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LINK Study: Black and Latino Churchgoers Turning to Pastors for Mental Health Services

The newly released study from Rice University, β€œWhere Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations,” features interviews with Black and Latino Christians in Houston, Texas, about how they make decisions on where to seek mental health care.

The research showed Black congregants seeking out mental health counsel from pastors over medical professionals because of the stigma surrounding mental health in the Black community. Latinos also seek mental health counsel from their pastors, but more so because of the stigma within their church.

However, the study found that pastors are feeling ill-equipped by the demands due to not having enough time, resources, or sufficient social networks to best serve their churchgoers.

snytiger6 9 Feb 11
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7 comments

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2

Which of course, will only make their problems worse.πŸ™

1

Oh yeah, what could possibly go wrong there.

3

Whose only advice will be more shame for normal human emotions and telling people to donate more money to the church.

4

Religion and its organizations should have ZERO influence or input on mental health services. People who believe in an invisible man in the sky are not equipped to deal with mental health.

1

Well, as a Psychologist all I can say is that with that bit of very bad news the world is looking at another epidemic, this time being of terribly and most unfortunately Screwed Up Minds.

5

I would say that the primary reason for this is financial.

That could well be true in many cases. Some folks are too poor or without decent insurance coverage for mental health services, so they go to clergy instead. But that is still a lame excuse for many people as most poor folks qualify for Medicaid, which does cover mental health services, plus, for the working poor without mental health coverage there are often publicly funded mental health clinics that operate with a sliding fee scale to be able to serve the working poor or those without insurance coverage.

@TomMcGiverin Thank you for your comment and you are correct. I am not black nor latino and I am certainly not poor so I am not in a position to make any knowledgeable comments. I am only stating my subjective uninformed opinion.

Yes and the God-mobster Fakir reaps in the ADDED cash benefits while 'patient' gets screwed every which way from Sunday.

@jlynn37 To which you, as does EVERYONE else btw, have a Right to do so.

3

Intelligent, rational people seek mental health help from licensed, trained professionals in the mental health field, instead of clergy amateurs. No wonder most of these people don't get better. Like getting marriage counseling from a priest, lol....

When my wife and I were breaking up...Heck even during the marriage and going to church a little bit. I looked at the Lutheran Ministers we had and I'm like "NO Way am I going to open up to those goofy dudes." I could barely go through with a marriage there !

I always kept them at arms length when it came to personal stuff

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