Intersectionality
Chronic Illness and Disability
Chronic Illness and Disability
Chronic Illness and Disability
Experiencing chronic illness or disability can profoundly affect mental health. Hear from people who have been there.
- In this interview, Molly Burke shares her experience of coping with losing her vision permanently and her mental health.
- In this collaborative video, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard and Chloe Wilkinson share life with ME/CFS, as well as the difficulties of living with a co-morbid mental health condition.
- In these videos, licensed therapist Kati Morton discusses the impact that disability, chronic illness, and chronic pain can have on mental health.
- Disabled But Not Really provides support and empowerment to people with physical disabilities with programs that focus on fitness, wellness, and mental health.
- The Mighty provides community for people with all types of disabilities and chronic health conditions.
- Inclusive Therapists helps connect people of marginalized groups with competent therapists who understand them.
- God's Wildflowers: Saints With Disabilities by Pia Matthews sheds light on the stories of heroic Christian saints who lived with a wide variety of physical and mental disabilities. For anyone who struggles to find themselves in the stories of the Church, this is essential reading.
- In this video, meet Fr. Larry Gillick, S.J., the first visually impaired person to be ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
- In this series by MedCircle, learn about the psychological impacts of chronic pain, as well as signs that chronic pain may be related to psychological stress or trauma. You can access it for free by creating an account with their website.
- The Institute for Chronic Pain provides resources, education, and support around causes and complications of chronic pain.
Catholic Concerns
Chronic Illness and Disability
Chronic Illness and Disability
If you are looking for advice on the intersection between mental health and your Catholic faith, look below!
(You can also find more resources on our Where To Find More page)
- Check out the Catholic Mental Health YouTube channel for our original Catholic Mental Health video content!
- Faithful Counseling provides affordable online therapy for people looking to incorporate their Christian faith into their treatment.
- Catholic Therapists allows you to search for Catholic therapists in your area.
- National Catholic Partnership On Disability offers resources for Catholics with a variety of disabilities, including mental illness, and their families.
- The Guild of St. Benedict Joseph Labre offers spiritual support for mental and neurological illness.
- If you are a Catholic who feels called to some form of consecrated life and experiences a disability, mental illness, or chronic health condition, check out this Facebook group of other Catholics in the same position.
- Autism Consecrated provides spiritual resources for Catholics with ASD as well as support in vocational discernment.
Interfaith
- For information and support on mental health in the Muslim community, visit Institute for Muslim Mental Health.
- For information and support on mental health in the Jewish community, visit Jewish Care.
LGBTQ+
Race and Ethnic Background
Race and Ethnic Background
There are high rates of overlap between those who experience same-sex attraction, gender discordance, and/or identify as LGBT+ and those who experience mental health problems. You can also visit our page on minority stress.
- 48% of transgender adults have considered suicide in the last year.
- Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults are twice as likely as their heterosexual peers to experience a mental health condition.
- High school students who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual are 5 times as likely as their peers to attempt suicide.
- LGBT+ youth make up 7% of the general youth population but 40% of the homeless youth population.
Below are some resources on sexuality, gender, and coping with mental health challenges.
- Eden Invitation (Catholic non-profit ministry dedicated to building solidarity and community for LGBT+/SSA Christians)
- Gay and Catholic by Eve Tushnet
- Meditations of a Travelling Nun (blog)
- Written On The Body: Letters From Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of Sexual Assault
- Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith and Family by Garrard Conley
- The Trevor Project (suicide prevention helpline for LGBT+ and questioning youth)
- Lead Them Home (Christian ministry dedicated to creating a safe church environment for LGBT+ youth)
- Inclusive Therapists helps connect people of marginalized groups with competent therapists who understand them.
- Vine & Fig is a Catholic website providing online community and reflections on the Sunday Mass readings from a queer perspective.
- MedCircle has a series on mental health concerns for the LGBT+ community. It can be accessed for free by creating an account on their website as a MedCircle Insider.
Race and Ethnic Background
Race and Ethnic Background
Race and Ethnic Background
We live in a fallen world where race can affect one's ability to get access to mental health assessments and treatment. Hear from people who have been there. You can also visit our page on minority stress.
- African Americans and Hispanic Americans receive mental health treatment at only half the rate of Caucasian Americans and Asian Americans.
- 15% of the Hispanic and Latinx communities in the United States have had a diagnosable mental illness in the past year.
- The American Psychiatric Association found that (1) 36% of Hispanics with depression received care, versus 60% of whites; and (2) bilingual patients are evaluated differently when evaluated in English versus Spanish, and Hispanics are more frequently under-treated than are whites.
Below are some resources.
- The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation (a foundation dedicated to changing the perception of mental health in African-American communities)
- Native American Connections (an Arizona-based organization that provides treatment for substance abuse and mental health to Native communities).
- Mental Health America has bilingual resources on mental health for Hispanic and Latinx individuals and communities.
- Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman's Journey With Depression and Faith recounts Monica A. Coleman's story of trauma, bipolar disorder, and a family legacy of mental illness.
- Melanin and Mental Health: "Melanin & Mental Health was born out of a desire to connect individuals with culturally competent clinicians committed to serving the mental health needs of Black & Latinx/Hispanic communities."
- Inclusive Therapists helps connect people of marginalized groups with competent therapists who understand them.
- Celia Franco runs a YouTube channel called Psychosis Support where she features educational videos in both Spanish and English.
Clergy and Consecrated
Clergy and Consecrated
Clergy and Consecrated
Clergy, religious, and consecrated people in the Church can have experiences of stigma in seeking mental health advice that is unique to their state in life.
- Guest House, Inc. (Residential Catholic treatment for clergy and religious)
- Priests Thriving Not Surviving (a ministry to support priests in their mental health)
- Saint Luke Institute has been providing mental healthcare to priests and religious since 1977.
- Catholic Psych Institute provides therapy and other psychiatric services based in New York City.
Men's Mental Health
Clergy and Consecrated
Clergy and Consecrated
Men are significantly less likely than women to seek mental health treatment. Hear from men who live with mental health conditions.
- Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) (a UK-based organization dedicated to preventing male suicide, one of the leading killers of men under the age of 45)
- Depression to Expression (YouTube channel dedicated to mental health, hosted by Scott Ste Marie)
- Man Therapy provides mental health advice by men for men from a licensed psychologist.
Women's Mental Health
Clergy and Consecrated
Women's Mental Health
There are some areas and situations where one's biological sex may intersect with mental health. For resources on this, check out the links below.
- FemCatholic
- Catholic Women Speak
- Learn about Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
- Check out our page on Maternal Mental Health
- Check out our page about diagnosing mental illness, including a video on gender and mental health diagnoses
- Visit the MGH Center for Women's Mental Health to learn more about menstrual health, postpartum psychiatric disorders, and pregnancy while on psychiatric medications.