Martin Luther on Mental Health, practical advice for Christians today, is the issues

that set a book of the month for October. It's written by Lutheran Laman, Dr. Stephen

Saunders, Professor of Psychology at Marquette University. Martin Luther on Mental Health

is published by Concordia Publishing House, their phone number 1-800-325-3040, or Learn

More at issuesetc.org, the issues that set a book of the month for October, Martin Luther

on Mental Health.

Mental illness is obviously endemic to our times. We live in very stressful times and

a lot of the coping mechanisms, a lot of the institutions that helped us deal with it

in the past are crumbling around us. One of them being the church in some respects.

What about the time of the Reformation? Martin Luther was no stranger to mental illness.

Many believe that he suffered from a mild form of depression himself, but did he have any

particular insights into what we would call today mental illness?

Welcome back to issuesetc.org. I'm Todd Wilkin. Joining us discuss Martin Luther's insights

on mental illness, a beginning of a conversation with Dr. Stephen Saunders. He's clinical psychologist

and professor of psychology at Marquette University, author of the issuesetc.org book of

the month for October, Martin Luther on Mental Health. Practical advice for Christians

today. Dr. Saunders, welcome.

Thank you. I did to be here.

Does being a Christian in any way exempt someone from suffering from mental illness?

No, I don't think it exempts someone from suffering mental illness. Probably it has a lot

of advantages in terms of dealing with mental illness. That is to say, if you understand

Christianity properly, being, you know, if you go to church regularly, if you understand

...