It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that the headlines are increasingly filled with warnings about an escalating mental health crisis in America.
Once only whispered about or discussed behind closed doors, our psychological and emotional well-being have become a common topic of conversation. This new openness can be healthy and helpful, but it also points to a growing need that cannot be ignored.
Since Focus on the Family’s inception in 1977, the importance of mental health has been emphasized both on our radio broadcast and in various print publications.
It was the English writer, C.S. Lewis, who once observed, “Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.’”
Mr. Lewis was right, of course, and such a sentiment invariably resonates with each of us. I immediately think back to my childhood and the pain of my father abandoning our family, and then my mother dying when I was only nine. Then my dad, who bounced in and out of my life, died before I even became a teenager. Through it all, my emotions were raw, layered, and confused.
Originally published in the Washington Times. | 
