But then how can you tell a christian with mental problems.

Mentally ill Christians are still tormented, but they can experience great joy because their delusions of grandeur and their desire to have a caring and loving parent figure are stroked by the teachings of the Bible. In many cases, they feel 'called' by God to some extremely important role in the Church, such as being the End Times prophet or the next Billy Graham.

I have been both a Christian and an atheist, and I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder just before I became an atheist (medication cleared up my mind). I can say that the effects of Bipolar are still felt, but I feel better about myself knowing that God is not sitting on a throne in Heaven preparing to cast me into a lake of fire over things I simply have no control over (due to a genetic predisposition and physical abnormalities in the brain).

I think that it would be most fair to say that mental illness is mental illness, regardless of whether the afflicted is a Christian or an atheist, but religion does go a long way toward complicating mental illness.

I should add the fact that the Charismatic Church managed to worsen my mental condition because they had me thinking that I was being attacked by demons during a manic episode (even exorcisms were performed), which, of course, I then began to hallucinate. This was particularly disruptive and terrorizing.

It did not help that the Charismatic Church taught me the following:

1. That I was called by God to an international ministry of such a scale that I would be known world-wide. (delusions of grandeur)

2. That I was given the gifts of prophecy, speaking in tongues, and pastorship.
(also delusions of grandeur)

3. That the 'spirit of the Anti-Christ' was attacking me (presumably, I came to think, because of the great calling I was made to believe I had.
(paranoid delusions and delusions of grandeur)

4. That demons were running the 'world system' and that they were everywhere.
(paranoid delusions)

It was not until I got involved in the Charismatic Church (Assemblies of God and 'Non-denominational') that my Bipolar really began to become a problem. I ended up in the mental ward as a result of Bipolar being mixed with belief in Jesus Christ, demons, spiritual gifts, and great callings. This is why I am a militant atheist.