379. The Day My Brain Broke: Mental Health and Deconstructing My Faith

The New Evangelicals Podcast

Tim Whitaker

News, Religion & Spirituality, Politics, Christianity

4.6 • 936 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Tim shares his personal journey with mental health, particularly focusing on the challenges he faced growing up in a conservative evangelical environment. He discusses the lack of understanding and support for mental health issues in his upbringing, leading to anxiety and panic attacks in adulthood. Chapters 05:02 The Impact of Conservative Evangelicalism on Mental Health 10:17 Experiencing Panic Attacks and Anxiety 20:05 Understanding Pure O and Mental Health Management 28:08 Reflections on Mental Health and Personal Growth ____________________________________________________ you'd like to support our work, you can DONATE here!⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us On Instagram @thenewevangelicals Subscribe On YouTube @thenewevangelicals The New Evangelicals exists to support those who are tired of how evangelical church has been done before and want to see an authentic faith lived out with Jesus at the center. This show is produced by Josh Gilbert Media | ⁠⁠⁠⁠Joshgilbertmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ We are committed to building a caring community that emulates the ways of Jesus by reclaiming the evangelical tradition and embracing values that build a better way forward. If you’ve been marginalized by your faith, you are welcome here. We’ve built an empathetic and inclusive space that encourages authentic conversations, connections and faith. Whether you consider yourself a Christian, an exvangelical, someone who's questioning your faith, or someone who's left the faith entirely, you are welcome here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.8	You're listening to the new evangelicals podcast. Hey friends. How's it going? This month is a mental health awareness month. So I wanted to share a story
0:51.2	that I've never really talked about in full on this channel or really
0:56.2	on the internet period and it's my own journey with mental health. I think that a lot of us who
1:00.8	grew up in conservative evangelical spaces have a hard time with our mental health because the
1:07.9	tools that we were given when we were younger were not always so great.
1:13.2	And so that's what this video is about.
1:15.3	I want to share my journey and hopefully it helps you as we navigate what does a better path forward look like,
1:21.9	not only in our faith, but as we think about our mental health journey and also with the
1:26.6	new cycle and the power of
1:28.4	social media, there's a lot going on. There's a reason why I think many of us have been going
1:33.3	to therapy or who have been seeking out maybe a diagnosis for the first time, perhaps for
1:38.4	being neurodivergent or for anxiety or depression or ADHD. I can tell you I'm on a waiting list to get evaluated for
1:46.4	ADHD. I'm pretty sure that I have it, although not official. So anyway, my story starts like this.
1:52.7	It's probably similar to yours. I grew up in a very conservative Christian tradition.
1:58.1	And I got to be honest, I really wasn't taught much about mental health either way.
2:03.6	I know that some people who grew up in the church were told that it's just a demon or that you
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