What is the correlation between religiosity and mental illness and/or other type

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   gmwilliamsposted 10 years ago

   What is the correlation between religiosity and mental illness and/or other types of mental
   
   disorders?
   There are religious people who eschew the world, distancing themselves from it and only desire the religious life. They view life as merely preparatory for the afterlife.  Anything that is not related to their religious ethos is discounted, even derided.  They see any type of progress and growth as evil and against the natural order of things. To them, the world is something to be avoided, not to be interacted with unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
   
   

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2. 87

   rdlang05posted 10 years ago

   I don't know of any particular study, though I could probably find one if i took the time to look it up.  But I'm going to try to answer anyway by just thinking out loud.
   
   First of all I think it depends on if you're talking about intrinsically or extrinsically motivated religiosity.  In my opinion, it seems that those who are extrinsically motivated (motivated by the social aspects of religion to be religious) would be more easily thrust into cognitive illnesses (depression etc.) when things in their religious group changed.
   
   However, if I remember correctly, people who are intrinsically motivated by religion tend to have an external locus of control, a worldview which tends to lead of higher levels of anxiety or depression.
   
   Finally, I'm also pretty sure there are some types of mental illness which, because of their cause, have a religiosity correlation rate which is much less because of the more biological or behavioral roots of the illness (skitzophrenia, boarderline personality disorder, etc.)....although it would make sense that the people would be less religious anyway, so from a strict correlation aspect (without bringing in causation), I guess one could argue that lower religiosity is present in these individuals.

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good answer!

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      grand old ladyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hello rdlang05. A Gallup study  indicated that religious people are healthier than non religious people. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/2 … 0740.html.

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   3. 87

      rdlang05posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Makes sense to me

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   NornsMercyposted 10 years ago

   I have nothing intelligent to say...
   I just wanted to say that I love Gregory House.
   
   That is all.

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4. 85

   grand old ladyposted 10 years ago

   I think Gregory House mentioned once that religious manifestations always seem to approximate manifestations of mental illness, such as hallucination and hearing voices, which Joan of Arc experienced. The stigmata as experienced by St. Francis of Assissi and Padre Pio have medical explanations such as Munchhausen Syndrome.
   
   But not all miracles can be compared to mental illness.The parting of the Red Sea was witnessed more than once, at least, by Napoleon. I think God uses natural phenomenon and the timing of it to suit his plans. I heard before of a woman who said they had no food and suddenly it rained salmon on her roof after they prayed. I thought it was ridiculous, until I read of a tornado that whooped up all the salmon that landed on the roofs of people's houses.
   
   Miracles don't have to be extraordinary. My life is, for me a miracle. I was headed in the wrong way, and God turned it around. Others who were in similar situations did not end up with a very self fulfilling life.

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      lone77starposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Beautiful! And miracles can also be of the extraordinary kind, like walking on water. No matter how many molecules accidentally move in one direction, they are never simultaneous enough accidents to support a person on water.

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   lone77starposted 10 years ago

   No correlation!
   
   Any system of information, education or knowledge can be perverted by a damaged mind. It doesn't have to be religion. It can be military, science, business rules, bureaucratic procedures. Mental instability isn't confined to any one subject area.
   
   The House quote is ludicrous. Certainly some religious people ignore reason and even reality, and then suffer delusion. But anyone talking in generalities, especially absolutes, is in danger of slipping on a logical fallacy.
   
   Perhaps House would agree that Sir Isaac Newton was a very rational man. He gave us a great deal of science and higher mathematics. And yet he was a Young Earth Creationist! Imagine that. No doubt, he would change his mind about such a short biblical timeline. We now know so much more about the universe.
   
   But House is being entirely illogical in his statement. In fact, by his generality he is implying an omniscience that is usually reserved for divine beings. Oops!

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      grand old ladyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The House quotation may have been taken out of context. In the episode, a patient was religious. He didn't mean it's always true, but common. Also, he didn't relate the 'statement to anything else. Actually, the TV writers own the quote...

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      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I used this picture as not to offend anyone.  The picture was meant to be neutral. I do not believe in using offensive nor prejudicial pictures, that would be classless and disrespectul.

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