Mental health encompasses an individual’s capacity to feel, think and act to achieve a better quality of life while respecting personal, cultural and social boundaries. Impairment of any one of these lead to mental illnesses. Untreated behavioral health disorders contribute to lost productivity, unemployment, homelessness, increased school drop-out rates, higher suicide rates, and overcrowded jails and prisons. Help from Psychiatrists, psychologists, faith communities etc along with medication management can help mitigate the disorders. A newly developed paradigm in the world of psychiatry is telepsychiatry/telehealth where an individual can seek help through remote methods.

The Influence of Faith and Religion on Mental Health in Florida:

After much delving into studies about the psyche and its connection to the body, it has become quite obvious and clear that faith and religion play a big role in moulding an individual’s mental health. Major world religions offer various explanations about why people undergo stress and sufferings. These explanations and reasoning somehow help people accept situations and find some comfort. Faith based institutions also provide a lot of answers to many questions that are usually not answered satisfactorily by science. One example is answer to questions like “why is it happening to me?” Religion, faith and spirituality offer more comforting explanations to such queries and help find solace, closure, acceptance and a strength to move on.

Florida, a state in the USA, has 70% of its population having a faith in Christianity and 6% population following other religions. Only meagre 24% of its entire population are either atheists or agnostics. As per scientists, people have much easier access to places of worship like churches and mosques and frequent these places more than they find time for therapy and consultations. This can be seen as a wonderful opportunity for science to partner with faith to create awareness and educate the public about mental health, put an end to societal stigma that accompanies it and encourage those in need to reach out, especially in a state like Florida where majority of the population are religious.

The Synergy Between Faith and Psychology in Mental Health:

There is sufficient evidence today to conclude that the mind and body are linked. Faith based organizations and communities organize popular ways to interact with the community through prayer meetings or congregational gatherings. To take an example, in Florida, the “Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers (CMHM)” cater to the healing of believers. Beyond this association Florida has many Christian Ministries that provides faith based healing for various illnesses including mental health illness.

The study of mind is indeed a crucial pillar and provides a skeleton that helps us understand the problems faced by individuals. Psychiatry provides various scientific techniques and tools like counselling, behavioural tools and assessments which are used by psychiatrists and psychologists to identify and manage mental health issues.

Faith, religion and spiritual experiences are things beyond the reasoning of psychological reasoning and understanding. The solace and comfort that is derived from faith can complement psychological interventions effectively. At this point it is also important that one cannot replace the other. Faith should not be used to demonize psychology and psychology should not in any way try to replace someone’s faith. The synergy between faith and psychology is thus a delicate balance. It is important to identify where faith begins and psychology ends.

Significance and role of faith communities in mental healthcare:

Collectively mental wellness issues are the most prevalent health problems in America today.  Despite telehealth and telepsychiatry facilities are available today, Stigmas surrounding mental health treatments pose as barriers from seeking treatments. Addressing mental wellness challenges requires comprehensive and coordinated efforts from multiple partners. Along with public and private funding agents, faith-based organizations play an important role to improve mental wellness. 

They participate in public education and advocacy in an effort to reduce the stigma of mental illness and substance abuse. They can be instrumental in the development of coalitions by partnering with other religions and secular groups and can offer a variety of assets such as a meeting space, physical and human resources. Faith-based organizations and religious groups are often more close to society and develop a level of trust.

Along with psychiatric services, faith-based organizations also provide opportunities to develop independent living skills and direct and indirect financial assistance, they also provide vocational rehabilitation programs and employment opportunities. Along with the individual who has mental health issues, their families can also benefit through association with others going through the same.

Faith-based organizations play a vital role in prevention of mental health issues before they can occur, thereby reducing the magnitude of problems if they become severe. Prevention efforts also focus on identifying and preventing suicides. Faith communities are uniquely positioned to serve as a connector between difficult-to-access populations and the help they require to overcome mental issues.

Leveraging Faith and Technology for Mental Health Support in Florida:

To conclude, considering the religion rich population of Florida, it would be advantageous for the mental healthcare community to utilize faith as a medium to educate, treat and rehabilitate mental illness patients in the state. The religious community might not be able to help with medication management which should be addressed by psychiatrists/doctors. The modern technologies also makes it convenient for those assisting mental health issues, be it psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists or faith workers, to reach out to those in need using the telehealth and telepsychiatry platforms. Not only is it more convenient and discreet, but it also makes sure that help reaches where it is most needed at the right time.