Religion and mental health

[Epic Beard Man]

Religion is very important imho because it prevents people from falling into Nihilism and possible suicide. Check out Ernest Becker's book if you haven't.

But what about instances where it influences a psychotic state?

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

"An average Hindu grows in an environment where sex outside marriage is identical to sin. The guilt is overpowering and becomes an integral part of his psychological development. We see the repercussion in the form of sexual hypochondriasis. Sexual hypochondriasis Dhat (WIG 1958) is common in India. There is multiple neurasthenic symptoms associated with passage of semen in urine. It occurs in young Indian males. A history of masturbation and night emissions are present."

I find it fascinating that a religion that has a basically pornographic sex manual as a sacred text has sexual hang-ups.

Thoughts?

I would think so. Part of the reason I'm attracted to Zen is, in part, the idea that all the other stuff is superfluous. "It is what it is" and no more. Fixations and obsessions regarding doctrine or dogmas allow for too many distractions on just BEING. Most ritual is just there to pacify the self or the group anyway. If a king or whatever doesn't want a rebellion forming, just keep inventing festivals until everyone's too tired to pick up a knife, much less fight. I would think this proves Zen's point about letting go of irrelevancies. Even Jesus has similar thoughts, noting that "Sabbath was made for man".

How does that tie-in to this Gallup survey that shows the more religious a person is, the more likely they are to be happy?

How does that tie in to the study that shows religious people are also bigger jerks?

https://news.berkeley.edu/2012/04/30/religionandgenerosity/

Religion Doesn't Make People More Moral, Study Finds

 

[blü 2]

You misunderstand. The Quran doesn't supress or condemn the natural drive. Don't know about the bible.

It's as homophobic as any Abrahamic religion.

Homosexuality is natural to homosexuals.

 

[Remté]

It's as homophobic as any Abrahamic religion.

Homosexuality is natural to homosexuals.

The Quran is not.

 

[Remté]

But what about instances where it influences a psychotic state?

Religion?

 

[suncowiam]

Read an interesting research article concerning religion and its influences on mental health from the Indian (that is Indian from the country of India) perspective. According to the article, religious beliefs and practices often contribute to the development of some psychiatric disorders in regards to maladaptive behaviors like obsessions, anxiety and depression. Citing Freud, he believed that there was a similarity between obsessive behavioral patterns and religious practices in their fixed character which can potentially lead to anxiety if a specific action is not properly performed. An example is Dhat syndrome, which is a condition where males report of having premature ejaculation or impotence where they believe they are passing semen through urine. According to the research article:

"An average Hindu grows in an environment where sex outside marriage is identical to sin. The guilt is overpowering and becomes an integral part of his psychological development. We see the repercussion in the form of sexual hypochondriasis. Sexual hypochondriasis Dhat (WIG 1958) is common in India. There is multiple neurasthenic symptoms associated with passage of semen in urine. It occurs in young Indian males. A history of masturbation and night emissions are present."

I thought this brought an interesting dynamic to the discussion of the influences of religion when it comes to mental health. Although several studies have shown that religion plays an important part in the daily function of people, it can also serve as a catalyst for psychiatric disorders. The full research article could be looked at here:Religion and mental health

Thoughts?

Much of mental health can be gauged as of a dissonance from reality.

Bring in religion and it's faith based ideologies and, gee, no surprise when much of it cannot be proven against reality.

 

[Remté]

Much of mental health can be gauged as of a dissonance from reality.

Bring in religion and it's faith based ideologies and, gee, no surprise when much of it cannot be proven against reality.

Much of it is based on brain chemistry. Whether a person is religious or not is statistically on such an irrelevant level it can be considered a coinsidence.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Religion?

Yes

 

[suncowiam]

Much of it is based on brain chemistry. Whether a person is religious or not is statistically on such an irrelevant level it can be considered a coinsidence.

Brain chemistry? And how do we measure this exactly? What defines "good" versus "bad" brain chemistry? Go ahead and define this for me. If you do with plausibility, I'll entertain your assertion.

