men's mental health awareness series 24

The Role of Faith and Spirituality in Men’s Healing

Jun 29, 2025

Dearest Gentle Reader,

When the world gets heavy and logic fails to soothe us, many of us turn inward—or upward.

There’s something sacred about the way men reach for meaning when they’re hurting. Some turn to alcohol. Others satisfy sexual urges. The workaholics immerse themselves in endless work. The exhausted sit in silence. Others kneel in prayer. Some find God in a church. Others find peace on a balcony at 2 a.m., puffing their worries together with cigarette smokers into the night air. Whatever the shape it takes, life's burdens—when it’s heavier than normal—makes some men turn spiritual.

But it’s not always so simple.

For many men, faith has been both a refuge and a battleground. Some grew up in religious homes where feelings were dismissed with scriptures, mental illness was called a “spirit,” and therapy seen as a lack of faith. Others were taught to pray away pain, but never taught how to process it. So they learned to perform piety while privately unraveling.

And yet, even with that baggage, faith and spirituality still hold powerful potential for restoration.

True spirituality does not demand perfection. It creates space for wrestling doubt and emotion. It says, “Come as you are—even broken, even lost.” It does not compete with therapy; it can complement it. Prayer can be powerful, but so can introspection, community, and trained mental health support. They are not enemies. They are allies on the road to wholeness.

Spirituality gives language to things too heavy for reason to explain. It reminds a man that he is more than his worst day, trauma, and what society expects him to be. It reintroduces him to hope, not as a fantasy of escape, but as the promise that pain does not have the final say.

If you’ve distanced yourself from faith because of shame, guilt, or rigid teachings, you can return. Your healing is not disqualified by your questions. You can carry your bible and your therapy journal in the same hands. You can believe in God and still need medication. You can cry in prayer and still call your counsellor the next morning.

Faith is not an escape from pain. Nope. Faith anchors you in something deeper while you glide through life's troubled sea.

So hold on and close to whatever brings you peace. Let it guide you.

—Jaachịmmá Anyatọnwụ