Losing Faith Complicates Mental Health Recovery?

[The Valkyrie]

I left mormonism, had been depressed two years before then, and when I left things got worse.

Anyone else experienced this?

Anyone ever felt so insecure and empty after leaving an extremist dogma?

I think, especially in the case of mormonism, the practitioner of any serious sect has to sacrifice their identity for the sake of the church. For someone who has mental health issues, this creates another bag of problems to heals.

Just a thought.

Religion is poison.

I don't blame it, I take responsibility for my own fate and emotions, but I think things would be easier without the dogmatic variable of absolute servitude.

I suffer from depression anyway. But I have to say, for me, that when I gave up my religion - Catholicism - it was one of the most freeing experiences I ever had. I was a truly happy person for the first time.

For many, however, giving up religion is like trying to give up a deeply seated addiction. There are questions that you're suddenly asking and wondering what if you are wrong going through your mind.

That's one of the insidious things about religion, especially if you've been indoctrinated into it since childhood. It gets so deeply ingrained some people take years to get over it and that can cause depression.

I've just read an article on the Friendly Atheist blog about one of the Westborough grandchildren leaving the cult and how he became depressed and suicidal.

The good thing is that there are large numbers of growing atheist communities now where you can talk to people who have been through it.