While congregations often view their pastors as strong, stable shepherds, many members of the clergy experience a large disconnect between the image they project and the mental and emotional battles to which they are subject.
“I have never met a clergy person, either in therapy or out, who did not suffer some type of wound to their self,” clinical psychologist Robert Randall said. Also an ordained United Church of Christ minister, Randall spent 37 years as a congregational minister of counseling in Illinois.
Clergy are not very good at taking care of their health, he said. “The common excuse is ‘not enough time,’ but the underlying problem has more to do with narcissistic issues.”
Clergy want to be seen as unshakeable and don’t allow anyone to see what they are going through. Instead, they keep “working and working” to be seen as productive and indispensable, Randall said.
“For some clergy there is a long history of struggles to maintain firm self-cohesion and self-esteem,” he said. “But even pastors with a firm sense of self are always vulnerable to having their self shaken.”
This can happen when pastors don’t receive affirmation, feel they have no one to look up to or feel isolated.
“After a time, these hurts wear out hope; they mount up to leave the pastor feeling anxious, depressed and — often hidden — extremely angry,” Randall said.
Cliff Caton, pastor of First Christian Church in Blue Springs, Mo., and a student at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, speaks about his history of depression from the pulpit.
Caton’s experience with depression came before he was a pastor. He lost his job at a bank, faced the foreclosure of his home and was divorced — all in a 90-day period.
He assumed he was OK, because he heard that people facing depression lack energy and can’t sleep. “I had all kinds of energy … and slept whenever I wanted to,” he said.
Caton first realized he faced clinical depression during a Sabbaths of Hope conference. Sabbaths of Hope is a project that provides clergy with mental health education and resources designed to help them recognize symptoms of depression, help congregants obtain treatment and provide better support for those suffering from depression.
Sharing his experience with his congregation gives them permission to not be perfect, he said.
“It’s about taking chances — it’s what we’re called to do, to step out,” Caton said. “Us personally, not just through sermons that are edgy, but ourselves.”
Speaking about depression and other mental health issues can help remove the stigma, he said. “A number of clergy still view it [depression] as a weakness, but it’s a disease. Is there shame in having mumps?”
Randall suggests four steps for pastors facing depression:
• “Admit you are depressed and need help. Understand that this admission is a sign of strength, not of weakness — you care enough about your self, and about those whose lives you touch, to reclaim your life.
• “Get into psychotherapy with a good therapist, one who not only understands depression but also understands the life of ministry. Stick with the therapy!
• “Consult your M.D. or a psychiatrist who your therapist might know to discuss the possible need for antidepressants. Stick with the medication!
• “Keep putting one foot in front of the other, even if you don’t feel like it. Maintain your routine.”
While Caton and other ministers have had good experience speaking to the congregation about their depression, Randall cautions against sharing while in the midst of the struggles. “If a depressed pastor is still functioning fairly well, then the pastor should treat his/her depression as his own personal issue, shared with family and select friends, but not be made a congregational issue.”