Archive for the ‘mental health professionals’ Tag


Why is there so little compassion shown today in a United States so full of hurting people? Is it because we all have our own agendas? Let’s explore that notion.

Most people today care primarily about themselves. We all have our own little hurts to nurse, perceiving them as larger, more painful, and less manageable than someone else’s burdens. Therefore, most people don’t express genuine compassion for someone who’s having difficulty, unless it involves a response to a local or national tragedy. They don’t act to help when confronted with another’s pain. Not even a kind word do they utter. Exceptions, of course, include people involved in service organizations and true Christians.

Understanded, people may not comprehend another’s plight. For example, who of us understands the difficulties of someone suffering from a mental illness? Professionals who treat them understand to a greater degree. Family members are baffled by symptoms, reacting with surprise or anger to the person’s inappropriate words and bizarre actions.

However, family members often feel the pain of the afflicted one, wishing they could take the pain away. The best they can do is get their loved one to a psychiatrist who can begin the difficult search for an effective drug therapy. A social worker can assist by sifting through issues to affect successful coping mechanisms for the patient and bring healing to the family.

But what about society as a whole? We’ve been derailed by the media who has further stigmatized mental illness. The media has led us to believe that any severely violent act is the work of someone with a typical mental illness and that mentally ill people are dangerous unless properly medicated.

Reliable studies and statistics have shown that a much smaller percentage of the mentally ill have violent tendencies than people without the illness. These nonviolent people languished away in mental hospitals years ago when effective treatments did not exist. Now that most people with mental illness live within our communities, they are either treated with indifference, shunned, degraded, or feared. Few people treat them with respect.

How can we develop compassion? I think most of us need an adjustment only God can offer, for only God can change a heart. We need to learn to value each person equally as God does. And we need to consider other’s needs to be as important as our own needs. Only then can genuine compassion exist. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34) and “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (Mat 19:19).

The next time you see someone struggling with any type of illness, offer a kind word with an air of friendliness. Step out of your comfort zone. Show interest in what they do or introduce them to a new hobby that may help them heal. We all need a friend. Jesus was this friend and healer to the downtrodden He encountered during His earthly ministry. Follow Jesus’ example.

None of us should live with only our own agenda in mind. God will reward you for your acts of compassion. You will be richly blessed.

—Scripture Quotations from NKJV—

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