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

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.