"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this..." —1 Timothy 4:16a-b
Maybe your problem is guilt, not trauma.
Maybe your problem is sin, not just anxiety.
Maybe instead of pathologizing what is ailing you, you should also spiritualize what is ailing you.
Maybe your deepest problem is not psychological, but spiritual.
Maybe instead of endlessly unearthing repressed memories of trauma in pursuit of self-actualization, you need to sit under the care of a faithful pastor, hear the gospel, repent of your sin, and find strength and hope not in yourself, but in someone outside yourself: Christ.
For some, this will fall on deaf ears because they will read it as a dismissal of every valid mental health category. That is not what I am saying, and those determined to read it that way will misunderstand.
I am writing for the believer who knows these truths deep down but has gradually begun to adopt the world’s categories more readily than Scripture’s.
Stand firm. Be watchful. Never stop doing the hard work of unearthing sin in your own life, repenting of it, and coming to Christ again and again for grace, strength, and hope.