Mental Illness

How to Handle the Holidays with God’s Love

Welcome to the Holidays! The stress of the holidays. We’re still pressured to spend money on gifts, or gather with family we may or may not get along with. Just the idea of the holidays, with the loss of loved ones over the past years from sickness, tragedies, or simply the circle of life, is tough. We may not feel like it’s anything close to the norm we’ve known in years past. However, as Christians, we are called and set apart and distinctly expected to “live worthy of the calling” (Ephesians 4:1) we have in God, with or without mental illness. On top of the worldly stressors, our personal lives have the constant wearing of symptoms, perhaps. Is it still possible to live as a Christian with a mental illness and expect to “live worthy” of such a calling? God commands it, therefore He’s going to make it possible. [...]

How to Handle the Holidays with God’s LoveKatie R. Dale2024-10-30T06:28:55-04:00

What Every Pastor Ought to Know About Serious Mental Illness

Pastors and church leadership are number one on the frontlines to those who seek help for these kinds of issues with these kinds of diagnoses. It is crucial to educate the ranks of church leadership so that we can catch the “least of these” in the crises they may present and refer them to the right solutions. There is evidence that pastors don’t feel very well equipped to handle mental illness and therefore need discernment to appropriately address these situations. I want every pastor to know what to expect, how to communicate, and what to do when they arise. Within the wake of Covid’s circumstances, the matters of the mind have risen to a more visible level. This is good for generating awareness of general disorders and the stressors concerning situational depression and psychological or even spiritual oppression. However, it has not changed the significance nor moved the needle of [...]

What Every Pastor Ought to Know About Serious Mental IllnessKatie R. Dale2024-10-25T01:56:36-04:00

Is My Mental Illness to Blame?

Line in the Sand Where does mental end and spiritual begin? There is no definitive line. You’re going to sin in sickness and be soul-sick in sin. The two (the heart and mind) operate in tandem. As a caseworker, I had a client at one time who was being seen at my clinic for mental health issues she had. Let’s call her Mary. Mary was also diabetic. On her way to town one day, while her husband drove her to an appointment, Mary started to frantically undo her seatbelt, screaming threats at her husband, and opened the door of the truck to fall out. She just about accomplished this act of defiance, but her husband’s quick response and grasp saved her life. At that time, Mary appeared suicidal. Mary appeared out of her mind. Arguably, Mary was in a state of rebellion. Mary appeared to be in a mental [...]

Is My Mental Illness to Blame?Katie R. Dale2024-10-17T05:34:33-04:00

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