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<p>Despite longstanding efforts to support individuals with mental illness, many faith communities still face challenges in understanding their struggles and engaging with them in thoughtful and caring ways. This article attempts to explore how faith communities can respond to individuals experiencing mental distress and provide meaningful support. It begins by critically examining misconceptions about mental illness driven by a form of spiritual reductionism that exists within many Christian contexts. It further delves into the stigmatization of mental health struggles within the church community, focusing on three key aspects: (1) the fear of disclosure and public stigma, (2) the experience of enacted stigma and marginalization through a dominating gaze, and (3) self-stigma and intrapsychic shame. Lastly, this article proposes building communities of care, where individuals living with mental illness are encouraged to express their voices and share their embodied stories, by promoting the practices of empathy and mutual recognition that provide greater opportunities for self-understanding and the cultivation of more meaningful, healing relationships.</p>

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The Destigmatization of Mental Illness Within the Christian Community: Cultivating a Community of Care for the Invisible and Silenced

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月19日

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  • Minjin Kim

摘要

Despite longstanding efforts to support individuals with mental illness, many faith communities still face challenges in understanding their struggles and engaging with them in thoughtful and caring ways. This article attempts to explore how faith communities can respond to individuals experiencing mental distress and provide meaningful support. It begins by critically examining misconceptions about mental illness driven by a form of spiritual reductionism that exists within many Christian contexts. It further delves into the stigmatization of mental health struggles within the church community, focusing on three key aspects: (1) the fear of disclosure and public stigma, (2) the experience of enacted stigma and marginalization through a dominating gaze, and (3) self-stigma and intrapsychic shame. Lastly, this article proposes building communities of care, where individuals living with mental illness are encouraged to express their voices and share their embodied stories, by promoting the practices of empathy and mutual recognition that provide greater opportunities for self-understanding and the cultivation of more meaningful, healing relationships.