Is this spiritual awakening, or is something else at play?
Spiritual awakening and mental health shifts can feel almost identical—both shake your reality, stir deep emotions, and leave you questioning everything.
You might feel more sensitive than usual, disconnected from the things that once grounded you, as if something big is about to happen.
Your thinking is deeper, your feelings are more intense, and whatever mattered seriously before no longer seems significant.
Are you losing your sense of self, or are you finally uncovering your spiritual transformation?
The truth is that spiritual awakening and mental health challenges can often feel very similar.
What sets them apart?
One represents a journey of transformation, while the other may indicate serious emotional distress that requires attention.
It’s easy to misinterpret what’s happening within you.
Some people overlook genuine struggles, believing they’re merely part of the journey.
Others may resist their spiritual awakening, fearing it signals a breakdown.
So, how can you discern the difference?
Are you experiencing an awakening, or is your mind calling out for help?
Let’s unpack it together.
Table of Contents
Understanding Mental Health Struggles
Mental health issues influence your thinking, feeling, and behavior in relation to your surroundings.
Deeply personal, these difficulties show up as different mental health symptoms—anxiety, depression, bereavement, eating disorders, seasonal affective disorder, or something else entirely that greatly influences daily functioning and general quality of life.
Psychological problems, sometimes referred to as mental health issues, are bad mental states that can affect all elements of your daily life.
According to a 2019 research, individuals grappling with significant mental health challenges often encounter spiritual struggles, such as questioning life’s ultimate meaning and feeling purposeless.
However, psychological symptoms may be confused with both spiritual awakening and mental health shifts.
These symptoms can affect how you:
- Get through your regular routines
- Connect with people you care about
- Make decisions
- Find enjoyment in activities you used to love
Often, to the untrained eye and even to you, this overwhelming state of negativity mentally crushes you.
You may accept these signs as an indication of a spiritual awakening. However, that would be wrong.
The similarities between spiritual awakening and mental health transformations may make you unsure about your experience.
Although spiritual transformation might drastically alter your consciousness and viewpoint, it usually does not affect your ability to function in the same manner as a mental illness.
During genuine spiritual awakening, you might notice:
- Your thoughts are becoming clearer and more insightful
- Your connection with others deepening
- A stronger sense of purpose in your life
- Better ability to understand and process your emotions
During a spiritual crisis, some of your experiences might temporarily look like psychological distress.
That’s why it’s essential to be able to differentiate between spiritual awakening and mental health.
The key difference you’ll notice is the direction these experiences take you – mental health symptoms tend to limit and distress you.
In contrast, spiritual awakening, though sometimes challenging, generally guide you toward greater understanding and well-being.
You can start the journey now with this free guide on how to find your purpose in 5 simple steps.
Finally, you must understand that a spiritual awakening doesn’t necessarily indicate poor mental well-being but rather a period of significant spiritual transformation.
Signs of mental health disorders
Recognizing the signs of both spiritual awakening and mental health crises is crucial to understanding your journey.
We’ve talked about spiritual awakening, now let’s look at mental health disorders.
It might be tricky but it is important. It’s okay to not be okay, and understanding these signs can make a big difference.
Everyone goes through ups and downs, but if you have depression that feels like a heavy blanket you cannot shake off or continuous anxiety that follows you through your days, these are indicators that your mental well-being is calling for help.
Your feelings may seem to be swinging wildly, which would make daily living difficult to feel solid or grounded in.
Beginning to doubt what’s genuine can be among the toughest parts.
If you have experiences where reality feels distorted or you see or hear things others don’t, this isn’t typically part of spiritual awakening —it’s a sign you need professional support.
Moreover, if you find yourself frequently experiencing chronic feelings of hopelessness, fear, or paranoia, know that you’re not alone, but this is not a spiritual awakening.
If you feel you are struggling with depression, this would help.
If your experience disrupts daily life, that’s a clear sign of the need to distinguish between spiritual awakening and mental health.
You might cut off friends and relatives, battle with employment or education, or find changes in your sleeping or eating patterns.
Signs could include declining personal hygiene or an odd reduction in performance at your job or university.
These signs are serious and should not be confused with spiritual awakening.
Therefore, you must get the necessary support for your mental well-being as soon as possible.
Spiritual Awakening vs. Mental Health – Key Differences
Spiritual awakening and mental health challenges both transform our inner world, but their essence differs profoundly.
They have key differences, and foremost is how they feel to you.
