The Orthodox Church and the Mental Health Burden of a Pandemic: A Narrative Mini-Review

Abstract

The mental health burden of the recent COVID19 pandemic will be extensive and pervasive likely for many years to come. The stress and anxiety of this event will undoubtedly impact Orthodox communities regardless of location after the world has met the crisis and resumed some sense of normalcy. The assessment of mental health needs among Orthodox Christians remains a largely unstudied phenomenon. A small narrative review was conducted to ascertain ways in which other faith-based organizations have studied mental health in their own communities. While studies that address many minority and immigrant-based faith-based organizations exist, these are limited in scope. Given similarities that exist between minority and immigrant-based faith-based populations and Orthodox communities, a planning framework is suggested to improve an Orthodox response post-pandemic.

The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Improving Vaccination Confidence & Addressing Vaccination Disparities to Help Improve Vaccine Uptake: A Systematic Review

“…A total of 37 articles were included in the analysis ( Figure 1 ) [ 6 , 7 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. Results were categorized as “public health interventions”, where interventions were related to addressing public health needs across various topics including mental health and physical activity, then “vaccination interventions” which are those focused specifically on supporting vaccine uptake.…”

“…The study found that participants with a stronger devotion to faith were more likely to use faith-based coping mechanisms when handling challenges and seeking mental health services. Similarly, Schieffler and Genig [ 32 ], after conducting a mini-narrative review on orthodox church members, found that FBOs play a significant role for its people regarding mental health burdens to heal “both soul and body”.…”