Belief in God can improve mental health outcomes.

[A_Nony_Mouse]

A new study suggests belief in God may significantly improve the outcome of those receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness.

Researchers followed patients receiving care from a hospital-based behavioral health program to investigate the relationship between patients’ level of belief in God, expectations for treatment and actual treatment outcomes.

In the study, published in the current issue of Journal of Affective Disorders, researchers comment that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without.


More here: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/26/...54121.html

Yes but it says short term not long term. Long term is all that matters. But don't worry, Alcoholics Anonymous has no long term data and refuses to collect any.

It does not say what kind of treatment they are talking about. By my speculation I do not find it reasonable to have issued this kind of result if it were about patients being given anti-psychotic drugs. That leaves the con game of talking your way to mental health practiced by so many criminal psychologists and scientologists. Yes Freud and everyone who practiced Freudian psychotherapy was a con artists and should have been jailed for their con game. Hubbard was very clear in the beginning that he was copying much of their con game.

However as merely short term results are at hand it does not differ from suggestibility. As to the long term, not Freud not any of his fellow con artists ever cured anyone. I do not see why this should be viewed any differently.

Edit: Self reported improvement is without objective measure. Are you feeling better now that God has healed your rheumatism? Will you be back next month to be cured again? Of course you will.