["Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 61, Issue 2, Page 553-563, June 2022. ", "\nAbstract\nGiven the adverse mental health consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic, it is important to examine whether faith communities continue to provide social and emotional support to members during the pandemic. This study focuses on a particular mechanism through which congregations may help members’ mental health––talking to fellow congregants about private problems. Data for this study come from online surveys conducted between October and December 2020 in 12 congregations (Christian, Jewish, and Hindu) in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas (N = 1609). Using two measures of mental health (overall assessment of mental health and an indicator of COVID‐19‐related mental health worsening), we find that greater levels of problem sharing are associated with better overall mental health and with lower chances of COVID‐19‐related mental health worsening. The beneficial effect of sharing problems is especially pronounced when the frequency is very high and remains statistically significant net of passive social support and other controls. However, we find that levels of problem sharing in congregations are relatively low on average. Our study thus highlights that the practice of problem sharing should be counted as a mental health resource in congregations and raises the need to better understand its underutilization.\n"]