Someone close to me.......

[Brian37]

Being concerned with someone's mental health is not trying to dictate to them or write their future. I do have something to say about this, because I have dealt with this myself. I have been suicidal myself, and I can tell you, it was far worse when I did believe, and back then I came a shitload closer to doing it back then. I am telling you, old mythology is not a replacement for modern psychology/neurology/medicine.

Then suggest they seek professional help.

Without the over-the-top way that you have.

You said you know how they will react because you know how they reacted to stresses in the past.  No, you don't know.  You think you have an idea based on history but time has passed since then and this is a different set of stressors.

Just because you have mental health issues doesn't make you qualified to diagnose or suggest a specific treatment for anyone else.

But watch for that hood and Swastika...

Would love to, but were you not the one who just said leave it alone?

This is a risk. If I push it, it could make things worse, if I don't push it, it could also get worse. I know this person well, and the people this person if finding comfort in may not get her the clinical help they really need. 

And again, I wasn't saying this person was going to go Nazi on me. All I said was that people flock to others for support to fill a void, and find a sense of belonging. Humans evolved to socialize, but when we do form groups, we can create or join a group for all the wrong reasons.

Humans created the ancient Egyptian gods, and were quite successful for 3,000 years, but none of that success made any of the gods real.

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Religious conversion is clearly not the best answer to a stressful situation.  But the idea that religion always makes mental issues worse is rubbish on the face of it.  That loads and loads people have found solace, stress relief and have alleviated depression through religion is unarguable.

And - quite frankly - it doesn't even matter if this is a phony cure or a placebo. Billions and billions of people are religious and are perfectly happy and mentally well adjusted.

Boru

As it has already been said in this thread by others, saying religion does good does not outweigh the divisions and damage it can cause at the same time. None of that sentence is calling for a forced end of religion. It is simply pointing out that religion does not deserve to be scrutiny free, especially when it is causing harm.

Are there religious people without mental illness? Sure. Are there decent non violent humans who hold a religion? Absolutely. But when I say religion makes mental illness worse, I am talking about those who are mentally ill. And in my youth when I was religious and depressed, it most certainly made things worse. I can remember being at a friend's condo, back in my early 20s, 20 some odd stories up on his balcony, stressed out about a computer class I was taking, looking over the edge, thinking god hated me, thinking how easy it would be to just jump over the railing.

What I see happening to this person I know, isn't really that different than pointing out that religious gay conversion therapy is crap. This person is not gay, but again, this person would be better suited in a medical setting with a professional. Selling someone the idea that an invisible being can cure your ills and sells you the idea you are broken at birth, is not therapy in any clinical sense. It sells the idea that being natural flawed is the cause of sin and evil, and that also has no real clinical value. And selling that idea to a person with mental illness can be very damaging and make it worse.