Cultivating Common Ground: The Intersection of Mental Health and Faith

Abstract During and following the COVID-19 pandemic, the world experienced a significant increase in the prevalence of mental health problems along with a concomitant increase in mental health service utilization rates. Even though the stigma associated with mental health problems has been decreasing and service utilization rates have increased, these have not been seen in all segments of the population; for instance, some religious beliefs have been associated with less frequent and lower rates of mental health service use. In this commentary, the authors, an academic psychiatrist and a community-based pastor, describe how their informal academic-community collaboration led to a series of speaking opportunities to help an international group of clergy members develop a better understanding of mental health and how mental health problems may intersect with faith. They reflect on lessons learned from these opportunities and their professions, discuss opportunities for academic faculty to apply these lessons in their daily practices, and encourage academic faculty to consider a “common ground” approach in their own community outreach efforts. The authors underscore the importance of building connections with people who might have beliefs, views, or understandings of medical concepts that differ from academic medicine’s and of teaching trainees how to build these connections. They challenge individual clinicians and academic faculty to identify spheres of influence that they have in their own lives through which they can create a positive impact for medicine and public health by finding shared experiences and common ground, clarifying misunderstandings, educating where needed, and serving as role models to encourage trainees to do the same.