Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness

Posted by Justin | July 20, 2007 .

This thoughtful and engaging hook addresses the fissure between medical and theological responses to mental illness. Greene-McCreight recognizes that the medical profession lacks resources to consider the relation of God to mental illness, and she observes that the church often falters in its attempts to minister faithfully to those suffering from mental illness. In the midst of her own struggles with bipolar disorder, Greene-McCreight looked for hut did not find a hook that explicitly addressed her most pressing questions. What role does God play in mental illness? Does a disease of the mind destroy the soul? How is it possible to pray from the depths of despair? Can only the healthy be faithful? Darkness Is My Only Companion provides a promising beginning to a conversation that considers these questions and others with the help of the church’s traditional resources: Scripture, prayers, hymns, and teaching. In the process, Greene-McCreight covers some basic information about mental illness and, gently, challenges the church to claim and perform its distinctive ministry to those who suffer.

The book comprises three sections, which cover Greene-McCreight’s personal experiences, her theological narration of those experiences, and some practical guidance for the mentally ill and those who live with them and care for them. The “Introduction” situates the book as chiefly theocentric rather than anthropocentric, arguing that the triune God determines the meaning of all lives, even the lives of the mentally ill. In the six chapters of “Part One: Facing Mental Illness,” the author shares some of her story through depression and mania and into therapy and hospitalizations. She vividly describes the utter abandonment of depression, the apparent appeal of suicide, the exhilarating nightmare of mania, the crushing return of depression, life in a hospital psychiatric ward, and electroconvulsive therapy. Greene-McCreight narrates her experiences simply and matter-of-factly, including medication and treatment details, the social and professional effects of stigma, and the pain of jokes about mental patients. In addition, she weaves through her account the scriptural passages and prayers that shape her attempts to make sense of the insensible. Psalms 9 and 139 accompany her struggles to find hope in suffering; Job curses his own birth as Greene-McCreight enters the hospital’s locked ward; and Henry F. Lyte’s hymn, “Abide with me,” calls for the Lord’s presence in the midst of darkness, over and over again.

“Part Two: Faith and Mental Illness” includes five chapters of theological reflections. The style remains simple and accessible to lay people and clergy, even though the questions raise perennially challenging theological puzzles. How can the suffering soul be grateful to God? Do depressed feelings inhibit or destroy faith? Does rational thinking determine one’s existence? How docs sin pertain to the mentally ill? Is a dark night of the soul a necessary good? Again, Greene-McCreight shares the task of exploring these questions: brief passages from John Donne, the Gospel of Mark, Isaiah, Proverbs, 2 Corinthians, Hebrews, the Psalms, Calvin, hymnists, and many others offer guidance, solace, and the reminder that these are not new questions. While not claiming that these passages refer explicitly to the mental illness she describes. Greene-McCreight draws connections well worth further consideration by theologians, pastoral care providers, and those in the midst of despair. She emphasizes the efficacy of prayer (especially the prayer of friends), the disruption of God’s time by mental illness, and God’s abiding love and care of the soul regardless of the health of the mind.

“Part Three: Living With Mental Illness” offers a chapter of advice for clergy, friends, and family about the best ways to be helpful, and a chapter for those who are suffering about how to seek and find therapy. The practical character of the third section may startle some readers who had settled into the theological discourse of the middle section, but readers who know, directly or indirectly, the desperation of mental illness will be grateful for both the useful information and the demonstration that questions about God and therapy can fit together in one conversation.

The book concludes by affirming that despair can live with Christian faith, two appendixes, and a bibliography. While the second appendix and the bibliography provide useful mental illness resources. “Appendix I: Why and How I Read Scripture” should be of interest to a much broader audience, including church members and seminary students.