Narrative Inquiry: White Fundamental Evangelical Construction of a Mental Illness Paradigm

Abstract

Integrating spirituality with mental health treatment increases treatment efficacy, however, there increased mental illness stigma has been found by those who hold to fundamental values. The problem addressed within this study was a need to understand how the White fundamental evangelical culture constructs meaning around mental illness. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study was to explore how the religious culture socially constructs a meaning around mental illness. The study employed a qualitative narrative inquiry rooted in subcultural identity theory to answer the following research questions: RQ1. How do White fundamental evangelical Christians in America describe and make sense of mental illness? And RQ2. How are the White fundamental evangelical culture, fundamental values, social identities, and mental health experiences utilized to socially construct a meaning of mental illness? The study included 16 participants who previously or currently identified with White fundamental evangelical culture and who completed a 2-hour interview with open-ended questions. The researcher used Braun and Clarke's framework for thematic analysis of the transcribed interview and found twelve themes. Three themes were found concerning the definition of mental health (not discussed, reduction to spiritual dysfunction, and inviting an integrationist position via clergy), and nine themes concerning potential cultural components (individualism/collectivism, militarism, prosperity gospel, purity, authoritarianism, gender roles, privilege, power and control, and use of the Bible.) that may be impacting the construction of the mental illness paradigms. Several dynamics (group identity, use of the Bible, language, emotion and gender, privilege, and personal experiences) were synthesized to formulate how the religious subculture may be used to construct a mental illness paradigm. Future research can further expand on the potential cultural ideologies and doctrinal or theological stances that may be shaping the mental illness paradigm and explore the possible impact of the culture on the members. The White fundamental evangelical culture is complex, and it is essential to understand the intersectionality between this cultural discourse and mental health.