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Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
Apr 27, 202226 min read

Mental Health Challenges

Updated: May 2, 2022


A Message from the Editor


In the article Post COVID-19 pandemic mental health challenges, Natarajan Kathirvel points out that experts have predicted a ‘’tsunami of psychiatric illness’’ in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic. We now have a global mental health crisis. Youth suicides and suicide ideation have dramatically increased, and there is a shortage of mental health providers to treat the results of the tsunami. The author also points out that psychological symptoms including anxiety, depression, insomnia are prevalent in up to 60 % among physicians, nurses and medical residents during Covid-19 pandemic


The author concludes that the “mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can persist and be long lasting for several years after the pandemic. Increases in the prevalence of common psychiatric disorders and suicide are expected during the post-pandemic time. “


I am asking all of our Canadian readers to contact their government as soon as possible to protest their offering physician-assisted suicide to the mentally ill.


In addition to mental health challenges, this issue of Profiles in Catholicism addresses many other topics.


I recently connected with a physician friend on mine in the Ukraine about the ghoulish nightmare that the people are facing, Please pray daily for the people of Ukraine.


Finally, a belated birthday wish to Marco Lo Russo


Also, if you find our information helpful, a small donation to help pay our staff would be appreciated.


A Quote to Remember


“I commend pastoral workers and voluntary associations and organisations to support in practical ways and through concrete initiatives, those families who have mentally ill people dependent upon them. I hope that the culture of acceptance and sharing will grow and spread to them, thanks also to suitable laws and health-care programmes which provide sufficient resources for their practical application….”

by Pope Benedict XVI


Prayers



Prayer for Those Affected by Mental Health Challenges

Lord God, as we have recently recalled Jesus' passion and death, we pray for those afflicted with a different kind of pain, that brought about by the challenge of mental illness. May those who face this physical and spiritual struggle whether personally or as a

close circle of family and friends find new strength and hope in this Easter season as we remember Jesus' willingness to experience pain

for our salvation. We offer our prayer in the name of Christ Jesus Our Lord. by Father John Pawlikowski,OSM Profiles in Catholicism


A prayer for Catholic mental health providers:


“The Promise of Good Friday”


In the heart of the dark, stealing through what is hidden, are the Worms which empty the potato, leaving it like a brittle egg-shell.


Or the larvae in the soil, rising in the night to strike, ever so gently, The fledgling plant, eating the leaves, holing its embrace on life.


Or the cold, descending frost, biting into the buds and blunting the tip

That would reach upwards and grow towards the light-increasing-life.


A face disfigured: “Darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gn 1: 2)


Glamour is no protection against the poisonous suggestion, insinuating further in as it works its way through restless resistance.

Popularity bursts, leaving bruised and battered the people who once Were icons of success, scattering what was good like crashed glass.


Good works: What were they? Who did them? Who can remember?

Subsiding like the passing of a great whale, where no trace remains.


Together Mary, the Mother of the Lord and Mary Magdalene, and Others, too, were with John the Evangelist in your presence, Lord, While you endured the cross, not flinching from their place of pain, But bearing it too, in the heart’s hearth, kindling a love between us


More like a love from Love, wherein we transcend our differences in Being still and becoming one, communicating what we can, when we Can, through your very Presence in the impossible places of pain, Bearing witness, in word and sacrament, that in being there you are With us, whether on a cross or accompanying those who are – we are Together tethered in prayer, touched by the touch of your word.


Oh Lord of Love, your undying Love lights, again and again, our Flickering failing, near fatal inaccessibility but, as with the closed Room, you can pass through to the innermost depths of our dying Spirit and, like a fire leaping up with the flame that lights it, your Presence among us takes us out of our isolation and estrangement.


Open to us, again and again, the contact of communication with Communion: to that coming together in the solidarity of suffering that Rises to the promise of the resurrection, whether in this life or the life Eternal to come, restoring as it redeems our ruined relationships and

Expands our horizons to the hope of eternal glory and the needy other.


So, Lord, let all who come to help, bring all their expertise and Training, experience and know-how, whether on their own or in the Company of others, turning again to the great companionship of the One who has been through the searing, tearing of soul from body and Everything that torments and foments division, finding forgiveness to Be the answer that unbinds and unfurls the biting sins and binds us Through gifts of grace, like many chords of a song of praise, rising, As we rise, to the praise of your redeeming Love, turning us to hope.