 

[stvdv]

How does that tie-in to this Gallup survey that shows the more religious a person is, the more likely they are to be happy?

Source

Many times when I ask people "are you happy", they say "yes I am happy". But when asking deeper they will say "I am not happy"

I do not believe this type of surveys blindly, and below I have 4 very good reasons why I don't believe them:

1) My first thought that comes to mind now is "many religious people are into evangelizing". So when they are asked in a survey how happy they are, it would be bad "evangelizing trick" to say I am unhappy; very bad. So I expect them to say I am happy, even when not.

2) Second thought "even my Master says that it's good to always smile, and don't show when you are unhappy. That way other people get happy to see you smile. And as a consequence it might make you even happy". So religious people might not share it in a survey when they are unhappy. It takes me sometimes a few trick questions to get the real happiness out of them. I odn't like participating in surveys. I have done some. Those asking me to fill in, are happy when I just fill in. They are not like me "triple asking to check if I really am happy or not". This to me shows that a survey about "happy or not" is not scientific accurate at all.

3) Third thought "Religious people are very good in faking stuff. In my church it seems all very halleluja. Once I asked someone who know more about the ins and outs and he told me `you don't want to know what is going on in the higher levels in the church`". I did not want to know even. Thinking of boy stories and nun stories in Roman Catholic Churches I get a pretty good picture.

4) Fourth thought "They probably didn't ask the young catholic boys and nuns in this survey of fanatical religious people"

Those came up already in the first 3 minutes thinking about it.

 

[Remté]

Yes

If religion is a partly cause to psychosis it isn't on a relevant level. And even then it isn't the religion that is the problem but the circumstance.

 

[Remté]

Brain chemistry? And how do we measure this exactly? What defines "good" versus "bad" brain chemistry? Go ahead and define this for me. If you do with plausibility, I'll entertain your assertion.

An individual brain can be studied these days. It's common knowledge. As is its significant effect on mental health.

Here's something to give you an idea

What Causes Depression? Brain Chemistry and Neurotransmitters Play Major Roles

What Causes Depression? Brain Chemistry and Neurotransmitters Play Major RolesWhat causes depression? The truth is, many mental disorders are produced by physical changes in the brain or body. “What causes depression?” is a question many of us have asked. Responses are all over the map, but it’s fair to say that depression is a disease. Research supports this by demonstrating key differences in the brains of those who are depressed and those who are not. The Effects of Brain Changes If you compare the brain of someone with depression to the brain of someone who is not depressed, on the outside they look pretty similar. However, when imaging scans from such tests as an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) have been used to look inside the brain, discernible differences in brain activity have been noted in the brains of people with depression, particularly those with long-term or chronic depression. People with a history of chronic depression have been found, on average, to have a smaller hippocampus—a part of the brain that is involved in memory—and a thinner right cortex, which is involved in mood. Researchers still don’t know the exact reasons for these differences, but they may reflect the long-term impact on the brain of biochemical changes related to stress and depression. In turn, these differences may affect the brain’s ability to process emotional stimuli and respond to new environmental stresses. Normal activity in the brain is also disrupted in depression. Regions of the brain that are involved in reward processing are less active in depressed people. As a result, people who are depressed sometimes say that they have almost entirely lost the ability to experience pleasure (a symptom called anhedonia). Many people with depression no longer look forward to activities they once enjoyed, like traveling to a favorite destination, watching a favorite sport, or going out with friends.

What Causes Depression: Brain Chemistry You might have heard that depression stems from a “chemical imbalance,” and that’s partly true. In people with depression, the levels of certain brain chemicals are thought to be out of balance, particularly these neurotransmitters: serotonin (which regulates mood, emotion, and sleep)dopamine (which affects movement, attention, and feelings of pleasure)norepinephrine (which regulates arousal, sleep, attention, and mood) Antidepressant medications are believed to work, in part, by helping correct these brain chemical imbalances. While serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine have long been considered the “big three” neurotransmitters involved in depression, recent research suggests that what causes depression may be more complicated than just having not enough or too much of these neurotransmitters in certain parts of the brain.

depression—may work by promoting or regulating connectivity within certain parts of the brain. It appears that certain neuronal networks can be either overactive or underactive in depression. The more researchers study the brains of depressed people, the more they’re able to pinpoint specific brain abnormalities associated with each aspect of depression. Several research projects, for instance, have linked specific features of depression, including disrupted or unbalanced feelings of guilt, the tendency to ruminate about negative thoughts, anhedonia, and disruptions in memory, with very specific brain imbalances or abnormalities.

