Our Mental Health Issues (Group/Introductory Lesson)

Open with Prayer

Opening Story:

              I’m one of those people who loved school. Even if there were occasional teachers I didn’t care for, the learning kept me coming back. I read all the time and often got in trouble for staying up too late with my flashlight under the sheets. Even when there was teasing, aggression, or meanness exhibited toward me by my peers, I plowed through without deep struggles. I navigated social settings with calmness and instinctively knew how to deescalate situations, even as a kid. Because of this, I assumed everyone was like me.

              Then I got married. My husband hated school. He had a few teachers who made a positive impression on him, but he struggled to socially understand hidden cues, actions, and comments. He didn’t learn how to express emotions or work through his feelings as a kid. He shouldered every action and internalized every comment. Teachers regularly baffled him and he couldn’t figure out why he would get in trouble for things.

              After we were married, his ten-year high school reunion came around. He decided we should attend and the closer it got, the more anxious he became, even to the point of full-on panic attacks. I couldn’t understand what the big deal was. Didn’t everyone have a good school experience? Wasn’t high school the best time in everyone’s life?

              We made it through the reunion, basketball game, and visited with a few of the people he called friends who showed genuine excitement in seeing him. He introduced me to teachers who obviously liked him and told lots of humorous stories about him. When we got in the car, he was socially and emotionally exhausted and told me how out of place he felt that night and had always felt like that. He proceeded to tell me about his teachers not liking or understanding him and that he had no friends. Based on our interactions that night, it just didn’t seem to add up.

              I quizzed him further on the way home and his anxiety shot through the roof. He had whole periods of his school life he didn’t remember and became angry and confused talking about other parts. Slowly things came together and I was able to see things from his perspective. Social anxiety, general anxiety, and depression had been a part of his life since childhood and they were the glasses he used to view the world. He couldn’t see truth because his inner dialogue was filled with self-protective lies. And he hated school so much he couldn’t see the good parts.

              Fast forward to my oldest child starting school. We pulled up for open house, and my son was so excited; he loved playing with friends. We were fortunate enough to never put him in daycare, so this was the first school-like setting he would attend. My husband wiped sweat from his forehead and paused to regain his balance. I thought he was struggling with our child starting school; I mean, who wouldn’t?

              The closer we got to the pre-k area, the slower he walked. My son and I entered the classroom and my husband slinked in behind us and velcroed himself to the wall. He looked like a caged animal, but that evening was about our son, so I walked with him around the classroom. He played with the toys and met new friends. He was even excited about taking a daily nap. I looked back where my husband should have been and he was gone.

              After we met the teacher and stayed for a bit, we headed outside. My husband was white as a ghost having a full-on panic attack outside of the classroom. Not because our child was starting school, but because of the fact we were on a school campus and it triggered him. School was that big of a struggle for him that he has literal PTSD that he has to regularly work through in relation to school.

              Mental health is real and it’s serious. Things from our past impact our future. Unhealed wounds can pop up without warning and stuff we thought was over and done with reemerges and stops us in our tracks. And those of us in education are not exempt from this. Our mental struggles impact how we see the world. Anxiety, depression, and PTSD are only three of the topics we will cover this week in our study, but they make navigating the world in full truth and reality extremely difficult. If you are impacted by anything in the mental arena, this week is for you.

Scripture Reading:

Psalm 42 is one of my favorite Psalms. Written by the sons of Korah, I have a feeling we would have been good friends. How often have I been down in the dumps and had to talk sense into myself? As we take a deeper look at this Psalm, how do these words minister to your heart?

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning,    oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42 (NIV)

Discussion

1.      How has mental health impacted either your own life or the life of someone you care about?

2.      If you regularly battle anxiety or depression (or both), explain what it can do to your mind and daily life events?

3.      What happens when we look through the eyes of mental unhealthiness when we are in our classroom?

4.      What are ways to boost mental health?

5.      Based on the Psalm, how do you think God can meet us in our lowest moments of struggle?

Homework

              Reread Psalm 42 and turn the words into a prayer from your heart.

Personal Reflection

              Examine your own place in life? Are you anxious? Depressed? Neurodivergent? Are there things that rattle you that shouldn’t? Are you controlled my your inner monologue and sent spiraling on a regular basis? Are there areas you need to explore that could benefit from counseling? Take some time today and think about those private spaces where no one is allowed. Are they healthy? If not, what kind of attention do they need?