First Parish Unitarian UniversalistSilent Stigma No More
A sermon preached by the Reverend Diane Teichert
First Parish Unitarian Universalist - Canton, MA
October 3, 2004
For the past three weeks, we’ve been talking about water. The first week, our Ingathering Sunday, it was the “waters of the world,” small amounts of which many of us brought with us that day to represent something important about our summer. As the communion bowl filled with water from kitchen faucet and rain cistern, pond, lake, stream, river, bay and ocean, as we shared our summer stories with each other, we came together as a religious community again after our summer apart.
Two weeks ago, my sermon was called “Still Waters” and it used the images in the 23rd Psalm of the Hebrew Scriptures to talk about how important it is to keep our busy-ness, especially our work hours, under control. I asked you, what window of time can you open, for activities that will restore your soul? Where are the green pastures, the still waters, to be found in your life?
Last week, in contrast, the sermon was called “Troubled Waters” and it used a story from the Christian scriptures, about a pool in Jerusalem which was believed to have healing powers when the water in it was stirred up (by an intermittent spring otherwise known as the Angel of the Lord). Curious it was that the healing was to be found only when the water was troubled, not still, and so I talked about the troubled times in our lives and in the world around us when the only way out of the trouble is through and when, amazingly enough, wading right in proves to heal our fear even if it does not cure the trouble.
As I thought about the theme of this week’s sermon, which I chose in recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week this week, I realized that the three preceding Sunday services—entirely unintentionally—contained good mental health lessons.
From the first Sunday, being in community here at First Parish reminds us that not one of us is alone. It’s easy, when we feel troubled, when we are mentally or emotionally ill, to think we are alone. We’re not. Here at First Parish there is a community of welcome and support, that will accept you as you are even as it inspires the best in you.
From the second Sunday, making places and times for “still waters” in our weekly and daily lives is good for our mental as well as our spiritual health (and, also, as medical research has shown, it is good for our physical health as well). A pattern of rest and reflection restores our minds as well as our spirits. See, it’s good for your health to come here on Sunday mornings!
From last Sunday, while there are many causes and types and degrees of mental illness, feeling troubled in those ways is rarely alleviated by avoidance and so we have to acknowledge and step into the stirred up waters in order to be healed. That takes courage, for sure, but like other troubles, our mental health issues are less fearful when we wade into them, and get help.
It’s hard to ask for help, though, isn’t it? It’s still difficult to be open about mental illness in our culture, isn’t it? And, regrettably, First Parish is not immune to this ignorance.
It is okay to come forward during Joys and Sorrows to say that you have just been diagnosed with Lupus or your child with diabetes. But is it okay to come forward during Joys and Sorrows to say that you’ve just been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder or your child with Asperger Syndrome? It should be okay, but the evidence suggests that it isn’t.
Yet, mental illness is so common. The U.S. Surgeon General's report on mental health found that about one in five Americans experiences a mental disorder in the course of a year. As a result, millions of adults and children are disabled by mental illness every year. (Source: National Mental Health Information Center of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, US Government). Unless First Parish is an anomaly, mental illness must be common among us and those we love, too.
What do we mean by mental illness? The National Mental Health Information Center of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, US Government, defines mental illness as “any diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that interferes with or limits a person's ability to live, work, learn, and participate fully in his or her community. Mental illness includes such disorders as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and Alzheimer's disease. Mental illness involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way a person feels about him/herself, and the way a person thinks. Mental illness is not a sign of personal weakness or lack of willpower. People with a mental illness cannot simply overcome it and get better on their own.”
I like the way the founder of the Center for the Study of Religion /Spirituality and Health at Duke University Medical Center, who is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, explains it,
“The brain is simply a biological organ like the heart or lungs or pancreas and, yes, there are going to be diseases that affect the brain. Those diseases will present as mental illness. Like any part of the body, the brain gets sick and has problems regardless of how you live or what you believe. Jesus says the rain falls on the good and bad alike.
Then there is a whole spectrum of emotional stability issues that range from severe mental illnesses like those already mentioned, which are largely inherited, all the way to simple problems that everyone experiences in daily life. This is a huge spectrum and a lot of times it's hard to distinguish these different groups from one another. It may very well be that emotional stability itself is also biologically on a spectrum.
So there is one group of people who are experiencing emotional distress or mental illness largely because of an inherited predisposition. Also, [as in the general population], many of these people may have been raised, even as babies or infants, in a way that their emotional needs were not met. Furthermore, people of all ages have bad or negative experiences, such as accidents, that are out of their control. These experiences can then affect their future susceptibility to developing [mental illness].” (Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc in Caregiving , Winter 2001).
As more is learned about the chemistry of our bodies, including our brains, we will understand more about its interaction with genetics, with the circumstances we survived as children and as adults, and with the still largely unknown effects of pollution and other environmental factors on mental health.
In the meantime, it is reassuring to know that many mental illnesses are treatable with medication that should no more have a stigma attached to it than does the insulin injected by a diabetic daily for life. And, it is comforting to know that the patterns of a religious life—restoring your soul on a daily and weekly basis and sharing the fellowship of your religious community—may even safeguard you from certain kinds of mental illness or, if you experience one, help you recover more quickly. [Harold Koenig MD, MHSc, David Larson MD, MSPH, Michael McCullough PhD in Handbook for Religion and Health ( Oxford University Press)].
