Spotting Mental Illness

A large number of pastors can’t spot mental illness. That’s the finding of a study conducted at Baylor University in Texas. Researchers sent people to their pastors who were previously diagnosed by a licensed mental health provider as having a serious mental illness. About a third of the pastors said the parishioner did not really have a mental illness but the problem was spiritual in nature. Women were more likely than men to have their mental disorders dismissed and the researchers say conservative churches were more likely to be dismissive of concerns over mental illness. The results of the study are in the Journal Mental Health, Religion and Culture.