Dan Cook hits the nail on the head expressing concerns in his letter to the editor ("Mental health and spirituality can mix," Sept. 5) about the July 30 article "Mental health needs put believers in dilemma." The California pastors in the article teaching that "people are afflicted with problems of the soul, not illnesses of the mind" and Scientology are misinformed about the medical research into the causes and treatment of mental illness done over the past 25 years.
The medical research clearly indicates that mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder are caused by complex biochemical imbalances at the level of the neurotransmitter in the brain. Scientific research also indicates that treatments available for mental illness including medication, counseling, and rehabilitation are as effective in the treatment of mental illnesses as medical treatments are for other medical illnesses such as diabetes and cardiac disease.
Congregational leaders and mental health professionals in our community have come together to form the Coalition for Mental and Spiritual Health Ministries, realizing the importance of our faith communities supporting spiritually those receiving treatment for mental illness. The coalition is interdenominational, supported by a grant from Good Shepherd Episcopal Church as well as other churches, and sponsors prayer services for those with mental illness, caregivers and mental health professionals.
The coalition also partners with the psychiatry department at the Medical College of Georgia to sponsor seminars for congregational leaders on mental health issues. Hopefully, those with mental illness in our community will not suffer in silence because of old incorrect perceptions, and will seek treatment with the support of their family of faith.
Lynn Tyson, M.D., Martinez
(Editor's note: The writer is a psychiatrist and secretary of the Coalition for Mental and Spiritual Health Ministries.)
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