paranoid personality disorders

[zip_ster]

So I was searching the web several months ago, and i found this article.

• http://www.awitness.org/journal/gnostic_paranoia.html

The author seems to think that religious indoctrination into fundamentalist Christian churches can use violent images and languages; and subsequent behavior of fundamentalist christians in these churches can cause an otherwise normal person to develop personality disorders, notably paranoid disorders.

Having little trust in this author I decided to read some more scholarly web articles about the disorder here:

http://www.depression-guide.com/paranoia.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Pe...der#Causes
http://www.minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Paran...order.html

In these articles, guilt, fear, and sense of inferiority in past experiences are noted as possible causes. The link between paranoid personality disorder and religious faith, indoctrination and church membership is quite absent from these articles.

Now, I can give ,y own anecdotal evidence supporting fear, giult, and inferiority being present in fundamentalist pentecostal indoctrination, and it would make this a huge note..quite boring to read. The first article's claims would be supported by my web search articles having fear as a cause of the disorder. My anecdotes would support fear as being present in these churches. The same for guilt and inferiority feelings. The language of the Bible speaks for itself in terms of violence.

That brings me to the questions I have.
Should people with personality disorders and more serious mental health issues be encouraged to stay away from some churches, or from Christianity?

Are mental health statistics better for Atheists? In other words specifically; do Atheists report less paranoid personality disorders?

Would converting to atheism help to alleviate some of these symptoms, that can be found in the three sholarly links above? for example less fear of damnation, less violent imagery, less magical thinking, etc

Is there any legitimate source (APA, etc) that links Christianity to mental health problems?

[MilesTailsPrower]

There is no doubt religion causes mental disorders. Teaching kids about hell should be considered mental abuse. All you have to do is look at all the genocides caused by religion to tell it causes mental problems.

[Erinome]

When I hear the word 'religion', I automatically think of disorders, delusions, insanity, etc.

When I hear people talking about their faith, I automatically assume they're out of touch with reality.

[KichigaiNeko]

The unfortunate thing is that to accept atheism is to take responsibility for oneself...sans any "get out of jail free" deity or other insanity to cover your guilty butt.

No atheism is not for these people. imho

[zip_ster]

There is no doubt religion causes mental disorders. Teaching kids about hell should be considered mental abuse.

Kids tend to take what they are raised in as "normal" so we never knew what was "abusive" about out childhood until we were taught. By the time I was exposed to other ideas, i thought the idea of God being sadistic or cruel or manmade was utter blasphemy.

Since I am playing devil's advocate, what about the whole "spare the rod and spoil the child thing? were you spanked as a child? Did the absence of fear of corporal punishment cause you to "run amok?

All you have to do is look at all the genocides caused by religion to tell it causes mental problems.

The denying of reality part.. it took years of seeing how some of these "holy people" really act and think to cause me to beleive the whole of religion was garbage. What I still question is why so much of amercan society still embraces some form of Christianity, if it is all so destructive.

more devils advocate stuff...
Supposedly, absence of the "rod of correction" of godly punishment is the cause of all of the worlds ills. Suppose this fear of correction was properly instilled from early childhood, do you think as an aduly that a person would ever truly think for themselves? Fundamentalists cal this " anything goes philosophy the most dangerous thing, while atheists say it is what we need. Confusing.

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When I hear the word 'religion', I automatically think of disorders, delusions, insanity, etc.

When I hear people talking about their faith, I automatically assume they're out of touch with reality.

You were never indoctrinated? The whole, You must believe or be damned scenario is a powerful tool, developed over hundreds of years. I don't know why I have thought for years that it it always and only about control, this religious faith. It took a few years of trying to stop my own doubts and not being able too. To be honest, the beleivers wil tell you that if you don't believe you are crazy, or just plain evil.

I'm still trying to sort through how my own disbelief makes me agree with atheists more than with Christians, so pardon me for going back and forth.

I might also argue that people who have mental health and abuse issues are drawn to some churches, and are sought after by them. The whole idea that God can "heal me of any sickness" was a powerful one. Where would these people be if they had to heal themselves?

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My question, is there any science behind religion and mental illness? Why doesn't psychology seem to recognize a connection? Or is psychology just as questionable as religion.

[Rhizomorph13]

To the OP,

I think you are putting the cart before the horse on this one. It is true that many people with mental disorders go to church but that does not mean that church causes mental disorders, it might mean that people with mental disorders are drawn to the perceived stability of the religious message. Think about it; if you heard voices in your head wouldn't you want to go somewhere that supports the idea that there are forces outside of the material world that contact us? I know that I found it comforting when I was having my own delusions of granduer and feeling unknown forces that seemed to wish me ill or well. As Kichi said, "...to accept atheism is to take responsibility for oneself." Who wants to think that their brain is malfunctioning, when there is a ready made delusion that exists to explain weird experiences.

I would use the analogy of fat people and McDonald's. McDonald's doesn't make people fat, overeating does, so to say that if a fat person avoided McDonald's they wouldn't be fat is just as wrong as saying that a mentally imbalanced person wouldn't be mentally imbalanced without church. Believe me, fat people gonna eat, and mentally imbalanced people gonna find some weird shit to keep them mentally imbalanced.

[The Grand Nudger]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that there isn't any data that links religion to disorder in any way that couldn't be explained away by merely stating that you would expect to find more religious people with personality disorders simply because there are more religious folks than non-religious ones. Besides, I'm not interested in giving them a pass on their beliefs in any shape. They are, by and large, perfectly competent and as sound of mind as anyone else. If they were nutballs I wouldn't expect them to explain their bigotry, I'd just accept it for what it was.

[Epimethean]

I think there is, however, something to the theory of a gene code that predisposes people to believe in gods.

[zip_ster]

Besides, I'm not interested in giving them a pass on their beliefs in any shape. They are, by and large, perfectly competent and as sound of mind as anyone else. If they were nutballs I wouldn't expect them to explain their bigotry, I'd just accept it for what it was.

I agree with this. Don't give them any slack!

[Shell B]

I agree with Rhizo and Rhythm. However, I will say that some people probably should avoid church, such as pure OCD sufferers and schizophrenics. I say this because religion has so many images and ideas that feed into intrusive thoughts, hallucinations, delusions, delusions of persecution, etc. I honestly believe that all "possessed" people suffer from mental disorders that are not being treated properly because these people believe that they are possessed, as do the people around them.

I was very ill for several months roughly four years ago, probably less. Throughout my illness, I was given a variety of drugs to help me eat, keep me from shaking, keep me from vomiting and stop my heart from palpitating. The one that was meant to keep my heart in line made me severely depressed. I remember going from okay, but sick, to holy fuck I want to die in a matter of days. During that time, I watched "Omen" and was so fucking freaked out by all of the religious references that I had to shut it off. I had never had problems with it before then, but I remember thinking that, because they kept having issues finding what was wrong with me, maybe I was going insane, which is halfway to possessed. Anyway, long story short, the creepy religious shit did not help my mental situation at all. Thankfully, I got off those meds within two days of getting depressed and was no longer depressed a few weeks later. I'm okay, but people who have chronic mental illness are not as easily "cured." They are very susceptible to these things. I had merely had a fleeting moment of "that would be so creepy that I cannot deal with it, even though I know it isn't real." I can't imagine having that eat away at me all the time.