Mental Health and Illness
The books listed below offer wisdom on a variety of topics related to mental health and mental illness. Some are theological reflections and resources for pastors and congregations, while others are memoirs about how mental illness has affected people’s lives. If you’d like to learn more about mental health and mental illness, see our resource guide.
John Swinton and Angela H. Reed, eds., Seeking Sanctuary Finding Shalom: Toward a Deeper Practical Theology of Mental Health (Baylor University Press, 2025)
This book proposes that we think theologically about mental health as a matter of the collective body of human beings and the welfare of creation. Swinton contends that the ways in which we structure creation—relational, social, cultural, political, spiritual—has a profound impact on our mental health.
Mark Mayfield. ed., The Mental Health Handbook for Ministry: A Practical Guide for Supporting the Church’s Mental and Emotional Well-being (Baker Publishing, 2025)
This book combines clinical research and a biblical worldview to offer a practical and accessible resource to help pastors and church leaders to identify the symptoms of mental health challenges, support those who are hurting, and discern when to refer someone to a mental health professional.
Jessica Young Brown, Making Space at the Well: Mental Health and the Church (Judson Press, 2020)
Beginning with the biblical motif of going to the village well for the waters that sustain life and exploring the communal significance of that well, pastor, professor, and clinical psychologist Jessica Young Brown calls on the Black Church to rally its historic resilience and creativity to acknowledge and engage those in its pews who are struggling with mental health concerns.
Monica A. Coleman, Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith (Fortress Press, 2016)
This book is both a spiritual autobiography and a memoir of mental illness. Citing serendipitous encounters with black intellectuals like Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Angela Davis, and Renita Weems, Coleman offers a rare account of how the modulated highs of bipolar II can lead to professional success, while hiding a depression that even her doctors rarely believed.
David Finnegan-Hosey, Christ on the Psych Ward (Church Publishing, 2018)
This book shares ways communities of faith can be present with those suffering from mental illness and crises. Weaving together personal testimony, theological reflection, and practical ministry experience, the author offers a message of hope for those suffering and for friends and faith communities struggling to care for them.
Jolene Philo, Does My Child Have PTSD?: What To Do When Your Child Is Hurting from the Inside Out (Familius, 2015)
PTSD can occur in children who have had medical illness, witnessed violence, or have had other traumatic experiences. Philo writes from the perspective of a parent of a child who has PTSD and with her years of experience as a teacher.
John Swinton, Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges (Eerdmans, 2020)
This book makes the case for reclaiming that hope by changing the way we talk about mental health and remembering that, above all, people are people, regardless of how unconventionally they experience life. It is a call for the church to be an epicenter of compassion for those experiencing depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and related difficulties.
Janelle Bitikofer, Streetlights: Empowering Christians to Respond to Mental Illnesses and Addictions (Book Furnace, 2020)
Streetlights is a resource book and discussion guide for Christians and churches who want to learn more about mental illnesses and addictions and hands-on ways to support individuals and families in their churches and communities who are experiencing them.
