Even accounting for possible shifts in reporting methods, it is clear the mental health crisis is real. So many have decided they can no longer cope with the demands of life. The data confirms what we have sensed for some time: something is terribly wrong and we don’t know how to fix it.

Looking for Answers

Experts offer competing theories of what has driven this trend, which was well-established before COVID-19. Some attribute the despair epidemic to the rise in social media, young people especially hit hard by the constant comparison, the fear of missing out, and 24/7 exposure to cyber-bullying.

Others blame economic stressors like the 2008 housing crash. And some point to increased access to the means of self-harm: opioids, firearms, and the like. And some note that mental health service availability is a major factor, with suicides frequently clustered in low-access areas.

But none of these alone is able to bear the weight of these sobering statistics.

Anxiety, shame, and depression are as old as time itself. There is nothing new under the sun. But there is a key difference in today’s society in how we deal with them.

“People today experience a lot of pain, and that is nothing new, but they are doing it without the right people to come alongside them,” said Welch. “They are doing it alone.”

In fact, nearly half of Americans reported that they were often lonely, even before COVID-19. And nearly 20% of millennials said they had no friends at all, according to a yougov.com study.

The despair epidemic correlates strongly with the loneliness epidemic, with isolation providing the ideal breeding ground for mental health struggles to worsen to the point of self-harm.

“People who struggle with depression need others in their lives who are alert to the signs of suffering and violate polite boundaries,” wrote Washington Post opinion writer Michael Gerson, who has publicly discussed his own struggles with depression. “They need someone who is willing to say: ‘You may not want to hear this, but I care about you and I’m worried about you. Please tell me how you are hurting and allow me to help.’”

Perhaps the antidote to the despair epidemic lies not in technology or medicine, though those disciplines provide helpful tools. Perhaps it lies in offering persistent presence coupled with hope — a job description for all of us, and one that is tailor-made for the church.

Connecting Like Christ

Communities have a clear buffering effect on depression and suicide, according to Dr. Richard Shelton, a medical researcher and professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama. “It’s connection that matters.”

“People today experience a lot of pain, and that is nothing new, but they are doing it without the right people to come alongside them. They are doing it alone.” – Ed Welch

And it’s not just any kind of connection. Scientists are busily innovating apps to identify and address those at risk. But they have discovered that technology solutions alone actually worsen the problem. They only work when paired with a human interaction, in person or on the phone.

It’s a reflection of the profound value the body of Christ can offer to those hurting inside and outside of the fold, bringing the brokenhearted near to the Lord who loves them. The Christian church can offer presence and hope in Christ to those consumed by pain. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure,” writes Paul in Hebrews 6:19. Though emotions can cause us to pitch and sway like ships in a storm, the Word and the hope contained within can stabilize, especially when offered in the context of community.

Indeed, the church incarnates Christ when it is able to administer love and hope in this healing way, walking with the afflicted through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).

“What breaks the tie of depression is connection with another person,” says John Cox, a Christian clinical psychologist based in Jackson, Mississippi. “What breaks depression is somebody walking into our pain with us and walking us out.”

He describes love and connection, particularly experienced in the body of Christ, as the ultimate way to push back against sin and death.

“Show your ugly, messy, true self and still receive love and acceptance — when that happens in relationship, love conquers the Fall,” said Cox.

Demystifying Mental Health

All too often, the church tends to separate a person’s life into two spheres — the emotional and the spiritual. But mental health issues are nested within spiritual problems, says Welch, and every difficulty of life is a spiritual problem. “We need the Spirit of God to help us, to arouse us to God, to intercede for us, to help us meet Jesus, to find grace to make it through the day,” he says.

“Suicidal thoughts say, ‘Tomorrow is as bad as today and I don’t have the resources to deal with it.’ Jesus says that He gives us power and a mission now, and an important part of that mission is that we speak the burdens of our heart to Him.”

Because the stakes are so high, many people hesitate to interact with those in crisis, according to Shelton. They are afraid of harming people with mental illness, concerned that saying the wrong thing will lead to a catastrophic outcome. But that’s not true, he says. Research shows that merely talking about suicidal feelings decreases a person’s likelihood to act on them.

It is easy to consider mental health sufferers a special category. But individuals and churches can provide the same support and guidance as if the person received a cancer diagnosis, says Shelton. “Provide presence and make sure they have good medical care and a support system. Most of all show you care for them.”

Of course, there is still a need for mental health professionals to help those who are not improving with community support and prayer alone. And part of a pastor’s training should be to determine when to invite professionals into the process.

“Providing appropriate care can be a challenge — you need a gatekeeper with expertise to determine what care is needed,” said Shelton, recommending that every pastor have a list of qualified mental health professionals in their area to call upon with questions or referrals.

Learning to Lean in

With soaring rates of sufferers and stretched caregivers, even before coronavirus, the despair epidemic is straining traditional treatment models. At one elite university in the Southeast, more than 80% of the student body struggled with mental health issues, and there was a four-month waiting list for counseling services. “Individuals and churches are going to have to help the medical community solve this problem,” said Shelton. “We don’t have enough mental health professionals to fix it.”

He encourages pastors and members to proactively pursue congregants who are under extreme stress, modeling clinical treatment methods that try to predict who will struggle, and intervene early. The military currently uses risk models to identify and reach those at highest risk before they even exhibit symptoms, offering preemptive counseling.

But before intervening, the church must first learn to listen. In recent years, the church has grown in its capacity to hear human suffering, reports Welch, who grew up in the 1960s. “Back then, no one had problems. A kind of triumphalism was preached.”

But the church’s recent strides forward are not enough. Though we are now better at inviting people in pain to speak, we still haven’t learned to curb foolish responses, like providing tone-deaf platitudes or exacerbating pain by declaring that suicide is a sin. If the church asks people to share, it must become equally skilled in responding with grace and compassion.

We can do this by availing ourselves of the normal means of grace provided to us, says Welch, including Scripture, prayer, and offering the very person of Jesus.

One way to do this is to learn to use the Scriptures as a tool of connection, he says. “In the Psalms God tells us: ‘Speak to me from your heart.’ Then He helps us with words. ‘Is it like this? Is it like this?’” The process of articulating our experience to the Lord and hearing from Him in the Word strengthens both counselor and counselee. We learn to feel our weakness and pain not in isolation, but in union with Christ, who is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34). We learn to cast our anxieties on Him who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

Welch also urges every church member to grow in several key skills: showing interest in other people and meaning it, and moving in until we are moved by what the person has said. In addition to offering this kind of empathy, he recommends that members ask how they can pray, and do it right then.