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I don't know about you all, but I feel that in the American Church, we are severely under-equipped to deal with mental and emotional problems in our congregations. In my circles, I am surrounded by wonderful, Christian people, who fight anxiety and depression. Others have dealt with suicidal thoughts, schizophrenia, and other disorders.. Several of my friends have children on the autism spectrum as well. I've never dealt with this before, especially in such highly concentrated numbers. It really seems that so many people these days are battling mental and emotional issues, as well as the physical issues we normally deal with. It's just recently that The Church has begun to talk about these issues. For years, it's just been swept under the rug as spiritual problems. Years ago, I dated a girl who is textbook bipolar, but when I spoke with her parents about it, they believed she was simply being oppressed by demons... Bad theology and mental problems don't mix well. So is anyone on here proactively addressing this in your church? Are you seeing the same trends? What are you doing about it? How are you helping people deal with the everyday battles they face? How are you trying to simply understand ---------My Facebook www.facebook.com/theB3

Mental health is still in the dark ages. We're at least 100 years behind physical medicine in our treatment of it (both medically and socially). My dad suffers from bipolar disorder and when he has manic episodes, you'd think he was a leper on the set of Ben Hur. You're right nobody deals well with it, especially the church. I think its because it takes too much energy. With most issues, you can give a quick speech, a prayer and a hug and feel like you've done some good. Not so with mental health issues.

The pastor is walking the proverbial tight rope on this subject. We believe in divine healing, and that is for all ills. However Prayer doesn't always bring about healing and the pastor must prayerfully (and tactfully) suggest the medical profession. Some pastors feel like they are failing at that point and try to sorta bluff their way on. We have a member (some kin to me by marriage) at times I wish something had been done in her youth. She is a real pain for the pastor 'AT TIMES'. He does the best he can, but......... she needs psychological or some kind of help.But really what else is available except Drugs as JD has stated usually happens?BUT BB it is a subject that needs to be dealt with in the church. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

This is a serious issue in today's church.I pastored a precious family. The whole family had issues. Almost every time the mother went to Walmart she would phone my wife and and say; this is Rosey, I am at walmart and just wanted to know if you needed anything.One night we were standing in the parking lot after church. She looked up at the full moon and said. Oh no it is a full moon tonight. The crazy house will be full tonight. It took all I could do to hold back the laughter.This was one of the finest families I have ever pastored and I felt so helpless toward them. Rosey died while I was there. They cremated her and had her ashes in a black box on the communion table. Years later Rosey's husband David married a divorced woman in the church. They have made a beautiful couple.BTW, what is a textbook bipolar Recorded Sermons @ www.pastorwiley.com

Good question, also layman's terms? I hear that term thrown around and seems to be one of the most prominent faced by a pastor (or family). My kin lady is said to be 'bi-polar' Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

Guys, textbook bipolar is when one minute you love your textbook because it is giving you so much wonderful and fascinating info to learn, and the next minute you hate it with a purple passion because it has a passage that just cannot be understood at all.

Ha! Just kidding.Larry textbook is just an adjective meaning that something or conforms to a condition (or theory, or whatnot) in every way. In other words, for someone to be textbook bipolar, he or she fits all the descriptions that a textbook describing bipolar order lists.Bipolar is a disorder that used to be called manic-depressive.The Wikipedia entry can give you a good overview.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar disorder

Okay now I know, sorta like my attitudes toward Trump! Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

I have unfortunately known more than one pastor (AoG and CoG) over the years who has basically said, from the pulpit, that if people just had enough faith, they wouldn't need antidepressants. It is positive confessionism/Word-Faith applied to mental health. One in particular I recall expressed, from the pulpit, his grave concern over how many Christians he knew that were on antidepressants, saying, that if we would just believe God like we should, we would never be depressed. This same pastor had said to me in private once that he sometimes wondered if he was bipolar. I wonder why we never hear of the Word-Faith guys declaring an Alzheimer's patient healed.

I googled the definition of bipolar. I know what it is but wanted a clearer understanding. According to the National Institute of Mental Health