A new study done by the Clergy Health Initiative at Duke Divinity School found that demands placed on clergy by themselves and others put pastors at far greater risk for depression than individuals with other occupations.
The study, published this week in the Journal of Primary Prevention, compared the mental health of 95 percent of the United Methodist clergy in North Carolina (1,726 pastors) to a representative sample of Americans and identified key factors that predict depression and anxiety.
Clergy participants were predominantly male (75 percent) and white (91 percent). The mean age was 52 years old.
The study, conducted in 2008, found the depression rate among clergy to be 8.7 percent when responses were limited to telephone interviews that closely approximated the conditions of a national survey (the 2005-06 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey study).
However, among clergy taking the survey via Web or paper, the rate of depression was even higher: 11.1 percent — double the then-national rate of 5.5 percent.
Anxiety rates among clergy were 13.5 percent (no comparable U.S. rate was available). More than 7 percent of clergy simultaneously experienced depression and anxiety.
A number of factors were found to be powerful predictors of depression and anxiety, most notably job stress. Clergy engage in many stressful activities, including grief counseling, navigating the competing demands of congregants, and delivering a weekly sermon that opens them up to criticism.
The strain of these roles is further amplified by having to switch rapidly between them, which other studies have shown to exacerbate stressful experiences.
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