Christianity Today

Hi Amy, It sounds like your book on Troubled Minds will be a great contribution to the church of Jesus Christ. Of course as a fellow author I hoped that Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It, would have been part of your top five. It was nominated by Foreword Magazine as the Best Non-Fiction in 2005. The book is personal, biblical and technical account of mental illness. Have you read it? I would be glad to swap books with you. My email is bloemsteve@yahoo.com. Steve Bloem

I would like to see a place for supernatural healing in the discussion of mental illness if we are addressing the subject from a Christian perspective. Or at least some testimonies. We all have seen every kind of disease and illness healed in the last few decades through the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus. Many books have been written, many credible testimonies given and I have witnessed much first hand. But few are writing about healing from mental illness. My daughter was healed of serious Manic Depression a year ago. We have gone through a period centuries ago when all mental illness was blamed on demons. The Pendulum has swung the other way. I believe in the physical base of mental illness and the power of medication, but what role can healing and deliverance from demons play in the recovery process?

I wonder if skepticism and ambivalence toward mental illness doesn't have as much to do with the practitioners as the disease? Psychology and psychiatry, despite phenomenal developments in the past couple decades, have a lot of catching up to do, and a century-long love affair with Freud hasn't helped. For example, Christian psychology has never admitted (or apologized) for its tainted involvement in the recovered memory scandals of the 90's, something that continues to affect people today. Don't get me wrong. I am deeply committed to both the application of science and spirituality in healing. But I've experienced a disturbing hubris among Christians that practice in this field (with not a few exceptions). What do I want? I want the the discipline to search it's collective soul and let the rest of us in on the discussion.