk husband, or the news that your child is using drugs again. There are a thousand messages and messengers.
The next subtle point is not seen in the text but is clearly there. How does the message make Elijah feel? I think it is not an exaggeration to say that Elijah is scared. He is experiencing an extreme emotional response. Why is it important to mention these emotions? Because emotions are powerful movers. Emotions cause our body to have certain responses. Times of intense fear will cause the body to transition to the sympathetic response or “fight or flight” response. Interestingly enough, these responses are mediated by chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. These transmitters play a significant role in such illnesses such as anxiety, depressions, bipolar, schizophrenia, and other conditions.
So as Elijah received this frightful message, neurotransmitters fired in his brain causing increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, limited gut motility and dilated pupils. He was in “fight or flight” mode. Guess what his next move was? Right, he ran—flight. This is often the mechanism of action in disorders such as panic disorder and anxiety disorders.
Moving on, notice that Elijah does not have control of the message, nor does he have control of his emotional response to the message. What then does he have control over? He does have control over his actions. Notice first there is a space between the emotional response and the action. This can be learned to be utilized to choose the best action. Best utilization of this time between emotional response and action is to stop and wait. The reason for this waiting is to allow time for the sympathetic response to subside. After the initial “fight or flight” response has subsided, then more appropriate action can be decided upon through examination of the stressor (message).
Elijah’s action here is to run. Anxiety is to run. Run from any stressor. After years, brain pathways are developed to respond to any stressor by running or avoidance of any kind of stress altogether. This type of conditioning is a premise of certain anxiety disorders such as panic disorder and agoraphobias.
After the prophet’s initial response of flight, notice now in verse 4 where he is at. Exhausted, he sits under a juniper tree and asks to die. What does this sound like? I think it sounds like depression. He has feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, and hopelessness and is exhibiting passive ideations of not wanting to live. In fact, he may be just the type of person that would meet criteria for an impatient psychiatric hospital stay in order to stabilize him. Well, that is sort of how this plays out in the coming verses. We can call it, God’s Psychiatric care of Elijah. The psychiatrist and therapist is God, the angels in the texts are nurses.
More to come in part 2…….
Sowers Pouch 