Who ever said that mental illness was or is exempt from Christians? I have known many Christians who have dealt with depression. I have known some who have had mental breakdowns.

If Christians were exempt from diseases, our churches would be full. There are many classifications of diseases. Mental, Physical, emotional, etc.

We do have to be careful because many in the Medical profession believe that pills is the answer to everything. I had a Dr. tell me one time "if you have an ache or a problem, we have a pill for it.

Just my simple opinion.

There are some Religions that don't recognize any type of illness, medical or mental, they believe that people should rely on God's power, faith, and the power of prayer alone to cure any ailments.

And yes, there are those who don't think Mental Illness should be treated with medication or Therapy. Mental Illness unlike Medical Illnesses, don't have physical attributes for the most part, you can't see whats wrong. Also the theory of "Talking" to a Dr. in Therapy and being made better, can be a hard sale, some Religions think that should be left to talking/praying to God.

A lot of depends on what Religion your talking about. There are many and they all believe differently.

I don't do organized Religion, I lead a Faith based life, and in that I have the Faith that God would not have given us humans the knowledge to make medications and the education to teach Psychiatrists and Psychologists, if he didn't intend for us to use it. Seems like it should be common sense...

I've seen a hospital situation where Social Services had to take custody of a 9 yr. old boy from his parents because they refused to let Dr.'s treat him when he developed Leukemia, they wanted to take him home and let God heal him. And as much as I believe in and have faith in God, I believe that child would have died in his bed in his home.

To not believe that mental illness is a real disease is just pure ignorant.

Some people think that mental illness is an evidence of sin or guilt. I heard one time that most visits to the psychiatrist boil down to unresolved guilt (a guilty conscience) or unforgiveness. What do you think?

Personally as a Christian I believe in the power of God and Faith and the healing that can come from following the teachings of Jesus.

However, the realistic standpoint is that biologically we know that mental illness is a condition, and can be treated. Yes I think that from a biblical standpoint we can attribute many mental illnesses to being a consequence of a sinful existence, which by biblical terms we all live day to day, saved or not. To think that being saved has removed someone from a life of sin and death isn’t the teaching of the Bible.

I personally feel that part of the curse of sin and death that all of mankind has fallen under due to our inability to follow God’s instructions fall short of another curse that is fully founded in the Bible. The temptation for Eve and subsequently Adam was knowledge, to be as knowledgeable as God, my personal beleif is that as we gain that knowledge, which history shows us is a path you can clearly see, we create a further gap from faith. I think that mental illness is a result of sin, but I believe that our growing understanding of it as well as many other advances in technology, biology, and other areas of science is part of that curse.

Ultimately we are on the path that Eve and Adam were tempted by, knowledge. And as we grow in knowledge we learn more about how God designed us and everything else, making the curse of sin and death worse, why because know we attribute everything to science, without understanding that is also part of the punishment.

Thank you for sharing. That is a good question and topic. Unfortunately many want to justify their success by blaming others faults for their lack of success. Say someone has a nice house, a nice car, and a happy trouble-free home. They come across a homeless person. They might feel bad that the person is homeless, but then they don't want to feel guilty that they aren't homeless. They make up reasons why they are successful, including being hard-working, honest, and even faithful. To justify this logic, if someone isn't successful, then they must be lazy sinful liars. That then envelopes their thinking of hardships equal sinning. Mental illness is a hardship, so to those people it must be from sins. Then it transforms to be possessed or that person suffering is evil. The truth is that mental illness is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It is about living with it. Many need medication, but all need help in one way or another. The Christian Way is to help those in need. The world adds the shades of gray to justify to feeling guilty for not helping. It is like how the Republican Party has taken over many Christian Groups. They believe people on welfare are just lazy. Some Republican Christians don't, but to those that do, it explains their want to eliminate programs for the needy. They are rich and healthy. If you aren't, then it is your own fault. It is sad, but better to know The Truth. The Truth is that God says to help those in need, without restrictions. Why? Because those in need do need The Lord too. It is humbling when one finds out that they are one of the ones in need. So we help each other in need too. Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away. Any problem needs The Solution, who is God. That is The Truth of Christianity. I hope that helped and made sense. God Bless.

I do believe in the power of God, and the love we share in God's name. I am not smart enough, I do not know enough, nor am I "holy" enough to understand how God's healing powers work and if we are able to evoke them on our own.

But I do believe that God have given us intelligence that we can use to understand our health both physical and mental. (And spiritual too, but that is another post) I respect health care professionals who listen to us (and do tests) and then give us their opinions about what our issues are and how we might address them. I do not respect health care professionals who omit the feed back part where they tell us why they think the way they do and just skip to the part where they tell us what needs to be done.

Same applies to religious leaders who are more interested in telling us how to live our lives than they are listening to us say why we live our lives the way we do and work with us a a team to help us be better people. But again, that is another post. (And I have met religious leaders from both ends of this scale. No secret who I respected and who I did not!)

Now back to your question. As for religious people who do not believe in mental illnesses: I think they are more interested in reinforcing their preconceived notions than in being a helpful person.

I know some Christians who don't believe in dinosaurs, just saying

Thank you all for your responses. Very interesting!