Mental health, wellbeing and everyday life
Professor Sheila Hollins

As a psychiatrist and President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists I am only too aware of the lack of knowledge that most people have about mental disorders. Most people have a clear enough view of themselves and who they are, perhaps as a father or mother, a brother or sister, a son or daughter; or as a friend, family member, a member of a church community or an employee.  But any person’s sense of identity and self esteem can be shaken by the experience of depression or anxiety. They may ask what these changes mean about their relationship with God. People sometimes feel that they would not get depressed or anxious, or turn to alcohol or other substances to help them cope, if they were a better catholic! Attitudes like this can be quite harmful especially if other people accept such ideas as true. Clinical depression is just not something you can pull yourself out of. On the other hand living with someone who has a low or changing mood, someone with memory problems or someone who is addicted to alcohol can be very wearing.

People with mental disorders often experience discrimination in their everyday lives. So how well do we do in our local church communities at providing a non-discriminatory place of sanctuary? Do we welcome people with mental illness or learning disability, just as we might welcome someone who is well or someone who has a physical ailment? Or do we look the other way, sit in a different pew or become too busy to stop for a chat? It only needs one or two people to treat someone with a lack of respect for others to copy. This kind of reaction can contribute to the stigma that is often attached to mental disorders.

And if someone you know is admitted to a psychiatric unit, do you ask about their progress, or offer practical help as one might for someone who is physically ill? Prayer and companionship can be such a help to family and other carers, just as they may help the person affected by a mental disorder themselves.

One of the best ways to reduce stigma is to be better informed. If we are ignorant about something, or have heard negative stories in the media about mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, then we may be afraid of someone with that diagnosis. But contrary to popular assumptions, most people with serious mental illness are more at risk of harming themselves, or being hurt by other people than of hurting someone else. And a quarter of people with schizophrenia will recover completely after their first illness and never have any more symptoms.

So what has your parish team done to find out more about mental disorders, and to find out what people in your own community might need and hope for? Why not introduce your parish to the website resources highlighted in the Day for Life leaflet? My College publishes free information for the public, which is available to download or request, from our website: www.rcpsych.ac.uk or you could look at the Mind website, which also has very good information.

Unfortunately when someone with a religious faith is having psychiatric treatment, they sometimes feel that the importance of their faith is not understood. Faith is not enough to help you recover fully from a serious mental illness, just as it is not enough to help you recover from a serious physical illness, but it can play an important part. Recovery for some will mean learning to live with a long term condition, adjusting their lifestyle and expectations. This is when a relationship with God can be such a strength. Health professionals often work in a secular culture that is not very accepting of religious beliefs. This can lead doctors and nurses, psychologists and others to avoid the subject of faith. And this can make it difficult for someone who is unwell and having doubts, worries or concerns, to ground their thoughts and feelings in their own personal, cultural and spiritual background.

So the Day for Life this year has some messages for all health and social care professionals too. We as health professionals (and I am including myself here) need to understand that there can be no full health without a person’s mental and spiritual health being fully cared for, alongside their physical health.

It’s as if we forget that the heart, brain, mind and soul all belong to the same person, each interacting with the different parts. Whole person medicine requires us to attend to all aspects of a person’s wellbeing. This can be quite a challenge, as few of us have had the breadth of training that allows us to feel confident and competent about supporting mental, physical and spiritual health. We know when and how to update our medical knowledge, but do we take time to update our knowledge and competence about our own and other people’s faith and its relevance to health? Perhaps we should seek some joint learning with faith leaders such as chaplains in our places of work to share our expertise and reduce the false barriers between physical, mental and spiritual aspects of health.

I am very pleased that the Bishops Conference decided to focus on mental health for the Day of Life this year. Life can be diminished by the experience of a mental disorder for people we care about or in our own lives. As Catholics we can do so much to bring life back to people in our own communities, by being more open about these stigmatising and yet so common conditions.