Is part of America’s massive mental health malaise actually rooted in a spiritual crisis?
That’s what Dr. George Barna, co-founder and director of research at the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, is arguing, noting some people seeking medication and counseling are actually “treating the wrong problem.”
“We’re in a situation where the best estimates [are] that we have … about one out of every four adults [with] some kind of diagnosable mental illness,” Barna told CBN News. “There’s a wide range. But when we look at it more deeply, we find that those numbers are higher the younger a person is.”
He continued, “So, as you dig into it to try to figure out things like anxiety, depression, fears, suicidal thoughts, OCD tendencies, addictions, when we look at all of those, what we find is that, often, what may be happening is that it’s not that they have some kind of chemical imbalance or physical issue that’s causing what appears to be a mental illness; what’s causing it may be their belief structure, their worldview.”
Watch Barna explain:
Barna, who has frequently researched and spoken about the importance of developing a biblical worldview, said addressing this deficiency and fixing core beliefs would help alleviate some of the anxiety, stress, and depression raging.
While some people need prescribed pills, counseling, or even hospitalization, he said there are some merely misdiagnosing the core problems.
“I think often what happens is, because counselors across the country — a majority of them don’t really consider spirituality and faith as part of a person’s mental health — what they do is they just go to what they know, which is, ‘We can’t figure it out, so let’s prescribe pills,’ or, ‘Let’s just keep talking about it,’ or, ‘Let’s send you to a hospital’ — whatever it may be,” Barna said. “And, a lot of times, that’s really not the best solution.”
Exploring data from his American Worldview Inventory report, the researcher explained some of the correlations he found between lack of faith, age, and increased mental struggles. The majority of people (56%) in Generation Z, which includes individuals in their teens and early 20s, struggle with mental health issues, with Barna noting just 1% of these people have a biblical worldview.
Then, 49% of Millennials who are in their mid-20s to late 30s and early 40s say “they consistently wrestle with anxiety, depression, fear, et cetera,” he said. Just 2% of that generation has a biblical worldview.
But older generations like Gen X and Baby Boomers, who have a higher proportion of members embracing a biblical worldview, have a lesser percentage of people struggling with their mental health.
“There’s a fairly strong correlation there between all of these kinds of issues,” he said. “Can we say that biblical worldview prevents you from having mental illnesses? No, but we can say that it appears that it severely or significantly diminishes the probability that you’re going to have those issues.”
Barna also addressed some of the attributes of people who have a biblical worldview, noting they are less likely to end up in prison, be responsible for abortions, or engage in other risky behaviors like addiction.
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“They’re more likely, based on self-report, to come out as saying that they’re happy with their life, to say that they’re feeling fulfilled with their life,” Barna said. “They’re much more likely to have longer-lasting marriages, to rate their marriages higher in terms of fulfillment and joy. They’re much more likely to have a clear and compelling sense of meaning in life.”
Ultimately, these metrics don’t surprise Barna, who has been studying Americans’ faith patterns for decades. He said worldview can have a “dramatic effect on all aspects” of a person’s life. His research is unique in that he’s bringing worldview into the fold to see how it impacts every arena.
Barna is hoping the research helps Christians communicate with those outside the church who might be struggling.
“These are great things for us as followers of Christ and people with a biblical worldview to come alongside the people with these kind of issues and just start asking them questions about what they believe,” he said. “And be able to relate it back to their mental health challenges.”
Watch the full interview above for more on this fascinating topic.
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