Prayers For Mental Illnesses (General)
IDEAS FOR PRAYERS ABOUT PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS
Manic depression, schizophrenia, and other psychiatric disorders can be difficult for those diagnosed as well as for the people who love them. General Christian prayers for psychiatric disorders guide and heal those with mental illness and their loved ones.The following prayers — prayer after mental health diagnosis, … blessing for the treatment of psychiatric disorder, and thanksgiving for healing of a mental illness — may be used by Christians who are seeking to ask God for guidance and blessings as they struggle with mental illness, either in the self or a friend or loved one.
Prayer After Mental Health Diagnosis
Learning one has depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or another psychiatric disorder is a life-changing event. The following prayer asks God to guide and bless the individual newly diagnosed and his or her family:
‘God, be with [insert individual newly diagnosed with mental illness here] as he/she is struggling with having [insert psychiatric disorder here]. Free [insert newly diagnosed individual] from negative thoughts or fears about this condition. Instead, help him/her reach out and do what needs to be done for a healthy and happy life. Be with all who love and support [insert newly diagnosed individual], especially [insert names of specific family or friends, if desired], that all might move forward united in You. Amen.’
This prayer might be offered to a Christian family or friends after revealing news of a new mental health diagnosis, or to increase support for the newly diagnosed.
Blessing For The Treatment Of A Psychiatric Disorder
The treatment of a mental health condition is a long, windy road for many individuals and their loved ones. The following prayer invokes God’s blessing in healing a mental illness:
“God of power and might, be with [insert individual struggling with mental illness] as he/she seeks to treat his/her [insert name of psychiatric disorder] with [insert method of treatment]. Guide him/her and those who love him/her on this journey, that all might find healing and peace. Be our light in the darkness, God, and lead the way, now and always. Amen.”
Thanksgiving For Healing Of A Mental Illness
With medication, therapy, hospitalization, and other interventions, a person diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder can experience healing. The following thanksgiving celebrates a milestone in treatment of a mental health condition:
“God, thank you for healing [insert individual diagnosed with mental health condition] in body, spirit, and mind. We rejoice in [insert specific progress in treating psychiatric disorder]. Please continue to bless and guide [insert individual with mental health condition] and all who love him/her in his/her journey, that more healing and peace may come to those who love [insert person with psychiatric disorder]. Amen.”
This prayer might be offered as part of a party or other celebration to mark a milestone in a loved one’s mental health such as conclusion of therapy, coming home from the hospital, or finding a medication that eradicates unwanted symptoms.
Mental illness challenges those diagnosed as well as everyone who loves them. For a Christian who believes in prayer, God becomes an added support to those seeking healing in a psychiatric disorder.
Shared by Melissa Roberts, in ‘Prayers for Mental Illness: Christian Prayer Ideas for Psychiatric Disorders’ at Suite101
http://www.suite101.com/content/prayers-for-mental-illness-a180153#ixzz1H7rTY000 (Accessed April 2012)
A Prayer for People Living with Mental Illness
Loving God, I pray for all whose brains have been hurt by disease, injury, stress, trauma, and other factors of human life in a hard world. I pray for all who love them and want to help. I pray for your comfort in their grief, hope amid loss, and the balm of community with people who understand.
For people with mental illness–may they find hope in you and feel your longing for them.
For parents of children with mental illness–may they know the limits of their power both to cause and to cure.
For children of parents with mental illness–may they know you as loving parent and find places where they can grow up in safety, no matter how old they are.
For friends of suffering people–may they resist the temptation to try to “fix” their friends and recognize the simple power of their loving presence.
For spiritual leaders–may they deny both helplessness and overconfidence, courageously serving as first responders and faithful shepherds.
For people who need treatment and don’t receive it–may they recognize their need, believe life can be better, and find people who can help.
For those burdened by shame and stigma–may they walk into the light and find compassionate people.
Lord, I pray for light in the darkness. I pray that people with vulnerable minds will find hope and help among followers of Christ who will love them and point them toward what they need while letting them live with that need. I pray for acceptance and grace–the same kind of grace you offer so freely to all. I pray that many churches will embrace the opportunity for messy and sometimes thankless ministry among the marginalized, in the name of the one whose love knows no margins.
Amen.
Loving God,
we pray today for those who are confronted by the sadness, ambiguity and confusion of mental illness, and for those upon whom they depend for attention and compassionate care.
