Being Human

Episode 278: Better than 20 Billion Dollars: A Litany For Mental Health

May 12, 2026·31 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

$20 billion in research. Suicide rates 32% higher than the year 2000. Something is deeply wrong — and it isn't a lack of effort. In this episode, Dr. Greg makes the case that the mental health crisis isn't a funding problem or an awareness problem. It's a standard problem. Without a vision of what a healthy human person actually looks like, the best we can do is manage symptoms. And he introduces something new: a Mental Health Litany and Novena beginning May 15th — nine days of prayer leading into Pentecost, naming the specific fears and lies beneath our patterns and bringing them before Christ. Key Topics: Why decades of funding and awareness haven't moved mental health in the right direction Why the absence of symptoms is not the same thing as health What Catholic anthropology offers that the mental health industry doesn't have Why the Church has been slow to speak into mental suffering — and what that silence has cost How a litany does something that silence and symptom-management can't What it looks like to bring anxiety, depression, and trauma into Catholic prayer — by name Learn More: Download the Mental Health Litany and join the Novena: catholicpsych.com/litany Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier: The book Dr. Greg references that argues our current mental health treatments may be making the problems worse  Start of the Being Human series on the Histrionic Defense Patterns: Ep. #274: To Be Loved Is to Perform: Inside the Histrionic Compulsion for Attention and Validation Start of the Being Human series on the Borderline Defense Patterns: Ep. #269: BORDERLINE: The Push-Pull Between a Fear of Abandonment and Annihilation Start of the Being Human series on the Dependent Defense Patterns: Ep. #265: Jerry Maguire, Gollum, and the Fear of Not Existing Start of the Being Human series on the Narcissistic Defense Patterns: Ep. #261: Narcissism and the Terror of Being Ordinary Need help? Schedule a free CatholicPsych consultation Want to help? Learn more about our Certification in Professional Accompaniment Follow Us on Socials: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter (X) | LinkedIn

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