If you’re reading this, chances are you have been impacted by mental health struggles. Things may be hard for you right now – well done for being here, and keep going.
Or, maybe you have a housemate who is really suffering. Maybe you are a parent concerned for your child who has just gone to university. Maybe, you are a student and for the first time you have begun to experience symptoms of anxiety or depression. Whoever you are, I hope that what follows you might bring some comfort.
For many students, university can be a really challenging time when it comes to mental health. It's often a mix of different factors: the lack of a support network, the upheaval of leaving home and academic pressures are but a few. Whatever the reasons, this can be incredibly isolating and for many leads to asking big questions. If you are a Christian, perhaps this has even led to experiencing doubt for the first time.
I remember when I first began to struggle in my third year, finding it really difficult to really believe God still loved me. The deep sadness, frenzy of anxiety and the shame from binge eating I was experiencing felt so contrary to fruit of the spirit like joy, peace and self-control. They certainly didn’t reflect how I was feeling. And this terrified me. I felt so guilty and confused about all my emotions.
And yet Mind.com says that according to recent research, 1 in 5 students have a diagnosed mental health problem. This statistic is concerning at best, and at worst devastating. But if you are struggling, please know it’s not just you. You are not alone.
It’s really hard to know exactly what to say when thinking about mental health. I am not an expert, and there is a chunky appendix full of practical advice on how to get professional help. I would really encourage you to do that.
Instead, I hope to point you to Jesus, our suffering Saviour who meets you in your pain. Here Harry and Yuyu have shared something of their story and experience of mental health struggles when they came to university. It may be really helpful for you to read them and get a sense of their experience and how God spoke to them in that space.
What follows are two short reflections on their experiences, drawing on their disappointment at their university experiences and the loneliness they both felt.
One of the things that really stands out in Harry and Yuyu’s stories is that they both had a deep sense that the mental health struggles they experienced were not what they expected at university.
Maybe you’ve left for university and you were excited to make new friends and be in a new place. Maybe you had huge career expectations and this course was just the beginning. Your hopes were sky high.
Then, for whatever reason, reality fell short of this. University was not what you expected.
Sometimes the falling short-ness of life compared to our expectations can be devastating.
For me in my final year at university, realising my course hadn’t gone to plan and that I was going to get a low grade was what pushed me over into my first experience with bulimia nervosa.
When you look at the arc of scripture, this actually makes quite a lot of sense.
We were made for paradise (Genesis 1). We were not made for pain, this was a result of the curse (Genesis 3). Work and relationships were not meant to be broken. So there is something really natural about feeling the ache of this, as we long for redemption (Romans 8:1-25).
I don’t have the space here to delve into a full theology of the brokenness we experience, but there is a line to say - it is ok that this does not feel ok!
The truth is, all is not ok.
If you are finding uni hard, please don’t torture yourself by feeling that it must just be because of you. This world can be really, really difficult sometimes. It is ok to be struggling. Sadly, it is part of the human experience. As you battle with your mental health struggles, please don’t add insult to injury by piling up guilt and self-loathing on top of the symptoms you are already experiencing.
If I did have one piece of advice, aside from please seek professional help, it would be to find someone who loves Jesus who can walk with you in this. Someone to make you a cup of tea and give you a hug (if you’re a hugger). Someone who can pray through the pain with you and point you toward Jesus.
Something you might experience, if you pursue medical help for your mental health condition, is CBT. Or, maybe if you’ve not been down this route, you may have tried mindfulness exercises. Either way the concept, particularly with CBT is to really focus on the present moment. You stop and use your five senses to smell, listen, look, touch and taste (although this one is a bit more ambiguous). Regardless, the gist of this is to fill your mind with a real present moment thought, rather than the hypothetical anxiety-induced-scenario you can’t escape.
In Psalm 8:3-6 David writes, ‘When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet’.
There is so much here in just a few lines. But the main thing to dwell on is this: David says that we are made by the God who made galaxies with His fingertips. And yet he also says “what is mankind that you are mindful of them?”
God has made humans a little lower than the angels, He has given us significance, and He calls us special.
God is mindful of us. His thoughts are concerned with us.
One of the things that came out in both Harry and Yuyu’s stories was the deep sense of loneliness and isolation they felt, and how this contributed to their mental health struggles. It is such an awful place to be in.
Yet while in this broken world it may not always feel true, it is eternally true that God cares for humans. He is mindful of you.
We see this even more clearly in the ministry of Jesus, as we witness Him meet with those who are suffering again and again with gentleness.
In his book Gentle and Lowly, which analyses the heart of Jesus, Dane Ortlund writes, ‘This compassion comes in waves over and over again in Christ’s ministry, driving Him to heal the sick, feed the hungry, teach the crowds and wipe away the tears of the bereaved. The Greek word for compassion is the same in all of these texts and refers more literally to the bowels or guts of a person - it’s an ancient way of referring to what rises up from one’s innermost core. This compassion reflects the deepest heart of Christ’.
Jesus’ core is compassion for people who are suffering. Human suffering makes His stomach turn. Our God is a God of deep deep love and solidarity.
To find resources on mental health see here.
This was written by a UCCF Staff Worker
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