Mental Health and Faith (with Dr. Christina Edmondson)

All of us struggle with emotional, psychological, and physical circumstances that impact the way we experience our lives, others, and the world around us. And even though our society has come a long way, the conversation of mental health is oftentimes still stigmatized. But we believe that an important way to disprove that stigma is to talk about it. Just as we need to take care of our physical health, our guest Dr. Christina Edmondson encourages us to take care of our brain health.

Bio of guest: 

Christina Edmondson holds a PhD in counseling psychology from Tennessee State University, an MS degree from the University of Rochester in family systems, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hampton University with an emphasis in race, class, and gender. For over a decade, Christina has served in a variety of roles including most recently as the Dean for Intercultural Student Development at Calvin University. A certified cultural intelligence facilitator, public speaker, and former mental health therapist, Christina is often contacted by churches to consult about leadership development, antiracism, and mental health issues. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Truth’s Table podcast.

Notes and Quotes:

• “God has given us emotions, feelings, thoughts, and experiences and invited us to process those things. And so, I do think there is a lot of stigma and shame attached to, obviously, issues of mental illness in our culture and in our society. But the truth is, our brains are just as fallen as everything else, and so, to the extent that we would have physical issues like high blood pressure and heart disease and a bad back, we also have nagging, anxious thoughts. We are also kind of wired in ways that make us more susceptible and prone to depression, for example. And not to mention the painful experiences that we have and the way that trauma shapes us. And so I just think that we need to give ourselves and other people a lot more grace.”
• “On this side of glory, we’ve got real problems and real issues. And you know, Jesus is not insecure. We don’t have to pretend to have it all together as if we are somehow disparaging the name of Christ because we have struggles.”
• “And so, even our traumas, our fears, our issues . . . even those things must bow down to Christ’s agenda for us, which is ultimately for our good and for His glory.”
• “As a part of our humanity, we do have a range of emotions, and we can see Jesus in the text express a variety of emotions—from grief and lament to anger to joy and delight in friendships and connections.”
• “We don’t have to be afraid of the sadness or the frustration or even the anger that we have. It’s what then we do next with it, right?”
• “As women, we can demonstrate love for each other by not binding people to these caricatures of what other women are supposed to be, giving them the grace to teach us something about the fullness and beauty of womanhood.”
• “Intimacy takes vulnerability, and vulnerability is almost like a muscle that we have to continually train and work out.”
• “You take your car in to get looked over; we should take our brains and our bodies in to get looked over.”
• “I would invite people to think about how, if they’re doing great, how they could be a listening ear, a supportive friend . . .”
• “I’m so grateful that Jesus did that in the Scriptures and Jesus does that now. Jesus sees us even now.”

Links/Books/Resources Mentioned in Show: 

• Show Notes on godhearsher.org
• God Hears Her website: https://www.godhearsher.org/
• Subscribe on iTunes!