Matous Mannes
Divinity School, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Linacre Q. 2025 Jul 15:00243639251356675. doi: 10.1177/00243639251356675.
Mental health is an increasing area of concern for the Catholic Church in the United States, as evidenced by the 2023 launch of a National Mental Health Campaign by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Through an analysis of Catholic diocesan websites, this paper reviews how mental health is approached at the diocesan level in the US and then offers a commentary. Most diocesan websites display minimal information about mental health; several offer counseling services; some primarily provide resources; others have mental health ministries; a handful focus on spiritual healing; and two dioceses place information about mental health and demonic activity next to each other. While most dioceses conceptualize mental unhealth as mental illness, others emphasize disability, communal, or spiritual frameworks. Two pastoral letters by bishops emphasize the need for a distinctly Catholic framework. These varied approaches reflect the historical debate within American Catholicism about psychiatry and psychology. The review also reveals the need for further reflection upon the role of biology and the spiritual life in mental health, the relationship of the individual and communal dimensions of mental health, the potential overlap between mental disorders and disabilities, and the notion that mental health exists on a spectrum.
心理健康是美国天主教会日益关注的领域，美国天主教主教会议在2023年发起的全国心理健康运动就证明了这一点。通过对天主教教区网站的分析，本文回顾了美国教区层面处理心理健康问题的方式，然后给出评论。大多数教区网站展示的心理健康信息极少；有几个提供咨询服务；一些主要提供资源；另一些有心理健康事工；少数关注精神治愈；还有两个教区将心理健康信息与恶魔活动信息放在一起。虽然大多数教区将精神不健康概念化为精神疾病，但其他教区强调残疾、社区或精神框架。两位主教的牧函强调了明确的天主教框架的必要性。这些不同的方法反映了美国天主教内部关于精神病学和心理学的历史辩论。该评论还揭示了需要进一步思考生物学和精神生活在心理健康中的作用、心理健康的个体维度与社区维度的关系、精神障碍与残疾之间的潜在重叠，以及心理健康存在于一个连续体上的观念。