Oh Lord, let your Holy word so permeate our spirit that, uncovering What needs healing, heeding what needs helping, helping what needs

Help to recover from the disintegrating, embittering lie of being Unloved, unwanted, unable to come back into the community we left.


“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Mk 15: 33). “And the Spirit of God was moving over the

face of the waters” (Gn 1: 2).


And so let the Holy Spirit inspire our understanding of the “other” That we may find a path to the problems that beset us and, in time, Upload the soothing relief of being released to live, love and be more.


May the Mother of the Lord, Mary Magdalene. St. John and all the Angels and saints, in all their diverse array, help us to see, to believe And to benefit from the immense wealth of wisdom in the Tradition And Magisterial teaching of the Church of Jesus Christ.


And may the depths from which we come, oh Lord, help us to Communicate with those still immersed in the recesses of hurt, Hurting too much to talk, too silent to speak, too unheard to be heard

Easily, that the new beginning be not a false, faked start, but a reality

Too hoped for to be anything but solidly real, wonderful and graced.

by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism

Francis Etheredge has 12 books currently on Amazon and the forthcoming Reaching for the Résurrection : A Pastoral Bioethics


Prayers for the children of Ukraine and Russia Good and gracious God, We beg your help in understanding the pain and suffering of Ukraine and Russian children. When one sees the joy and playfulness in each and every gaze, we ask you to help us understand the suffering of disaster both in Ukraine and Russia. The tragedy of bombing the homes and maternity hospitals in Ukraine in which many were killed and maimed we ask why Lord. We ask those who are soldiers and warriors in this war put down their arms and ask Jesus to give us His love and care. We know Lord that you will take care of us as you are with us always but it is hard to understand the innocence of children being whisked away before their little time on earth. Looking at their tiny frail bodies that have been terribly mutilated in the midst of this war. Know that we love you and beg for your help for all those in the disaster. We pray especially for the parents who lost their precious children. We ask you to give us faith and hope so that we may continue to do your work. We pray especially for peace for Ukraine and Russia and all the countries affected by this war in the name of the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit. by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism

A Prayer for Murdered and Attacked Children In your great mercy, Lord, hear the prayers of your people who grieve the violent deaths and wounds of their children from Ukraine to the streets of Chicago and now in Covington, Kentucky. Hold these children in the arms of your love. Console and strengthen the hearts of the their parents. Enable all of us to find the right ways to end the violence against children. Be our rock of refuge and our source of hope beyond our pain. Amen by Father Louis Cameli Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer to serve the poor

Another day to live and do the good o change the lives of

the children and the poor, they are God's

family and we their guardians we know for sure,

We ask for courage to face the abusers and the doers of the wrong

we never compromise with the evil force we fight,

we do the good and we are where we belong,

With justice, and with the power to care,

we are changing lives,

You Lord are with us and with your love and friendship,

strength and power you share. Amen..

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for commitment to justice.


They praised you as Messiah,

Revolution was not your mission,

You taught acts of love and care

Yet no one would change and listen.

You cleared the Temple of exploiters,

challenged the system of evil, so corrupt,

Your words were silenced, so quickly, so abrupt by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


Mental Health Interviews

General Interviews

Mental Health Information and General Challenges

Articles/Commentaries

Specific Groups Affected by Mental Health Challenges


Prisoners


Articles/Commentaries

Teens/Young Adults

Articles/Commentaries

Children


Articles/Commentaries

Women


Articles/Commentaries

Medical Journal Articles

General Articles/Commentaries

Please support one of our organizations, colleagues, and friends who need help

Book Reviews/Commentaries/Excerpts

Film Reviews/Commentaries

Television Reviews/Commentaries

Theater Reviews

Music Reviews

Research Papers

Resources

Remembering Those Who Have Passed

Feasting with the Saints

Videos

Early Warning signs for children with Mental Illness


It's Time: There is Hope for Mental Health


St. Benedict Joseph Labre - Patron of Those who suffers from Anxiety


Found

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