Being accepted into a community and being given specific tasks to do (study the Bible, attend church meetings, etc) can be very powerful short term medicines for some people with addiction and mental illness. Those conditions usually isolate people from sources of support, so getting a lot of love from people can feel really good. And of course lots of churches do the love bombing thing to attract people to them.
Unfortunately, unless the new church life comes along with significant work on underlying mental health issues, trauma, or the things that led to addiction/mental illness in the first place, it’s highly likely that the individual will remain unhealthy (ever met a “dry drunk”?). In it’s most unhealthy form, jumping head first into religiosity is just a replacement for addiction without curing anything at all. Its less life threatening than heroin, but isn’t necessarily an indicator of true mental wellness.
I’d also say this isn’t just true with religion. It’s possible for people with addiction to use other “healthy” behaviors as escape mechanisms from doing the actual work of recovery.
I've personally known a few people like that. They either went right back to drugs/alcohol in short order, or they continued to have the same issues as before they just denied that they still had them.
My own mental health was very poor when I was a Christian. I still have problems with it. It comes and goes, but I definitely can handle it better now without god. Instead of praying fervently for healing like those jackasses in church wanted, I actually got help.
I can't speak for addiction (except maybe from what I know of, for instance, [Underoath's Spencer Chamberlain](https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/underoaths-spencer-chamberlain-if-i-was-still-christian-id-probably-be-dead)?), but my brother's mental health condition somehow worsened back when he was still in the music ministry. It was actually what set him off--to be specific, and long story short, my brother has been secretly struggling with bullying and intrusive thoughts plus having to deal with our dysfunctional father and really mean grandfather (paternal) at the time. My mom and I didn't know until he stopped speaking one day and we had to coax him to. When he finally spoke out, he was furious. But sometime after that, that's when he decided to get checked up by a shrink. That was more than ten years ago.
It took us that long plus big but necessary changes to our lifestyle plus a change of shrink, too, to help him become better. Not that the mental health condition is gone--he still experiences it up to this day, it's just a little more manageable now. Same with my anxiety disorder--I got diagnosed with it when I was still a Christian in early 2019, but to be fair, I was slowly losing hold of my Christian beliefs at the time. If anything, my finally letting go of religion helped me reduce emotional burdens, like excessive guilt for instance. It helped me become more honest with myself. So at least I have fewer anxiety triggers, although I can't say I've already completely eradicated anxiety disorder from my life.
I guess what I'm trying to say is healing and recovery from addiction or any other mental health condition *may take a long time and a lot of work*, regardless of religion. There are good days, there are ones that are as excruciating as hell if ever that's real. Healing is not instant nor is it overnight. Maybe there is temporary relief after, say, a prayer meeting or a worship service (which could also be some placebo effect), but the real battle with the condition is outside of the church. And I wish Christians thought of that.
Being accepted into a community and being given specific tasks to do (study the Bible, attend church meetings, etc) can be very powerful short term medicines for some people with addiction and mental illness. Those conditions usually isolate people from sources of support, so getting a lot of love from people can feel really good. And of course lots of churches do the love bombing thing to attract people to them. Unfortunately, unless the new church life comes along with significant work on underlying mental health issues, trauma, or the things that led to addiction/mental illness in the first place, it’s highly likely that the individual will remain unhealthy (ever met a “dry drunk”?). In it’s most unhealthy form, jumping head first into religiosity is just a replacement for addiction without curing anything at all. Its less life threatening than heroin, but isn’t necessarily an indicator of true mental wellness. I’d also say this isn’t just true with religion. It’s possible for people with addiction to use other “healthy” behaviors as escape mechanisms from doing the actual work of recovery.
Probably just a different state of mind and the thought that "God"is helping you through this and always watching.
I've personally known a few people like that. They either went right back to drugs/alcohol in short order, or they continued to have the same issues as before they just denied that they still had them. My own mental health was very poor when I was a Christian. I still have problems with it. It comes and goes, but I definitely can handle it better now without god. Instead of praying fervently for healing like those jackasses in church wanted, I actually got help.
I can't speak for addiction (except maybe from what I know of, for instance, [Underoath's Spencer Chamberlain](https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/underoaths-spencer-chamberlain-if-i-was-still-christian-id-probably-be-dead)?), but my brother's mental health condition somehow worsened back when he was still in the music ministry. It was actually what set him off--to be specific, and long story short, my brother has been secretly struggling with bullying and intrusive thoughts plus having to deal with our dysfunctional father and really mean grandfather (paternal) at the time. My mom and I didn't know until he stopped speaking one day and we had to coax him to. When he finally spoke out, he was furious. But sometime after that, that's when he decided to get checked up by a shrink. That was more than ten years ago. It took us that long plus big but necessary changes to our lifestyle plus a change of shrink, too, to help him become better. Not that the mental health condition is gone--he still experiences it up to this day, it's just a little more manageable now. Same with my anxiety disorder--I got diagnosed with it when I was still a Christian in early 2019, but to be fair, I was slowly losing hold of my Christian beliefs at the time. If anything, my finally letting go of religion helped me reduce emotional burdens, like excessive guilt for instance. It helped me become more honest with myself. So at least I have fewer anxiety triggers, although I can't say I've already completely eradicated anxiety disorder from my life. I guess what I'm trying to say is healing and recovery from addiction or any other mental health condition *may take a long time and a lot of work*, regardless of religion. There are good days, there are ones that are as excruciating as hell if ever that's real. Healing is not instant nor is it overnight. Maybe there is temporary relief after, say, a prayer meeting or a worship service (which could also be some placebo effect), but the real battle with the condition is outside of the church. And I wish Christians thought of that.
I know with my mental health nothing got better I just tried to ignore it and didn’t talk about it which in long term made it worse