930: Depression, Mormonism, and Faith Transitions Pt. 1

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2018

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In light of a statement on LDS.org declaring, “An inability to feel the spirit … is often a symptom of poor mental health,” Natasha Helfer Parker, MFT CST and John Dehlin, Ph.D. are joined by our guest Matt to speak about his experiences with Mormon faith crises, depression, and suicidality—issues he has dealt with for 20 years.

According to Matt, it makes him angry to read that his struggles were a trial, test, or blessing from God, or that he could have been healed if he had more faith, prayed, or hadn’t “sinned.” Matt believes that religious observance is not a cure for mental health illness, and in these episodes, Natasha and John discuss how Mormonism, and in particular a faith transition in the context of Mormonism, can exacerbate the symptoms of depression.

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Part 1: Natasha and John discuss depression and then introduce our guest, Matt

Part 2: Matt shares his faith transition and how it affected his mental health

Part 3: Natasha, John, and Matt discuss the LDS Church’s statement regarding mental health and the ability to feel the “Spirit”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Well I won't set on mother too. She said the things like mothers do. But mothers can be wrong sometimes.
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0:59.1	You're just in love, you're just in love, you're just in love, you're just in love, you're in love.
1:15.5	Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. My name is John DeLin.
1:21.6	It is Friday May 11th 2018. We're broadcasting and recording live from our Mormon Stories studios
1:29.6	in Salt Lake City, Utah. We are very excited to have you with us today to be talking about a really
1:36.0	important topic. Today we're going to be talking about Mormonism depression and faith crises.
1:44.2	This was triggered by a message I received from a family member and he pointed me to the LDS Church's
1:54.2	website page on mental health. There was a question in there that basically read,
1:59.8	I can't feel the spirit, is it my fault that I'm struggling? Do I just need more faith?
2:06.4	And the first sentence that is offered as the response says on the LDS.org website,
2:14.8	an inability to feel the spirit is often a symptom of poor mental health.
2:21.7	And this was something that my close family member was very angry about. This person used an F
2:29.6	word when they stumbled upon this statement and it made me very intrigued as well.
2:37.8	I went to Reddit and I posted this quote on Reddit. It got 972 upvotes, 174 comments, and 6.5
2:50.1	thousand views. It definitely triggered a lot of concern. This is a really important topic because
2:58.4	Mormonism in many ways can sometimes lead other populations in depression. We're going to talk about
	...

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