 

[Quintessence]

The long and the short of it is that mental health is complicated, and so is religion. Mix those two together and you end up with a super ultra complicated mess.

There's something to be said for approaching these issues with systematic investigation and statistical analyses, but there comes a point where it's best to recognize individuals as individuals. I feel that's the case with mental health in particular. When someone is in distress, we need to look at their unique situation and not rely overmuch on averages or correlations. A good counselor will aim to understand the cultural context of their client - including their religion - to avoid making improper assumptions about how that might play into their mental health. The cultural background of a client can be both a source of strength and of diminishment. Teasing out the specifics of that takes time and a delicate hand.

 

[Vinayaka]

Mental health is a massive problem in society. It's costing us millions in tax money to care for people, disrupts families, is at the root of some crime, and at the root of some addictions like drugs and gambling. Religion, on the other hand, is a different field altogether. Yes they do cross over. When someone suffers from delusions of grandeur (thinking they are God, in particular) it has to be heartbreaking. When somebody gets addicted to religion to the point of an obsession, it's equally as damaging. Still, religion can ease a person's mind, clam them down, give them solace in times of grief, and more.

I'm with Quintessence, in that it's personal. Each individual case is unique. To approach if from any particular religious POV would be a mistake.

 

[Remté]

Mental health is a massive problem in society.

This gives me the vibes you think it's a kind of disease that radiates from the person infected. Much of those problems could be avoided if people treated others decently. But it's the one called ill that becomes the problem in the eyes of the majority no matter what horrors they have been subjected to by the *healthy* people.

 

[Vinayaka]

This gives me the vibes you think it's a kind of disease that radiates from the person infected. Much of those problems could be avoided if people treated others decently. But it's the one called ill that becomes the problem in the eyes of the majority no matter what horrors they have been subjected to by the *healthy* people.

Certainly not what I meant. I have worked, not in the medical field, but in the education field, with many people of varying degrees of differences that were more challenging. OCD, ADD, ODD, and all those other labels the psychologists and in some cases psychiatrists put on people. In some cases challenges lead to beautiful outcomes. When a kid comes to your class bawling each and every morning, and after a few months, he/she doesn't, it's rewarding.

 

[QuestioningMind]

How does that tie-in to this Gallup survey that shows the more religious a person is, the more likely they are to be happy?

Source

I would have to question the method they used for determining a person's happiness. Was it people self-reporting their level of happiness? I had a great aunt who claimed that because of her strong faith she was happier than those without faith; yet in my opinion she was one of the most miserable people I've ever met. She was constantly upset about rampant sin in the world, was always worried about if her loved ones were 'saved', and would get hysterical if anyone ever questioned her beliefs. However, if she were polled I can guarantee that she'd rate herself as being VERY happy... all because she was taught her faith was supposed to make her happier.

 

[blü 2]

The Quran is not.

Is not natural?

It's certainly homophobic. Do you think that's to its credit?

 

[Remté]

Is not natural?

It's certainly homophobic. Do you think that's to its credit?

Homophobia: "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexualityor homosexuals"

It isn't homophobic.

 

[blü 2]

Homophobia: "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexualityor homosexuals"

It isn't homophobic.

The Qur'an says eg

(7:80-84) "...For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds.... And we rained down on them a shower (of brimstone)"

(7:81) - "Will ye commit abomination such as no creature ever did before you?"

(26:165-166) - "Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing"​

I couldn't find the verse that says, "Ignore all the homophobic stuff in this book." Perhaps you could point it out to me.