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You Don ' t Need Prayer , You Need a Therapist
By Janelle Harris Guest Columnist
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woman hunches over a well-worn altar encircling the foremost part of her church ' s small but elaborately decorated sanctuary . It , like the walls , has overheard too many emotive outbursts and pleas for mercy to count , and on this particular day , she adds hers to the litany , sprawling her upper body across its weathered wood and slapping it to punctuate her silent prayer .
A member of the ministerial staff walks up and stands quietly behind her for a moment before leaning down and whispering an offer to join her . The woman , too choked up by long-stifled heaves and sobs to speak , nods in agreement . As the minister b � nds besi ? � her , she asks the dismayed parishioner if there ' s anything specific she ' d like to pray for or about .
The woman has a hard time finding words to explain the reason why she ' s draped across the altar . She ' s not even really sure herself . All she knows is , for the last six months or so , life has been unfolding in a most unpleasant and burdensome way : her relationship is on the fritz , her children are cutting up , her health has been challenged , her job is the source of routinely thankless days . In her personal history , she ' s been able to solider through those kinds of vicissitudes , but lately she ' s been in more than a rut . She ' s suffering from depression . She just doesn ' t realize it yet because she hasn ' t been diagnosed .
You Need a Therapist Janelle Harris Orlando , Florida Summer 2014
The minister doesn ' t realize it , either . But her kneejerk reaction is to recommend what she knows best : keep praying . The woman does just that . She prays in her car and prays in the shower and prays during her lunch break and prays before she goes to bed . And still , despite her chain of supplications , she feels an overwhelming sense of
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hopelessness and isolation , to the point that it ' s affecting her d � Jly functionality . So the cycle continues , unbroken by the one solut10n that will help her get better . And unbeknownst to either party involved , the answer isn ' t just a little talk with Jesus .
I ' m a firm believer in the power of prayer . I ' ve seen not only the joy of receiving God ' s answer - even if it didn ' t show up the way the person doing the praying thought it would o : sho � ld - but also the cathartic process of connectmg with the Lord and hashing out the emotions that go along with those deep , sincere , pleading-for-a-change kind of invocations . I ' m also a firm believer , however , in the anointed calling that God has placed on some people to be therapists , psychologists and licensed counselors to help heal others much like neurosurgeons and cardiologists do .
One out of every 20 adults experiences some form of depression in any given two-week period . Hypothetically , that means in your office , your sorority , even your congregation , at least one person is struggling right now with symptoms that may be too deeply rooted to just be prayed away . Depression is the leading cause of disability in the country , particularly for women in their 30s . To complicate the issue , as if it needed more complexity , somatization - which , in the language of everyman , is physical ailment that crops up because of mental health problems-shows up at a rate of 15 percent in our community compared to only 9 percent among White folks . There ' s a trickle down affect that proves what goes on in our heads has a direct impact on the rest of our bodies . Since we already have a higher rate of just about every disease under the sun , that makes our holistic health that much more serious .
Sometimes the compassionate ear of a girlfriend or the impassioned petitioning of a man or woman of the cloth isn ' t enough . There ' s just no substituting the expertise of a licensed mental health professional , and that includes self-medicating with drugs , alcohol , gambling , shopping and sex . Insurance coverage for mental health care is sketchy because many companies unfortunately don ' t recognize that head checks are just as important as heart checks . That ' s a battle in and of itself . But we need the church to take mental health - and physical health , for that matter - as seriously as it takes pleading the blood of Jesus over our souls . Statistics don ' t lie , and neither do the numbers of brothers and sisters suffering in the pews .
Do deep and spooky theological breakdowns and exegeses of the Bible if you must . And keep praying , because the spirit and medical worlds indeed go hand-in-hand to facilitate healing . But pray for good therapists for the folks who need them while you ' re at it because we , as a body of believers , should be doing our part to shake off the stigma and let the Lord do his work through the people he ' s chosen to keep the rest of us from going plum crazy .