By Nancy Virden (c)2025

Diagnoses in any realm of medicine offer a guideline for treatment. If you suffer from a broken leg, you do not want someone to call it a muscle spasm and tell you to walk it off. In the same way, an expertly diagnosed mental disorder has specific dos and don’ts to help bring a patient around to a more balanced way of thinking.

I have heard a friend say that having her severe allergy misdiagnosed for years led to frustration and hopelessness. When a doctor finally understood what she was describing, treatment followed that actually helped.

Imagine then that a person has trouble with relationships, money, or confidence. Difficulties that arise from poor judgment or misinformation damage a person’s ability to function well. They do not know what to do about it until an expert is engaged. It’s the same issue as with wobbly bicycle wheels, exotic recipes, and sculpting; none of us knows what to do until we hear from the experts.

A diagnosis of a specific mental disorder lights the path to hopeful resolution. If one’s thinking errors stand between the status quo and joy, of course, treatment is a welcome relief. If emotions are unregulated, it makes sense to learn to control them.

Stigma, the unfounded opinions of many, is what keeps a diagnosis from becoming the key to a more satisfactory life. It is truly unreasonable to disparage a person who is seeking help. Truly unreasonable. Diagnoses save lives, relationships, finances, and yes, even can lead one closer to Christ. His grace is a magnificent flame of light when one escapes from the dark of an unbearable mindset.

Emotions are largely misunderstood in the evangelical world, and many do not have a sound biblical theology of emotions. In fact, many Christians seem to have an allergic reaction to even acknowledging negative feelings, and they believe they are sinning if they feel angry, sad, or anxious. Being able to process emotions in a godly, healthy way helps us to cultivate intimacy with God, heal from difficult, painful wounds, and engage in deep repentance.

-Dave Wiedis, the author of The Spiritually Healthy Leader, is a doctor who founded and oversees a ministry to clergy and church leaders.

I suspect from all I have learned about older women and ADD that I have had it all my life. I will be discussing this with the experts soon. If a treatment exists that could help me succeed, I will try it. It is never a waste of time to ask, and another dignosis is not shameful.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

Proverbs 19:20

Get all the advice and instruction you can,
    so you will be wise the rest of your life.

If you are feeling suicidal or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S., call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room; in the EU, call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here.) Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. 

NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional and speaks only from personal experience and observations. This website is not intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

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