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INTENTION : |
That people who suffer from depression or
burn-out will find support and a light that opens them up to life.
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Depression and Mental Health Crisis
The stress of the COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened the collective mental health of our society. Many who were already diagnosed with a condition saw their mental health deteriorate, despite their best efforts to keep a healthy regimen of medication and/or counselling. Many who were previously not struggling with a mental health condition now face one due to the social isolation, mass death, and stress of living in a pandemic.
Like COVID-19, an invisible plague is in some ways the most terrifying, as it lurks among us as something unspoken, its reality even doubted or vilified. However, both science and faith remind us that there is hope. Now more than ever, the role of the Church to be a welcoming, safe place for those with a mental illness is increasingly important. With lives on the line, awareness must be raised and educational resources on mental illness shared with Catholic schools and parishes from coast to coast. Moreover, Church leaders are in a unique position to help destigmatise mental health and treatment.
In a 2019 interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, Pope Francis opened up about a time in the 1970s when he sought out the help of a lady psychotherapist. "Being provincial of the Jesuits in the terrible days of the dictatorship, in which I had to take people in hiding to get them out of the country and thus save their lives, I had to handle situations that I did not know how to deal with," the pope said.
"Throughout those six months, she helped me position myself in terms of a way to handle the fears of that time." He also pointed out the role of priests in addressing mental health at the parish level. "I'm convinced that every priest must know human psychology," Pope Francis said. "There are those who know it from the experience of the years, but the study of psychology is necessary for a priest."
Fortunately, there is a growing trend to bring the power of religious convictions and spirituality into mental health treatment. Across the country (in the USA), therapists and social workers find that the combined approach of faith-infused mental health care resonates with individuals for whom spirituality is interconnected with their mental well-being.
Helping Others Carry Their Cross
The good news concerning the mental health crisis is the rapid increase in resources and acceptance. Catholics looking for an approach to treatment that incorporates their belief system are finding more doors opening than ever before.
"Christ himself needed help carrying his cross," says clinical psychologist Dr Greg Bottaro, who founded the CatholicPsych Institute. "That's how we see ourselves. Our vocations are to be like Simon of Cyrene, to help bear the burden of Christ's cross with the people who are suffering."
At the CatholicPsych Institute, tried and proper counselling methods are couched in a Catholic understanding of the human person. They're treating not only minds but souls as well. "The truths that have been discovered through psychological science and research will further illuminate and flesh out other truths that we already believe by faith," Dr Bottaro says.
A significant component of the model at the institute is mindfulness, which Dr Bottaro defines as simply "paying attention to the present moment nonjudgmentally". With practice, one can do anything mindfully, including prayer. "We are always in the presence of God," Dr Bottaro says. "And if we are mindful of that, then we are always praying."
Being There
For Father Fred Cabras, OFM Cap, his Franciscan identity is strongly linked to his work in the world of mental health. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois Chicago and Loyola University. He points to St. Francis of Assisi as an example of how to respond to suffering, especially those on the margins of society. "Francis is all about accompaniment, about walking with people on their journey wherever they are," Father Fred says.
Bonding with patients over shared faith is often a means to make meaningful human connections. "I met with an older woman who struggled with paranoid schizophrenia," Father Fred says. "She was a devout Christian and believed that God was with her in her illness. We sat for over an hour during her initial session, discussing her illness and God. She appreciated that I did not question her relationship with God or make it part of her illness."
"By the time she left, about a month later, the medication and talk therapy with me had given her the language to differentiate between her spiritual side and her struggle with mental illness. I received a letter from this patient's daughter, later on, thanking me for educating their family and helping their mother to feel better."
In the end, it all comes back to St. Francis of Assisi's method of simply accompanying those who are suffering. "Presence is the most important thing," Father Fred says. "When you're working with persons with mental illness, presence is so important, just sitting there and listening."
That simple action is a reminder to us all that we are indeed never alone in the light of God's presence.
First-hand Knowledge
It was in August 2014. My spirits should've been up since the weekend was upon me, and I had just started a new job. But, when I arrived home, tears streaming down my face. I fell into my wife's arms and, between sobs, told her that something wasn't right, that I didn't feel well.
It wasn't something I could pinpoint like a stomach ache, a sore throat, or even something in particular that went wrong that day. Nothing went wrong. A long- simmering sense of existential dread had been slowly increasing in temperature over the years. One of my earliest memories is that of a panic attack I had, following my great-grandmother's funeral. Over the years, that phobic reaction to the reality of death (both my own and my loved ones) would snowball and acquire other elements along its increasingly rapid descent.
Social interactions, especially ones where I felt I was being evaluated (real or imagined), became unbearable for me. Speaking to a group, even in casual settings, became a daunting experience. I felt as though I could hear my voice in my head, much like a side effect of cold medicine. I didn't know what to call it at the time, but now I know what is meant by "feelings of unreality."
It's as if you're simultaneously detached from the present but hyperaware of how you're perceived. My voice must sound so shaky, I would think. Why can't I think straight? I'm starting to stutter and not make sense. I wonder if people are noticing, judging.
The interior monologue would start and seemed not to stop. Or it would fade away when I got to a safe place like home. But then I'd wake up in the middle of the night, and the critical thoughts and self-judgments would go into warp speed. God, why is this happening to me? I prayed. Help me.
And God did. Well, in the typical mysterious ways. A counsellor with a heart of gold and a psychiatrist guided me to a place of better mental health. First, we had to name the demon: anxiety, with a touch of depression, as the two tend to present together. Generalised anxiety disorder, accompanied by social anxiety disorder and depression, was the official diagnosis.
For a year, on the roller coaster of mental health treatment, I landed on a medication that works for me. I grappled, as many do, with the fact that I needed to take a medication.
I am blessed to have a support system beyond my counsellor and doctor, including my wife, family, co-workers, and friends.
I thank God that I live in a world where there is help available, notable scientific developments in the fields of therapy and medicine, and good-hearted people willing to help, even if simply by listening. There is hope!
Daniel Imwalle
St Anthony Messenger, May 2021
A Franciscan Media.
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