Mental Illness

7 Biblical Principles for Taking Care of Your Mind

This post is derived from two blog posts I wrote over on PastorBrad.blog and KatieRDale.com. The Bible is full of wisdom for living a successful, God-honoring life. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we want to address our personhood in full, we can’t overlook our mind and how we handle its health. The following principles are derived from passages in Scripture that can help us understand how God values our mental well-being and the spirit seated within. Principle #1: Express your hurts and frustrations In numerous passages in the Psalms, we see David cry out to the Lord in his pain and troubles. Examples of his fears, doubts, hurts, and sorrow can be found throughout the book of Psalms. As a general interpretation, David’s example sometimes echoes and foreshadows the pain and trials Christ ends up enduring hundreds [...]

7 Biblical Principles for Taking Care of Your MindKatie R. Dale2024-10-12T09:52:55-04:00

Dear Pastor: What the Church Needs to Know About Mental Illness

Today I'm making a derivative out of an old blog post (Misconceptions Your Church May Have About Depression) and reworking it to address our pastors this month - it's Pastor Appreciation Month. Dear Pastor, First and foremost, you are brave. Your calling is not easy or light. Drawing grit from your faith and convictions is a grit akin to what military forces draw upon. The required resilience that comes from committing to this calling is not glamorous or fiscally promising. The taxation on your spirit and soul your job exacts can be stretched thinner than your leather-worn Bible. To put your job into words is a tall task. So many souls depend on your leadership and rely on your words as support. In hopes of making your job more manageable in the realm of the mental health of your congregation, here is an open letter I share with you. [...]

Dear Pastor: What the Church Needs to Know About Mental IllnessKatie R. Dale2024-10-04T01:28:44-04:00

3 Steps to Help a Loved One Heal

As sensitive a topic it is, it's not obvious to most of us, otherwise, we'd see the signs. People are hurting. They want the pain to end. They've been dragged down by the weight of this invisible burden like a ball and chain on their soul. You may not see that or know much about their struggle. There are three steps you can take when you're talking with someone who's struggling and thinking about suicide. They may or may not have a plan. Whether or not they are intentional about acting on the desire, you can still be keen on addressing this. Having a healing conversation with someone is not natural, nor is it easy. There are tools you can learn to start talking to others, though. Observe to Identify The first step is to observe. It takes intentional effort to see if someone is suffering under an invisible, [...]

3 Steps to Help a Loved One HealKatie R. Dale2024-09-29T02:35:18-04:00

How to Help a Loved One Who’s Losing Hope

Living with a loved one who is in decline and has been giving up hope can be overwhelming, to say the least. When you want to change their behaviors, but you can't, frustration and tension can soon set in. No one wants to be in the depths of depression, or riddled with anxiety. If you're in a better place, you can be the one to help fight with them and for them. Here are a few ideas of what to do if you are with a loved one who is going through a rough time internally. If you are that loved one, these are for your toolkit too: Pray For Them At the most hopeless seasons in my life, I've been lifted up through prayer. I firmly believe that has been a game-changer in my life in the midst of and despite my mental illness. Hope has never [...]

How to Help a Loved One Who’s Losing HopeKatie R. Dale2024-09-19T05:25:23-04:00

No Reason to Lose Hope

This post was originally published on KatieRDale.com here. On a Facebook group post, a person expressed how they were losing hope in their mind. While I cannot disprove their perspective, I disagree with that philosophy. Here’s my take: Your heart is the primary hope-cultivator, not your mind. Hope starts in the heart, and your heart is the seat of will and desire. When hopelessness moves to your mind, you have a case of despair. When you can’t think or condition, practice, apply, and motivate yourself out of a clinically depressed state of mind (where medications are needed), your heart isn’t going to follow. You have to reset your mind with therapeutic modes of healing (ie. medicine and therapy) to get back into working order. Like a tandem bicycle, your mind and heart have to be aligned in spirit to work together to get out of despair. If one is [...]