Yet, I’m sure we all have known or still know someone whose mental illness has not been treated. It is sad when, as a result of not getting help, those persons are unable to keep up a pattern of activities that restores their souls and/or their behaviors prevent them from benefiting from fellowship. If only they would seek help!
If mental illness refers to any mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that interferes with or limits a person's ability to live, work, learn, and participate fully in his or her community, either temporarily or chronically…I think there would be very few of us here who have not been touched by mental illness, either directly experiencing it ourselves or in our extended families and close friends.
Think about it in your own life…If you go back to your grandparents’ generation and forward to your grandchildren, and across to your siblings and closest friends and, if you are married or partnered, your spouse and his or her immediate family, and include yourself, please raise your hand if your life has been effected by mental illness, please raise your hand. And leave it up.
And, now, if we add to our survey another disease that is associated with a silent stigma: substance abuse addictions—whether to alcohol or to illegal or legal drugs—please raise your hand (or your other hand if one is up already) if there is that in your family, what do we see?
Almost everyone here has been either directly, or closely, affected by mental illness and/or addiction! Of course we know that there are connections between the two—that sometimes people drink and drug because they have an untreated mental illness and sometimes people become mentally ill because they drink or drug.
We also know, in the words of colleague and founder of the Addictions Ministry at First Parish in Brewster MA, that addiction is “an illness that makes everyone who loves the addict ill.” [The Rev. Dr. Denis Meacham, UU World, July/August 2004]. In a similar way, one person’s mental illness impacts family members when it gets in the way of people’s healthy expression of the full range of human emotions.
So, whether one or more of your hands was raised because you have experienced mental illness and/or substance addiction yourself or in a close friend or family member, it has impacted you, probably hurt you.
So, why, if so many of us share this trying experience, why in the world do we allow a stigma to prevent us from getting support from each other? If only we here at First Parish would be more open about our poverties, the real struggles in our lives, then great riches of empathy and understanding would be immediately ours.
I know, many of you do not like to get up in Joys and Sorrows and make your private issues matters of public concern. I notice that members of this congregation are much more likely to tell of a parent’s or sibling’s disease than to tell about their own. If we cannot speak even about our own physical illnesses, how much more difficult it would be to mention our mental illness.
But, Joys and Sorrows isn’t the only such opportunity we have. There are other avenues for sharing about and getting support for the real struggles in our lives. Covenant Groups, for example. We have four now, and are looking to start a fifth. These are small groups of seven or so First Parish folks who meet regularly, once every two to four weeks, for a time of intentional listening. They start with a chalice lighting, followed by a chance for each person to share what is important in their life at the moment, followed by an hour’s thoughtful discussion of an agreed-upon topic, usually a different one each meeting. These topics have to do with the meaning of life—questions of values, ethics, faith, spirituality, personal history, how we choose to do what we do, how we get by day to day, what gives us joy, and so on.
Though they are not therapy groups nor are they support groups, Covenant Groups develop bonds of trust that allow a natural and reciprocal sharing of life’s struggles, its delights and its trials, in a way that most of us rarely do with family, friends, co-workers or neighbors. As First Parish grows, being in a Covenant Group is a way to insure that even if you no longer know everybody, you know and are known by some people very well. If a Covenant Group might interest you, you will find a brochure in the Parish Hall or may speak to me anytime.
Another opportunity available to you here at First Parish is… the Minister’s Study. Though I am not trained in psychotherapy, cannot prescribe medications and do not offer long term counseling, my office might be a first step in your journey toward change, or toward treatment, for yourself or for someone you love. I can listen, encourage your courage, make referrals, and help you find the sources of spiritual strength for your journey. Not just for the beginning of your journey, I invite you to view my office as a way-station any place along your way, where you know you will find a sympathetic ear, more importantly a kind heart.
They say that the treatment of addictions has three parts: “physical—dealing with the chemical dependency; mental—dealing with the cravings; and spiritual—re-establishing healthy meaning and core values” and, I would add, patterns in daily and weekly life that restore your soul. [Meachem, Addictions Ministry, UUWorld, July/August 2004].
I wonder if the treatment of mental illness may also have three parts: physical— in that medications may address the chemical imbalances; mental—finding new ways to respond to old problems; and spiritual-- re-establishing healthy meaning and core values and, I would add, patterns in daily and weekly life that restore your soul.
The core values of Unitarian Universalism are most succinctly expressed in what is called the Principles and Purposes, an affirmation adopted by delegates from our congregations to the General Assembly back in in1985 and 1986. They are printed on the back of your order of worship this morning.
The most obvious connection between them and our topic this morning is in the first principle, that we affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person. That includes those who struggle with an addiction or a mental illness, of course.
But, I also think the Principles and Purposes provide us, all of us—those who struggle with mental illness or addiction in themselves or their families, and those who do not—with guidance regarding how to live in the world. As someone recovers their mental health, the isolation caused by their disease for themselves and family members will recede. Sometimes, it is difficult to make that transition into full involvement in the wider world. Our Principles and Purposes provide us with some direction in that regard: because they are not creedal statements as to what we believe; rather they are covenantal statements of intention as to how we want to live.
They are a blueprint for an individual’s involvement in the world beyond the self. They bind us together as a religious community and they also direct our attention to the wider world in which we live, so that we might make it a better place for all.
Let us close, now, by reading aloud these Principles and Purposes, as they appear on the back of your order of worship, the left-hand column.
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Justice, equality and compassion in human relations.
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Amen. So may it be.