The Mental Health Epidemic

*Trigger warning: The following blog discusses suicide, please seek appropriate care if you find yourself at risk of crisis by calling 988 or going to your nearest Emergency Department.

We're living in a mental health epidemic in the U.S., and yet we have failed to make the reforms needed to save lives. Delaware was the most recent state to legalize euthanasia, and we as a nation are succumbing more and more to a culture of death. It's not just the U.S., though. This morning on my feed, I saw a post about Father Matteo Balzano, a 35-year-old priest in Italy who died by suicide on July 5th. While technically not at a pandemic level, it's heartbreaking to see a traditionally Catholic nation such as Italy be hit in the same way the U.S. is. Father Matteo Balzano died by suicide one year and one day following the suicide of a beloved parish priest at my old parish in Sacramento, CA. Sadly, in the four years I was a parishioner at my old parish, his suicide was but one of three in the church community.

Our church is at risk of suicide; our mental health system is broken. The people who are supposed to know God intimately, his clergy, his church, are losing hope and are deciding to end their lives. If this does not cause the faithful to examine their conscience, what will? How much more personal does it need to get in order for there to be a change of heart in how we approach our faith and our mental health? How many more lives need to be lost before we acknowledge that there is a problem in our mental health system? In our Catholic mental health system?

It's not lost on me that there are different motives at play in how Catholic therapists operate their practices. I see them in their humanity, I empathize, and I ask (myself included), how have they shut Jesus out of their hearts? What parts of our lives have we not surrendered to His grace? What do we feel we still need to control?

While I hold Catholic mental health professionals responsible for leading in this war against mental illness, I call upon all the faithful to recognize their responsibility as the body of Christ in this fight as well. We have a responsibility in how we interact with the Church, in how we live out our faith, and how we address our own mental health.

Whatever it may be that is causing you to not prioritize mental health in your life, I get it. I do. It's not easy to look at our mental health. There is a reason why stigma is such a huge barrier. Though as someone who has had suicide hit close to home several times, I question how much worse this epidemic will get before we as the Body of Christ decide to run to Jesus. If I'm being perfectly honest, and as sad as it may sound, I think it'll be a while. As a clinician, my ear is constantly to the ground listening to the vibrations of the mental health scene, and I think there will need to be another period of testing before we as the Body of Christ learn to care for the heart. Though my heart breaks because of the continued crisis, I will just need to be patient. Though if this message and the Holy Spirit touches you, I encourage you to be courageous and go where God is calling you. You were made for love, to be His light in the darkness; do not be afraid of it.

Pax et bonum.