No Reason to Lose HopeKatie R. Dale2024-09-13T01:33:55-04:00

Proving God: A Testimony To His Presence Amidst My Mental Illness

A while back, I met Tony Roberts in the circles of online mental health advocacy. Funny, but I don't know exactly how. I suppose I'll have to ask him. After meeting virtually and guesting on his and Eric Riddle's podcast, we collaborated by guest posting on each other's blogs. With Tony taking a sabbatical and me filling in at the moment, I revisited the guest post he contributed on my BipolarBrave blog six years ago. Today I want to contribute to the Delight in Disorder blog with Tony's words from that post in 2018. I hope you are reminded of Tony's grit, his unwavering faith, and the One who has continued to care for Tony and those of us clinging to the thread of our Savior's garment. Katie's Note: Tony and I collaborated to guest post on one another's blogs. Check out my guest post The Secret To Finding Sanity [...]

Proving God: A Testimony To His Presence Amidst My Mental IllnessKatie R. Dale2024-09-12T11:11:11-04:00

Head-over-Healed (and a little Jesus Crazy) by Katie R. Dale

Head-over-Healed (and a Little Jesus- Crazy) Katie R. Dale Cured from chronic crazy? By no means cured. But healed, yes. By grace, I am ever grateful for the psychiatric medications that I take on the daily. Just the other morning I perused through my old medical records from hospitalizations at 16 and 24. The zany, fanatic, maniacal ways my mind could work! I can't even read my handwriting from back then in the black and white composition notebooks I kept. Most of the manic psychosis hijacked this ability to clearly pen my thoughts, and I stand amazed at the obvious (to me now) absurdity where my mind went. It was like I had been abducted and someone else was living in my body and brain…not far from what I believed happened while in that state of mind. Suffice to say, that person no longer exists. And I am so [...]

Head-over-Healed (and a little Jesus Crazy) by Katie R. Daletonyroberts2024-09-12T11:14:10-04:00

A Glass Half-Full/Half-Empty: An Interview with Laura Riordan

Laura Riordan is a Business Development Manager for a successful, renowned IT staffing and consulting firm and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with her significant other and biggest supporter, Chris, and their blended family of 5 kids - and a dog! Laura has faced the battles of bipolar since early childhood and was diagnosed in college after her first full blown mania. She loves being a mental health advocate and sharing her story with those suffering with mental health challenges to remind them that they are NOT alone. She has facilitated meetings and participated on the board of a local DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance) peer led support group for 20 years. Laura’s blog is https://tamingthebipolarbeast.com and you can find more of her work athttps://oc87recoverydiaries.org/bipolar-support-groups/ and https://betterbecausecollective.org/stories/ After years of listening and learning from others in support groups, Laura developed an analogy for bipolar and depression based on the cliched "You [...]

A Glass Half-Full/Half-Empty: An Interview with Laura Riordantonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00

The Time is Now: Hope for Troubled Minds has Arrived

The time has come. The wait is over (or at least soon coming to an end). A project five years in the making that cultivated the gifts of so many beautiful blessings is now in print, and on Kindle/ebook. We made a commitment to give complimentary copies to contributors and make pre-ordered books available at a discount. It was only through the generous gifts of passionate advocate donors that we could pull this off. And with them, we did. Now, Amazon will take over selling and shipping. We are grateful that through them we can reach a broader community (though at a slightly higher price). So what happens now? I'll tell you. If you want to know more about the book and purchase a copy, go to our website link: https://delightindisorder.org/hftm-order/ Spread the news of Hope for Troubled Minds on your social media and in person. When you've read a [...]

The Time is Now: Hope for Troubled Minds has Arrivedtonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38) Delight in Disorder Ministries is much more than just a hobby of Tony Roberts. We are an international ministry, with the mission of informing and inspiring those impacted by brain illnesses and other mental health conditions. We have a five-person board of ministry shepherds who volunteer their time, talent, and prayerful oversight to see that we stick to mission and carry out God's calling in an ever expansive field. If you would like to learn more about our ministry efforts, follow this link -- https://delightindisorder.org/supporting-didmin/. The first and best you can do is pray for us. When Jesus saw that his [...]

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00