Look with mercy on all whose afflictions bring them weakness, distress, confusion or isolation.
Provide for them homes of dignity and peace; give to them understanding helpers and the willingness to accept help.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Extract from ‘A Prayer for Mental Health’ by Sarah Lund
…”For all who feel trapped by darkness and fear that daylight will never come, O Divine Light, grant us hope.
For all who question life’s value, meaning and purpose, O Holy Comforter, grant us peace.
For all who grieve loved ones whose lives have been lost to suicide, O Father and Mother God, grant us healing.
For all who go without medical care and treatment for mental illness, and are behind bars or living on the streets, O Great Redeemer, grant us justice.
For all who self medicate through the abuse of alcohol and drugs, whose addictions consume and destroy them, O Holy Sustainer, grant us serenity.
For all who suffer from post traumatic stress, moral injury and other emotional, mental and physical difficulties as a result of military service or victims of war, O God of the veterans and trauma survivors, grant us abundant life.
For all who live with serious and unpleasant side-effects of medications and whose quality of life feels diminished by the onset of illness, O Holy God, grant us salvation.
For our young people whose lives are high stress and high pressure, where depression and anxiety is common, O Christ with us, grant us grace.
For the members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community who are at the highest risk of experiencing life-threatening mental illness and for communities of color where the stigma and shame prevent people from getting help, O God of Diversity, grant us acceptance.
For mental healthcare professionals, counsellors, therapists, pastors, psychiatrists, psychologists, neurologists, and brain researchers, O Great Physican, grant us wisdom.
For the family members of people with mental disorders, who at times feel both guilty and helpless, both exhausted and afraid, both hopeful and discouraged, O God of Mercy, grant us patience.”
Sarah Griffith Lund 2015
Ally Patterson from Chronically Constant states “If I weren’t dealing with chronic illness on a daily basis, I wouldn’t know what to pray for someone who was. The best starting point is to ask your chronically ill loved one what they personally would like prayer for.” She suggests 10 ways to pray for someone who has a chronic illness:
1. That they would know God’s comfort
2. That they would have hope
3. For their family and relationships
4. That they would have joy
5. For them not to be discouraged
6. For wisdom in making medical decisions
7. That God would strengthen their faith
8. For them not to be anxious [worry]
9. That they would trust more fully in God
10. Healing
Several of of these prayer points are very appropriate for praying for a loved one with a mental illness. However it is important to be quite clear that the mental illness is not being seen as either demonization or spiritual weakness. It is never OK to tell people who suffer from mental illness and their families to ‘pray harder’. Mental illnesses are not caused by personal weakness or lack of character.
Ally Patterson in ’10 Things to Pray for Your Chronically Ill Friend’
…”People with insight can work more creatively with distress, pain and suffering in their lives. It often appears to be a different case, however, with psychosis, where there is often too much fragmentation and chaos at the level of verbal encounter. However, this does not mean that people do not have the capacity for different levels of experience. Indeed, experience in the mental health context does reflect the fact that on many occasions one can be surprised by what is understood and how. The way to work with individuals more so than with words is to be with them through the physicality of presence, and working through the senses. This can mean sitting with them time and time again. And it can mean focusing more on the body, with body referencing activities, whereby the person gradually forms the experience. The point to convey here is that in working with people with psychosis there is no quick route – it is time consuming, labour intensive – repetitive – and it is based on continual reaffirmation of the same experience over and over again. But it is worth inquiring into different and more creative ways of ‘being with.’ The most important thing is to get beyond what people feel they ought to do and what they ought to be experiencing. The challenge is to seek to discover and work in the encounter with what feels right for them and what feels helpful and comfortable (in terms of their faith life but also life generally). In this way the creative potential is there for people to come gradually into a more holistic, and often less punitive relationship with themselves – to adopt, in effect, a framework of ‘loving kindness’ for themselves.
Julia Head in ‘Please Pray For Me’: The Significance of Prayer for Mental and Emotional Well Being p13-14.
There are numerous excellent resources that offer suggestions for prayers about mental health. Many are featured on this website (with hyperlinks).
Inspirational Outreaches, Projects, & Ideas
for Faith Communities
For quick reference the following resources, prepared by the Action Alliance ’s Faith Communities Task Force, are a good place to start:
Prayers Concerning Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
Sample Prayers - A Supplement to the Prayer Guide for the National Weekend of Prayer 2018