Lexi shares her experiences as a Mormon missionary

Mental Health Crises on Mormon Missions: When Companion Care Becomes a Liability

Every year, thousands of young Latter-day Saint men and women leave their homes to serve two-year (or 18-month) missions as ambassadors of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The missionary experience is framed as transformative, a time of spiritual growth, service, and character development. Yet emerging accounts from returned missionaries paint a more complicated picture, particularly regarding how missions handle companions experiencing serious mental health emergencies. Understanding these accounts is crucial for current missionaries, their families, and anyone concerned with institutional accountability in high-control religious organizations.

According to interviews featured on the Mormon Stories Podcast, returned missionaries have begun publicly sharing stories about serving alongside companions struggling with severe psychiatric symptoms, including suicidal and homicidal ideations, while mission leadership allegedly kept these individuals in the field rather than sending them home for professional treatment. These testimonies raise urgent questions about mission protocols, companion safety, and the adequacy of mental health screening and support systems within the LDS missionary program.

The Missionary Experience and Mental Health Vulnerabilities

The LDS missionary program stands as one of the largest organized proselytizing forces in Christianity, with roughly 60,000 active missionaries at any given time. Missionaries live in emotionally intense, isolated environments, separated from family, dating relationships, and most outside support systems. They work long hours, face rejection regularly, and operate under strict behavioral guidelines and constant companion supervision.

This structure, while intended to maximize focus on spiritual work, can amplify pre-existing vulnerabilities or trigger new mental health challenges. Young adults far from home, living in high-stress conditions with limited privacy or autonomy, become vulnerable populations for depression, anxiety, and crisis states.