Health of mind and body

by Editor · February 3, 2010

The annual World Day for the Sick on February 11 serves to shine the Church�s light on those who are often marginalised and alienated from their communities because of illness.

In his message for the day, Pope Benedict says that �the Church intends to carry out a far-reaching operation, raising the ecclesial community�s awareness to the importance of pastoral service in the vast world of health care�.

All Catholics are called to discern a pastoral role in addressing the marginalisation of those who suffer illnesses, especially those who tend to be misunderstood and stigmatised.

In Mark 1:40 we read about Jesus touching the leper, an act of social daring that broke taboos which would endure for almost another two millennia. Lepers were routinely humiliated, outcast and exiled to concentration camps. They certainly were not touched in public view.

Leprosy�s modern corollary is HIV/Aids, another disease for which no cure is known; another disease that drives many otherwise good people to cast out infected family members or friends. The enormous contribution of Catholic institutions that take care of those with HIV/Aids cannot be underestimated. Like Jesus, the Church embraces those regarded by many as untouchable.

While the pastoral focus on physical ailments is necessary and admirable, it must not neglect the condition of those living with mental disorders. Pope Benedict has been sensitive to this: his first message for the World Day of the Sick in 2006 addressed the question of mental health, which concerns a fifth of the global population.

The field of mental disorders is extensive and varied. The area of depression alone is broad; some types are caused by environmental circumstances, others by chemical imbalances, and some by a combination of both. Almost a quarter of all people will experience some kind of depressive illness in their lifetime � and most will not seek help. Some will not do so because of the stigma associated with mental disorders, some will not do so because they don�t realise that they need treatment.

The US surgeon-general stated in 1999 that �stigma prevents people from acknowledging their own mental health problems, much less disclosing them to others�. Many encounter a lack of understanding and support even from friends and family members, never mind employers and colleagues. Yet, depression is not a voluntary condition, and it can be treated.

The stigma is worse yet for those affected by mental illnesses such as, for example, schizophrenia, which falls under the collective category of �psychotic disorders� � a specialist term with alarming connotations for most people.

Churches sometimes are of little help when they choose to ascribe mental health disorders to spiritual deficiency or sinfulness. Yet, American studies have found that people suffering depression are more likely to first approach their pastor than a health professional. The clergy must therefore be equipped to recognise the signs of a mental health problem, and to offer these people sound pastoral help and sensible advice, guiding them to Jesus the healer as well as to a mental health specialist.

Mental health is still subject to much confusion and ignorance in society. And yet, if a fifth of the world�s population is suffering mental disorders, then all of us are touched by this in some way, directly or through somebody we know.

It is important, therefore, that on occasions such as the World Day for the Sick we resolve to find ways to combat the stigma associated with mental disorders, seek to understand them, and declare our solidarity with those affected by them.