Coming off Mental Health Awareness Month, the U.S. is “still in the midst” of addressing mental health and “will be for a long time to come,” the leader of the U.S. Bishops’ Mental Health Initiative told OSV News.
Since 1949, the country has focused on mental health issues and resources every May, but a lot of work needs to be done on many fronts in this regard, said Archbishop Boris A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Commission on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Archbishop Gudziak announced the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign in October 2023 along with Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who leads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Commission on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
Several organizations worked with Archbishop Gudziak and Bishop Barron on the campaign, including Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Health Association, the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the National Catholic Youth Ministry League, the National Catholic Youth Ministry Network, the National Young Adult Ministry Institute and the Catholic Mental Health Chaplaincy Association.
In a message introducing the initiative, the two prelates said its goals were threefold: to raise awareness of the issue, to eliminate the stigma against people who suffer from mental illness and “to send a clear message to everyone that everyone who needs help should get it.”
Archbishop Gudziak recently told OSV News that some progress has been made in recent years in recognizing the importance of mental health.
“Awareness is growing and the dangers and burden of mental health issues are now more recognised than ever before,” he said.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, roughly 60 million U.S. adults, or one in five, will experience a mental illness in 2021, with more than 14 million of them reporting severe symptoms and more than 19 million struggling with both substance abuse and mental illness simultaneously.
The country’s young people have been hit particularly hard: In 2021, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued recommendations on the issue, citing data showing that one in three high school students and half of girls felt persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2019, a 40 percent increase since 2009.
“At the same time, we recognize that there is still a lot of stigma and fear around treating mental health in a holistic and professional way,” Archbishop Gudziak said.
He said churches can offer compassionate, informed support to people struggling with mental illness.
“As pastors, we are not necessarily mental health experts,” the archbishop said, “we’re not called to be mental health therapists, but we should be prepared to be mental health chaplains. So one level of raising awareness is among clergy and pastoral leaders to really pay attention to mental health issues and then know where to go to get help.”
The second issue, Archbishop Gudziak said, is “the need to do a lot more preventive mental health care.”
“There are ways to escape anxiety, depression and loneliness and we may be able to avoid falling into addictions that disrupt our mental health,” he said. “Mental health also depends on physical health, so good eating habits, exercise and other aspects of physical health can make us more resilient.”
Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, testified to the importance of basic self-care in his May 2024 pastoral letter, “A Hopeful Future,” in which he shared his own struggles with depression and anxiety.
Working nonstop during the peak of clergy abuse in 2018 quickly took a toll on his sleep habits and appetite, ultimately leading him to take time off to heal. Now, Bishop Conley emphasizes the importance of “making time for sleep, healthy eating, exercise and recreation,” among other strategies.
Both Bishop Conley and the U.S. bishops’ campaign emphasize the need for a holistic Catholic approach to mental health.
“As followers of Christ who are inspired by the words of Scripture, we understand that our well-being needs to be integrated,” Archbishop Gudziak told OSV News. “We are not just bodies, we are not just bodies and minds. We are embodied souls that are inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
That’s why “our hearts crave communion, just as there is communion between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Created in God’s image, we need communion to be healthy.”
But “many mental health issues are linked to feelings of alienation, isolation and loneliness,” Archbishop Gudziak noted. “Even mental health professionals who do not speak from a spiritual perspective would acknowledge, and even argue, that a lack of good relationships is the cause or contributing factor to many mental health issues. So if we foster good relationships[with one another]we are more resilient. … We thrive in good community, and that is something we should foster as much as we can.”
In addressing mental health issues, “the spiritual component is really important,” the archbishop said. “Many of our tensions, anxieties and distresses are caused by or linked to certain distortions of our spiritual life. When we do bad things, when we sin, we distort ourselves spiritually, and this cannot not contribute to mental health problems.”
That is why “our spiritual life in the Holy Spirit is a source of healing, a source of wholeness and a source of integrity,” Archbishop Gudziak said.
“That’s something that’s not always recognized in the pop culture approach to mental health, which is purely therapeutic, even pharmacological,” he said. “The Lord heals our body and our soul and gives us a healthy mind.”
The bishop added that with such resources scarce, more Catholic mental health professionals are needed, noting that pastoral and spiritual support does not “replace” “medical, psychological and psychiatric treatment” but rather complements it.
“What is most important, as with many illnesses that do not have a quick or easy cure, is to accompany people, to help them feel that they are neither alone nor abandoned, to be Jesus for them,” Archbishop Gudziak said.
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