Seminaries Do Very Little to Train Pastors How to Help Mentally Ill Congregants, Baylor Study Finds

September 8, 2014

WACO, Texas (Sept. 8, 2014) — People struggling with mental illness often turn to pastors for help, but seminaries do very little to train ministers how to recognize serious psychological distress and when to refer someone to a doctor or psychologist, according to a Baylor University study.
As a result, “many people in congregations continue to suffer under well-meaning pastors who primarily tell them to pray harder or confess sin in relation to mental health problems,” researchers wrote in the study, published in the Journal of Research on Christian Education.
Nearly half of all Americans will meet diagnosis criteria for at least one mental disorder in their lifetime, and in a given 12-month period, more than 25 percent of Americans meet that criteria, said lead researcher Matthew S. Stanford, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences.
The article — “Training and Education of North American Master’s of Divinity Students in Relation to Serious Mental Illness” — is based on a survey of 70 seminaries in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, with 14 church traditions represented.
Earlier research by Stanford showed that many families affected by mental illnesses leave the churches, and that many church communities seemed to ignore their need.
An overwhelming majority of Americans — 95 percent — claim to believe in God and 42 percent report attending church in the past week, according to previous research. “Perhaps for these reasons, clergy are pursued more often in times of emotional distress than other professions, and perhaps more commonly than psychologists and psychiatrists combined,” the current study notes.
Complicating the issue is that some antagonism exists between clergy members and psychologists. That is largely because clergy do not fully understand all the services psychologists provide, and psychologists tend to be less religious than the general population, according to previous research by Stanford.
While pastors should not be expected to make psychiatric diagnoses, they do have a “gatekeeper” responsibility to provide interventions for which they are qualified or to refer an individual to an appropriate professional, Stanford said.
Because pastors are often concerned about the role that sin may play in psychological distress – and how that will be handled in therapy – they are more likely to refer congregants to psychologists who share their religious values.
Most of the counseling classes offered by seminaries focused on premarital counseling, couples counseling, family counseling or grief counseling. The survey showed that 59 (88 percent) of the seminaries offered courses in which the topic of mental health was addressed in some way, although it may not have been a counseling course. And of the 30 seminaries who did offer counseling courses, only 21 offered a course or courses specifically dedicated to mental illness, according to the study.
Students often were not able to find time in their program requirements to take counseling courses as electives, said directors of master’s of divinity programs. And even if they did, “there was a distinct lack of counseling elective options for the MDiv student who wants to become a pastor,” the study found.
While seminaries offered many types of internships, none were in organizations in which students would regularly interact with mentally ill people, researchers said.
Seminaries were asked to provide their official stance on the subject of mental illness, but they overwhelmingly responded that no such official stance exists.
Because there is no cohesive theological position on mental illness, Christian congregants throughout the nation do not receive a similar standard of referrals, respect and support from their pastors and other congregation members, the study concluded.
“In order for the church to move past the belief that all mental illness is the result of spiritual warfare or a personal failing, the church must come together to discuss the views of mental illness and establish a systematic stance on the topic, taking into consideration both the biological and spiritual aspects of sin.”
Study co-researcher was Halle E. Ross, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.

ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 24 academic departments and 13 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines.