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Mental Health Research Paper

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IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL That last hymn has always been among my favorites. The words themselves are beautiful, and I love the way the tune always draws the whole congregation to sing out so strongly. The hymn gained even more meaning for me last year, when I was preparing for a memorial service and came across some information about the author of the hymn. It was written by a man named Horatio Spafford, who lived with his family in Chicago. He and his wife invested in property north of Chicago in the spring of 1871; and almost all of his investment was destroyed in October of the same year when the Great Chicago Fire destroyed much of the city. A few years later, when they had recovered from the financial loss, he planned a trip with …show more content…

And while prayer is a great thing, I don’t believe that prayer alone makes a very good plan of action for addressing mental illness. It requires a comprehensive approach, and medication and counseling can have a profound impact. We don’t talk about mental illness very much in church or society, but we should. We need to break the silence on mental illness, because it impacts our lives and the lives of people we love. In the United States, 1 in 5 adults experience a mental illness in a given year, and 1 in 20 lives with a serious mental illness, such as Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia. Over 7% of adults in the United States are currently experiencing depression. We need to speak up about mental illness because the stigma and shame that surround mental illness has gone on far too long, when it is a daily reality for so many. Our Christian faith tells us that we are to bring our whole selves to our faith, because God has created us and called us good. We are invited here, to this place, to hear the good news that we are God’s beloved children. And God calls us, loves us, comforts us, and cries with us even when it is not well with our souls. RECLAIMING

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