I just read an article about mental illness in religion and started wondering if highly religious people might be considered as mentally ill. I mean like there have been a lot of mass suicides do to religious backround and reasons but are these people really considered ar religious in that fact. and if they believe in a certain religion does it leave a stain to religious beliefs.
I am not saying that i agree with that fact. in fact - i am a believer myself. It just got me wondering what would you guys think
the article is found at http://www.superbious.com/Religious/arti...lness.html

I would appreciate your input in that manner

(April 13, 2013 at 9:19 am)Adventuremrkt Wrote: I just read an article about mental illness in religion and started wondering if highly religious people might be considered as mentally ill. I mean like there have been a lot of mass suicides do to religious backround and reasons but are these people really considered ar religious in that fact. and if they believe in a certain religion does it leave a stain to religious beliefs.
I am not saying that i agree with that fact. in fact - i am a believer myself. It just got me wondering what would you guys think
the article is found at http://www.superbious.com/Religious/arti...lness.html

I would appreciate your input in that manner

highly successful people mentally ill?
highly successful sport figures mentally ill?
Mentally ill politicians? yes, many, not all.

mentally ill religious people?
The answer is yes, not all, but many.
About the only people that aren't mentally ill are atheist like you.

I couldn't tell you if the super religious are mentally ill. What I CAN say is that a sudden, huge spike in religious views coincides with certain mental illnesses. My mother works with brain injured men, many if not all of them have a mental disorder or two or three on top of their condition. The staff is told to look for certain signs that could indicate there is a problem - one of them is an enormous increase in religious beliefs.

So is sudden hyper-sexuality and a whole other host of behaviours. The post reeks of confirmation bias.

I'm just saying it's ONE of the signs. Pacing is another sign - which sometimes indicates nothing more than thinking in both mentally ill and non mentally ill folks. It's not a perfect system of analyzing a person's state of mind.

To make this clear I do not think being ridiculously religious automatically means mental illness. It COULD mean that, but I do not think so.

"super" is the word we should key in on. What's the difference between hobby and OCD? yes, the line gets blurred. Are "super" fans mentally ill? "super" clean yards mean the person is mentally ill? the answer is maybe, on all accounts. But to equate "believing" with mental illness is wrong.

As far as I know, "mental illness" encompasses a pretty wide range of issues. Are people who are diagnosed with mental illness exclusively or primarily describing religious delusions? I'd never heard of that. The old stereotype of the deluded mental patient was that he thought he was Napoleon, not John the Baptist.

The sure sign of mental illness is believing in mental illness.

I'll believe in mental illness when there is a blood test or something similar to diagnose the so-called "illness".
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POWIMS / Poor Old Woe Is Me Syndrome.

Newly discovered mental illness has symptoms which entail other illnesses. OCD, ADHD, Chronic depression and others all combine to create a mental state where the subject feels incapable of doing anything so they collect disability, stay inside and cry about their problems all day.
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(April 13, 2013 at 9:19 am)Adventuremrkt Wrote: I just read an article about mental illness in religion and started wondering if highly religious people might be considered as mentally ill.

I think you have the 'cart before the horse', so to speak.

SOME mental illnesses predispose the inflicted person with obsessions. Some of these mentally ill people may become obsessed with a public figure, some my become obsessed with religious beliefs, etc.

The mental illness comes first. Simply being highly religious does not mean someone is mentally ill.

But I do have to interject a Sam Harris quote here:

“The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.”

It's not a disease if more than 50% of the people suffer from it.... it's normal, unfortunately.
Seems to stem from a predisposition to gullibility of young people towards the claims of their elders.