4. Getting Help - Talking to Your Pastor

Talking to Your Pastor

Your pastor might be a great additional resource for your recovery, especially if you're looking for someone to guide your spiritual healing.

Your church pastor can talk with you about the spiritual part of your life and recovery on a different level than other mental health professionals. If you decide to reach out to a pastor, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Your pastor doesn't replace your doctor
Your pastor can provide spiritual guidance, community, and problem-solving strategies. But, unless she or he is also a mental health professional, your pastor will not have all the tools to diagnose and treat depression and anxiety.

See a doctor, and get a medical work-up.
If your illness is severe enough that the doctor feels it should be treated, a mental health professional needs to be involved. Your pastor can provide additional support or problem solving, so talk to him or her, as well.

Some pastors are trained in counseling
Your pastor can always offer you support, prayer, and a listening ear. However, if you would like to talk with a pastor in more detail about your depression and strategies to treat it, ask your pastor if she or he is trained in pastoral counseling for depression, or knows a pastor who is.

A trained pastoral counselor can draw from some form of mental health training, along with his or her spiritual guidance experience. This might be especially helpful if your doctor has decided that your depression or anxiety is mild enough not to require treatment right now, and you'd love to learn some new mental health strategies.

Pastors are unique, just like your journey
Your recovery journey will be unique to you, and anyone you invite to be part of it needs to be a safe person. If your pastor is a good fit to help you regain control of your life, bring him or her in. But if not, don't feel pressured. You can talk with another pastor or a different mental health professional. Just don't give up until you've found someone safe to talk to.

A pastoral counselor should encourage you not to feel guilty about depression
Depression and anxiety are real illnesses. In the Bible, some people thought the man born blind was being punished for sin in his family. But Jesus told them they were wrong. God wasn't punishing the man at all. Unfortunately, some people still blame illnesses, especially mental illness, on the person who gets sick, even today.

Look for a pastoral counselor who will gently steer you away from thoughts that your depression or anxiety stems from failure in your relationship with God. You may feel numb or disconnected from many things because of your condition. As you heal, you'll hopefully be able to enjoy the feeling of closeness to God more and more, but none of this means God is angry with you. He cares about you and wants to feel better.

Depression and anxiety are illnesses. You aren't lazy or choosing to be this way. It's not a sin to be sick, and you can get better. A safe and healthy pastoral counselor will help you remember that.