Another widespread view amongst Christians is that mental health problems and mental illness are a result of sin in the person's life and that if they just had a stronger faith in Jesus, they wouldn't suffer in this way.
This is a really narrow and damaging perspective. The reality is that suffering itself is a result of original sin—that of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden—and it can come at us in different ways. There's brokenness in the created world, leading to natural disasters, illnesses and death (Rom 8:20-22, 2 Cor 4:16, Gen 2:17). There's suffering caused by demonic attack, which is specific spiritual assault to cause one to turn away from following Jesus (Eph 6:12).We also have people sinning against us that can contribute to suffering in our lives (Gen 6:5). In addition, we have the limitations of just being human that is experienced as weakness and pressure (2 Cor 11:28). And then, we have indwelling sin: the constant temptation to not obey God (Gal 5:16). And lastly, there's suffering that comes as a consequence of own our sinful decisions, as well (Ps 16:5).Do you see how great the breadth of suffering is? And do you see how the different sources of suffering interplay with mental health problems and mental illness?
Let's use myself as a case study since you know my story fairly well by now. My experience of mental illness as suffering relates to the brokenness of my own body in regards to brain chemistry (I realised this when I started taking medication and saw a significant difference in my ability to control my thoughts).
The sin of divorce in my family has also contributed to my experience of mental illness as a significant trigger. There’s an added factor of just coming up against my own human limitations in regards to energy and strength. It’s hard to know if every thought I have during my anxiety attacks and suicidal episodes are my own or from negative spirits (demons), but I think some are. I can honestly say that there is the issue of sin in my case as well. There is the reality of me yielding to my own indwelling sin resulting in my not believing what God has said about me and the world I live in.
I don't want you to hear me saying that the person suffering from mental illness and mental health problems is completely sinless. In my life, that wouldn't be true. I think that that underestimates how insidious and deceptive our sin nature can be. I just want us to understand that personal sin is rarely the only thing taking place when someone is suffering that way and, sometimes, it's not the consequence of a person's sinful choice at all.
Living as renewed humans in a broken physical and spiritual world is far more complex than that.