How they feel different
In both spiritual awakening and mental health shifts, emotions may be intense, but the outcomes differ.
With spiritual awakening, there is typically an underlying sense of expansion and growth, even if you are navigating phases of ambiguity or doubt.
However, fresh ideas or viewpoints may challenge you. Usually, your spiritual awakening has a thread of significance or direction.
Although you can’t define it yet, you are headed toward something significant, even in times of uncertainty.
On the other hand, if you are struggling with your mental health, the sensation is quite different.
Rather than expansion, you might feel a sense of contraction or loss.
The overwhelming nature of mental health struggles often comes with a feeling of things slipping away from you – your sense of self, your connection to others, or your ability to navigate daily life.
This loss of control feels more chaotic than transformative, and the distress typically doesn’t carry the same sense of underlying purpose or growth that accompanies spiritual emergence.
In fact, a 2014 study found that greater spirituality is associated with less severe depression than seen in mental health issues.
Emotional and psychological impact
A spiritual awakening and mental health episode may both bring about emotional turmoil.
However, with spiritual awakening, these feelings typically pave the way for substantial growth.
The spiritual awakening process can be challenging, even painful, at times, but it ultimately leads to a more profound understanding of yourself and your place in the world.
Although you might have vulnerable times, generally, the path is toward more self-awareness and a closer relationship with something higher than yourself.
Conversely, mental health issues sometimes cause protracted pain without an obvious fix.
These difficulties might feel like a weight, dragging you down and making it difficult to find release.
Dr. Lisa Miller, a professor of psychology at Columbia University, states:
“Our deep spirituality is our greatest resource for renewal, for healing. And even when we’re faced with profound mental illness, spirituality is our source of hope.”
Overall, spiritual awakening and mental health transformations can be painful.
However, with spiritual awakening, there’s hope – a light at the end of the tunnel, unlike mental illness which is dark and gloomy.
External vs. internal triggers
So, what triggers both spiritual awakening and mental health struggles?
It’s a cogent difference and it might be confusing for a beginner.
But while the triggers for spiritual awakening and mental health issues may overlap, they have distinct roots.
A spiritual awakening might unfold naturally after a profound life event shifts your perspective—perhaps the birth of a child, an ordinary moment, a near-death experience, or deep meditation practice.
These catalysts often feel meaningful and connected to your personal journey of growth and understanding.
A simple way to begin is with the foods you consume, check this out to learn which foods can aid your spiritual awakening.
On the reverse side, mental health issues usually have roots in a complicated interaction of environmental and biological elements outside your influence.
You can be dealing with the repercussions of inherited genetic predispositions, prior trauma stored in your body and mind, biochemical changes in your brain, or the whole weight of long-term stress.
These triggers often feel less like doorways to growth and more like obstacles that need professional support to navigate.
By understanding what sparks both spiritual awakening and mental health shifts, you can enjoy greater clarity in your journey through life.
When Awakening Feels Like a Crisis – The Overlap
Having a spiritual awakening often feels more like a tempest than always light and rainbows.
Often referred to as the “Dark Night of the Soul,” this time can be rather taxing as it’s a terrible phase of spiritual development when everything seems dark and almost pointless.
It can mimic mental distress with psychological symptoms like intense sadness, loss of interest, and a sense of disconnection.
You might question everything you once believed, feel lost and isolated, and wonder if you’re losing your mind.
Think of it like this, during a deep spiritual awakening, you might experience periods of intense isolation, questioning everything you once believed, and feeling completely lost.
Your old sense of self begins to fall away, which can feel terrifyingly similar to a mental health crisis.
When you’re amid this spiritual emergence, it can actually trigger very real psychological challenges.
The intensity of spiritual awakening experiences can overwhelm your normal coping mechanisms, leaving you feeling vulnerable and unstable.
As your psyche tries to combine great spiritual discoveries, you may discover yourself coping with worry or sadness.
With spiritual awakening and mental health struggles, ultimately, treating oneself with compassion and understanding counts most.
You are not, however, working alone here.
Expert advice can help separate a mental health problem from spiritual awakening.
You can go a step further by opening your spiritual eye to help navigate this time better.
Need some help with that? You can check out this supplement that helps activate your third eye.
How to Differentiate Between Spiritual Awakening and Mental Health Issues
It’s common to have questions and uncertainty about practically everything for both spiritual awakening and mental health issues.
Nevertheless, we will lead you down the right path – this includes asking the right questions and seeking guidance; which is important to your journey.
Questions to ask yourself
When you’re trying to understand your experience, pause and check in with yourself honestly.
During spiritual awakening, even amid confusion, you’ll likely find moments where things feel clearer, where insights emerge that help you make sense of your journey.
Ask yourself: Do these challenging experiences eventually lead to a new understanding, or do they leave you feeling increasingly lost?
Notice whether you have windows of peace between difficult moments or if the distress feels constant and overwhelming.
Consider how your daily life is affected – while both experiences can be disruptive, spiritual awakening typically doesn’t completely prevent you from functioning in your basic responsibilities.
Read this to learn more about the physical signs of spiritual awakening.
Seeking guidance
Whether you are facing a spiritual awakening and mental health challenge, seeking support is vital.
Neither road has you walking alone.
Offering direction based on your personal path and wisdom traditions, a spiritual mentor can help you understand and incorporate your experiences with your spiritual awakening and mental health struggles as well.
Mental health experts, meantime, offer knowledge in maintaining your psychological wellness.
They can assist you in creating coping mechanisms and offer therapy when needed.
The great thing is that many people gain from both spiritual and therapeutic direction; these kinds of support are not mutually exclusive.
Supporting this view is psychologist Kevin Anderson who notes:
“Most of the people who consult me now want to explore a spiritual perspective on their life situations. Many say finding a therapist who would integrate spirituality into therapy was not easy.”
So, the great thing is that many people gain from both spiritual and therapeutic direction; these kinds of support are not mutually exclusive.
FAQs
Is spiritual awakening a mental health issue?
While spiritual awakening shares some surface similarities with mental health experiences, they’re distinctly different.
You may have strong feelings and changes in perspective during awakening, but usually, they result in positive development and more knowledge.
Though it might affect how you relate to it, spiritual awakening normally does not compromise your capacity to live daily life, unlike mental health issues.
Is spiritual and mental health the same thing?
No, although they can interact.
Your feeling of significance, direction, and relationship to something higher than yourself define your spiritual well-being.
Conversely, mental health concerns your emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
Although a solid spiritual life can promote good mental health and vice versa, they are independent facets of your general well-being that occasionally need different sorts of assistance.
What happens to my brain during spiritual awakening?
Changes in brain activity brought about by a spiritual awakening could affect cognition, perception, and emotions.
People commonly report changed states of consciousness, more empathy, and more awareness—all of which would fit changes in brain paths or energy flow.
Though there is little scientific research, anecdotal evidence points to this metamorphosis influencing domains connected to intuition, creativity, and self-awareness.
What is the relationship between spirituality and mental health?
Your spiritual life and mental health can profoundly influence each other.
A healthy spiritual practice often supports mental well-being by providing meaning, community, and coping strategies.
However, intense spiritual experiences can sometimes trigger psychological challenges, and mental health struggles might impact your spiritual journey.
The key is recognizing when you need support in either or both areas.
Embracing the Journey – Finding Balance
What’s important to your journey is embracing the experience and striking a healthy balance to prioritize your self-care.
So, if you’re experiencing profound transformation or simply seeking stability, practices like meditation, journaling, therapy, and mindfulness can offer support and clarity.
Meditation, for instance, allows you to quiet the noise in your mind and connect with your inner truth.
You can read this to learn the best meditation practices for spiritual awakening.
Journaling serves as another powerful outlet; putting pen to paper helps you make sense of confusing feelings.
You could also try therapy to explore these experiences with someone who truly understands.
It’s also vital to trust your process, even when it feels uncertain.
Every step forward—or backward—is part of your journey.
Trust doesn’t mean ignoring red flags, though.
Staying grounded in reality ensures you don’t lose sight of what keeps you balanced: eating well, moving your body, sleeping enough, and connecting with loved ones.
Conclusion
As a person going through the world and sometimes feeling lost or disconnected, I hope you find the grounding you seek, as both spiritual awakening and mental health struggles are real and valid experiences.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re undergoing a spiritual awakening of consciousness or grappling with mental health symptoms; your journey is unique and deserves recognition.
Thus, welcome the process with self-compassion and keep in mind that asking for help is a sign of strength rather than frailty.
As you navigate your path, I encourage you to reflect on your journey with awareness.
Pay attention to your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, and honor your experiences without judgment.
Remember that healing and growth are possible and that you are not alone.
Kindly share your experiences in the comments.
By sharing our stories, we can create a supportive community that develops understanding and connection on the path to well-being.
