Attitudes About Mental Illness Among Seminary Students: a Qualitative Analysis
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Attitudes About Mental Illness Among Seminary Students: a Qualitative Analysis Laura G. Stull1 · James Harness1 · Megan Miller2 · April Taylor2
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Tragically, a majority of people with mental illness never seek treatment; however, people may be more likely to seek help from religious clergy than from mental health professionals. In the current study, 25 Protestant seminary students were interviewed. The majority of students considered there to be biological, spiritual, and environmental causes of mental illness and favored psychological, medication, or spiritual treatments. Some participants reported stigma of mental illness, including avoidance and “dangerous” stereotypes. Religious clergy are frontline mental health providers, and their attitudes about mental illness are critical in reducing stigma and increasing treatment seeking among people with mental illness. Keywords Clergy · Religious · Theology · Christian · Stigma
Introduction Mental illness may be defined as clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndromes that are associated with present or increased risk of distress or disability (APA 2000). Specific illnesses include mood disorders (e.g., depression), anxiety disorders, and psychosis. Estimates of the prevalence rates of mental illness in the USA range from 12 to 30% (Wang et al. 2003); however, lifetime prevalence rates are higher, indicating that 50% of Americans will meet criteria for a diagnosis of mental illness at some point in their lifetime (Kessler et al. 2005). A major concern is that of those people with mental illness, a majority receive no treatment or are poorly treated (Wang et al. 2005). One identified barrier toward help-seeking is stigma of mental illness (President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health 2003).
* Laura G. Stull [email protected] 1
Psychology Department, Anderson University, 1100 E 5th Street, Anderson, IN 46012, USA
2
Psychology Department, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Religion and Health
Clergy as Frontline Providers Attitudes regarding mental illness among clergy, and students who are training to be clergy, are particularly important to understand, given that clergy are a major source of mental health treatment. Approximately, 25–42% of people with mental illness seek treatment from a clergy member, with the majority of those persons seen exclusively by clergy (Wang et al. 2003). One study found that 47.2% of veterans with depression reported being likely to seek help from clergy (Bonner et al. 2013). Data from a World Mental Health survey indicate lower rates, with 12.3% of persons who used mental health services, indicating that they utilized a religious provider (Kovess-Masfety et al. 2016), although this percentage varied by income group and country. Documented reasons for going to clergy include familiarity, no fees, less stigma, no required referrals, and favorable views by a majority of Americans (Ellis
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