In shared rituals of prayer and reflection, religious communities often foster a deep sense of connection. For many, these spaces serve as a refuge—a place to belong, to believe, and to find support during times of hardship. Yet beneath this sense of sanctuary, complex psychological effects often go unspoken.
Religious communities often fulfill essential psychological needs: structure, purpose, and identity. In the best of circumstances, faith-based belonging can act as a buffer against anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Studies have shown that people who are active in religious communities often report higher levels of well-being and lower rates of substance use and suicidal ideation. For individuals grappling with grief, trauma, or existential doubt, spiritual rituals and belief systems can offer grounding—a symbolic language to make sense of suffering.
But this psychological support comes with nuance.
While faith can soothe, it can also silence. In many religious spaces, suffering is spiritualized: sadness is seen as a lapse in faith, anxiety as a lack of trust in a higher power. This creates a culture where individuals may feel pressure to “pray it away” instead of seeking professional mental health care. The result? Silent suffering beneath the surface. Congregants learn to mask panic with piety and to suppress anger with grace.
This dynamic is especially harmful for those experiencing mood disorders, PTSD, or gender and sexuality struggles that clash with traditional doctrine. When mental health is treated as a moral or spiritual failing, rather than a clinical reality, shame festers.
Religious communities are not monoliths. Some nurture resilience through communal care, mutual aid, and faith-led therapy initiatives. Others, however, perpetuate cycles of guilt, spiritual bypassing, or even emotional abuse under the guise of discipline or “God’s will.” For individuals raised in rigid or fundamentalist environments, this can leave lasting trauma, including religious OCD, identity confusion, and chronic fear of punishment or abandonment.
Healing begins when we acknowledge both sides: the warmth and the wounds. Religion is not inherently a psychological cure or curse—it is a powerful force that shapes minds, behaviors, and emotions. When religious communities are trauma-informed, inclusive, and mental-health literate, they have the capacity to transform lives. But when mental health is ignored or stigmatized in favor of spiritual performance, the fold of the hands becomes a fold of silence.
To create truly sacred spaces, we must ask deeper questions beneath the rituals. We must listen to the quiet confessions that never make it into the sermon—the ones whispered in therapy rooms, or sobbed into pillows after church.
Because beneath the folded hands is not just prayer, but a person—aching to be understood.
Book of the Week: The Monk by Sinclair Lewis (Check Trigger Warnings)
Shocking, erotic and violent, The Monk is the story of Ambrosio, torn between his spiritual vows and the temptations of physical pleasure. His internal battle leads to acts of sexual obsession, murder, and yet this book also contains knowing parody of its own excesses as well as social comedy. Written by Matthew Lewis when he was only nineteen, it was a ground-breaking novel in the Gothic Horror genre and spawned hundreds of imitators, drawn in by its mixture of bloodshed, sex and scandal.
Resources
- NAMI Mercer Helpline Phone Number: 609-799-8994 x17
- NAMI Mercer Helpline Email: helpline@namimercer.org
- https://mentalhealthgracealliance.org/
References
- Zarah, Fatimah. “The Stigma Attached to Mental Health in Religious Communities.” The Seattle Collegian, 25 Jan. 2023, seattlecollegian.com/the-stigma-attached-to-mental-health-in-religious-communities/.
- Boateng, Augustine, et al. “Religiosity & Mental Health Seeking Behaviors among U.S. Adults.” The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, vol. 59, no. 2, 30 June 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/00912174231187841.
- Nicolini H, Salin-Pascual R, Cabrera B, Lanzagorta N. Influence of Culture in Obsessive-compulsive Disorder and Its Treatment. Curr Psychiatry Rev. 2017 Dec;13(4):285-292. doi: 10.2174/2211556007666180115105935. PMID: 29657563; PMCID: PMC5872369.