Anyone who knows me will agree that honesty is definitely one of my strongest traits, sometimes to a fault. But it’s helped me out a lot in life, and I can tell you it has strongly improved my mental health. How did honesty improve my mental health, and how can it improve yours?

People with mental health issues often struggle with a sense of guilt because of their condition. They feel like they are a burden or that they cause trouble for others. This sense of guilt creates an anxiety that withers them away if unchecked. If we reduce or  eliminate that feeling of guilt within ourselves, the anxiety that comes from it will disappear too.

Guilt from dishonesty can have the same effect. Now, this doesn’t just apply to people being maliciously dishonest or who are chronic liars. This can also apply to those who are in denial about problems in their life or who are having difficulty facing reality; they’re being dishonest with themselves about what’s really going on.

Chronic liars (or just liars in general), on the other hand, face a much more powerful sense of guilt. When I had my eating disorder, I developed this ability to lie about pretty much everything. This created a terrible feeling of guilt and anxiety, and I became incredibly irritable and horrible towards others. In turn, both my mental and physical health declined. I couldn’t eat anything, I had horrible body aches, and I just sort of withdrew from everyone.

A 2012 article from US News states:

“Research on how lying affects health is scant, but lying is thought to trigger the release of stress hormones, increasing heart rate and blood pressure. Stress reduces your body’s number of infection-fighting white blood cells, and over the years, could contribute to lower-back pain, tension headaches, a rapid heartbeat, menstrual problems, and even infertility.”

So basically, lying can literally cause you pain, along with all those other unpleasantries.

Honesty, apparently, has a healing effect on the body. The article mentions how two groups were used in a study on the effects of lying on the body. One group was told to stop lying for the duration of the study, and the other was simply told they would be recording how many times they lied at the end of the 10 weeks. The group who were told to stop lying for that period experienced more health improvements than the other group because they told fewer lies.

But it’s not just physical and mental effects that result from lying. It’s spiritual as well.

When I was at the grocery store yesterday, I was purchasing two organic avocados. Since organic foods are less likely to cause inflammation, I was getting those for my dad instead of regular avocados. As I slid my card through the reader and watched the receipt print out, I noticed that on the computer screen, it said I’d been charged $1.98 for two avocados. The organic avocados were $2.59 a piece.

I could have just walked away and saved $3. After all, since I’ve abandoned the retail world to get started with freelance writing, my bank account has been pretty low, and I could have really used that $3. But I knew that that wasn’t right. Ever since I turned my life around and started being more honest with myself and others, I’ve felt so much better. Healthier. I told the cashier about the mistake, and I paid the additional $3. She thanked me, and I told her this: “God tells me to be honest, and so I am.”

So what exactly does God say about dishonesty?

First off, we should note that the Ten Commandments themselves, specifically the 9th commandment, says we should not “bear false witness.” This isn’t just referring to a courtroom case where one of the witnesses lies on the stand. This commandment means all lying.

You may be asking yourself, “But what if I tell a lie so that I don’t hurt someone?” Well, there’s an answer for that too.

Dr. David Jeremiah, in his book Answers to Questions About Adversity, says this:

“The notion of ‘situational ethics’ was popularized in American culture in the 1960s and 1970s. The idea was that ‘the way of love’ was the supreme ethic — that it would be better to tell a lie if it would spare someone unnecessary pain or grief… Therefore, the situation determines the ethics; there is no moral absolute when it comes to telling the truth or not…”

“…The Bible combines truth and love into a different ethic when it encourages ‘speaking the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4:15). Therefore, we are not left with an either/or choice — either truth or love — but we are given a both/and solution: Speak the truth in a loving way.”

This can be really hard to do, but I’ve found that for myself, changing the way I live can make this approach much easier. I try not to put myself in situations where I might have the temptation to lie, even if it’s with the intention to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. I also find it helpful to live an honest life because not only can I avoid the negative physical and mental effects, but I can be assured that what I’m doing is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. I feel no need to hide anything because I know I’m not doing anything wrong.

This isn’t to say that I never lie or that I don’t sin. I do. We’re all sinners, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who has never told a lie. But you can find those who make it their goal not to tell a lie. It’s very freeing, being honest with yourself and others. There’s no need to feel guilty because you make a habit of telling the truth.

If you struggle with dishonesty in your life, I encourage you to try being more honest so that you can reap the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of honesty. I guarantee you will feel better, like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Have you or anyone you know made these changes in your life? What kind of a difference did you notice? How did these things make your life better? Leave a comment below.