Grace for the Afflicted

Each day men and women diagnosed with mental disorders are told they need to pray more and turn from their sin. Mental illness is equated with demonic possession, weak faith and generational sin. Why is it that the church has struggled in ministering to those with mental illnesses? As both a church leader and professor of psychology and neuroscience, Michael S. Stanford has seen far too many mentally ill brothers and sisters damaged by well meaning believers who respond to them out of fear ormisinformation rather than grace.Grace for the Afflicted is written to educate Christians about mental illness from both biblical and scientific perspectives. Stanford presents insights into our physical and spiritual nature and discusses the appropriate role of psychology and psychiatry in the life of the believer. Describing common mental disorders, Stanford asks of each: "What does science say and what does the Bible say about this illness?"

Matthew S. Stanford (PhD, Baylor University) is CEO of the Hope and Healing Center and Institute in Houston, Texas, and adjunct professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston Methodist Hospital Institute for Academic Medicine. His research on the interplay between mental health and faith has been featured in such national publications as The New York Times, USA Today, and Christianity Today. A Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, he is the author of several books including Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness and Grace for the Children: Finding Hope in the Midst of Child and Adolescent Mental Illness.