Heal Your Hurting Mind: Biblical Hope for Anxiety, Depression, Burnout, and the Emotions No One Talks About

Pastor Groeschel (Winning the War in Your Mind) teams up with psychologist Chappelle for an optimistic, faith-based guide to tackling mental health issues. He debunks myths that prevent Christians from seeking help, including that depression and anxiety stem from inadequate faith or repressed sin, arguing instead that God intimately understands believers’ pain and can serve as a source of stability amid personal crisis. Drawing from his own recovery from a burnout-induced breakdown and interspersing advice from Chappelle, the psychologist who helped him get better, Groeschel unpacks how readers can handle anger, trauma, and anxiety with a mix of faith-based and therapeutic interventions. These include praying, keeping a gratitude journal, and reframing negative feelings as “signals... to make adjustments” to ineffective habits and thought patterns. Groeschel’s at his most enlightening when drawing links between faith and psychology. He explains, for example, how consistently focusing on Bible verses can create new neural pathways that override negative thought patterns, citing research suggesting that praying for 12 minutes a day over an eight-week period creates neural changes profound enough to be measured on a brain scan. The result is both a down-to-earth guide and a welcome corrective to a church culture that’s often silent on psychological health. (Feb.)