Does Gratitude Help Our Mental Health?

enMay 01, 2023

Anxious Faith

About this Episode

If you’re someone who has been around the mental health space for a bit, whether from reading or hearing things or dealing with it yourself, you’ve probably come across the concept of gratitude.

Gratitude is something that counsellors and psychologists suggest as a tool to help us when we’re struggling with our mental health, and you only have to walk into any stationery or book store to see how popular it has become – there are gratitude journals *everywhere*. And that’s for a reason – gratitude is actually something that can help our mental health.

But what about as Christians? Should we be following secular suggestions of ‘cultivating a mindset of gratitude’ by simply listing what we’re thankful for, or is there more to gratitude when faith is mixed in?

This episode we’re speaking with Stephen Unwin, who is actually part of the Anxious Faith team and an editor for Our Daily Bread Ministries. In his spare time, not that there’s much of it, he’s also studying his PhD around the concept of ‘Gratitude and Gift in the Christian Life’.

While Stephen hasn’t had to deal with mental health challenges of his own, his years of research into what gratitude is have shown how gratitude can help our mental health.

In the first half of this episode we’ll talk about what gratitude is, what it looks like in a faith-based context, and where we see it in the Bible. After the break, we’ll chat more about how gratitude can be lived out not just during the good times, but even when we’re struggling or suffering. We’ll also explore some ideas for how we can practise gratitude in those hard times, so make sure you hang around till the end!

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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If you, or someone you know, are struggling with anxiety or your mental health, we’d really encourage you to speak to a doctor, mental health professional, or reach out to one of the organisations on our Help page.

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