Religion and mental health

[mcolafson]

I don't know if this thread belongs here or in atheism section.

But I am curious about correlation of religion and mental health.

Especially Doomsday expectations and neurosis.

[Mister Agenda]

Schizophrenia is associated with religious ideation, but autism is associated with atheism, so maybe it's a wash.

[FatAndFaithless]

If you're curious about a topic, I'd suggest googling it first and doing a bit of reading. Because if you ask here, that's what we're going to do unless we know the topic off the top of our heads.

[mcolafson]

If you're curious about a topic, I'd suggest googling it first and doing a bit of reading.  Because if you ask here, that's what we're going to do unless we know the topic off the top of our heads.

I actually hope that someone knows the topic off his/her head.

And maybe someone can explain Margaret White, mother or Carrie White.

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But if you don't like the topic. we can ask to close it.

[robvalue]

I don't know any stats. I'll just speculate and talk from experience.

I think poor mental health, especially anything that involves blurring of reality, probably makes people more vulnerable to religious ideas. Hopelessness and instability are things religious preaching often preys on. Add in hallucinations and such, and you've got someone who regularly experiences the things religious people either pretend they experience, have fooled themselves into thinking they experience, or experienced a couple of times due to mental glitches. I've seen this combination together, and it's not surprising how hard it is to fight out of religion's grip. It's hard enough for people who aren't experiencing weird things.

Very religious people often sound very similar to heavily mentally ill people to me. This is most concerning. Basically, either they are deluded, or I am. We're not living in the same reality. Seeing as each religion person's rantings tends to be slightly different from the next's, it seems more likely they are the deluded ones than the entirety of sceptics who experience none of any of it.

[Excited Penguin]

Schizophrenia is associated with religious ideation, but autism is associated with atheism, so maybe it's a wash.

Or maybe we can't tell what we are

[Aractus]

There is high quality evidence that shows religious activity has positive mental health outcomes.

"While some articles made comparison between non-religious and religious individuals, the majority of outcomes revealed significant relationship between religion and mental health, specifically depression and anxiety symptoms, and substances abuse and suicide behavior and idea, which indicates that religious and spiritual can serve as effective psychotherapy for depression, anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, and mental health." - AbdAleati et al 2016 (systematic review).

This is the paper's conclusion:

"This finding indicates that religious practices and improved sense of religiousness could be used as a therapy to overcome or minimize anxiety, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and depression among patients. It appears that some religious elements may serve as protective factors for physical and mental health."

If you want an open-access paper you can read there's this one from 2006 by Moreira-Almeida et al (also a systematic review) and this meta analysis from 2003 by Hackney & Sanders.

[Catholic_Lady]

When I first heard word that there was something wrong with the baby I was pregnant with, the doctors initially thought it was down syndrome along with some physical disabilities as well. That was ruled out about 2 weeks later, but during those 2 weeks that I was having panic attacks and severe anxiety, thinking I was going to be having a severely disabled child, it was my faith and multiple visits with my priest that helped bring me peace and helped me get through the hardest time of my life.

[Excited Penguin]

When I first heard word that there was something wrong with the baby I was pregnant with, the doctors initially thought it was down syndrome along with some physical disabilities as well. That was ruled out about 2 weeks later, but during those 2 weeks that I was having panic attack and severe anxiety, thinking I was going to be having a severely disabled child, it was my faith and multiple visits with my priest that helped bring me peace and helped me get through the hardest time of my life.

Whatever works for you is fine.

Myself, I like to sometimes indulge in "magical thinking" when shit hits the fan.

[Athene]

If you're curious about a topic, I'd suggest googling it first and doing a bit of reading.  Because if you ask here, that's what we're going to do unless we know the topic off the top of our heads.

I actually hope that someone knows the topic off his/her head.

And maybe someone can explain Margaret White, mother or Carrie White.

----
But if you don't like the topic. we can ask to close it.

Well, I assume you know that Margaret White is a fictional character. Although, I do believe I once read that White's character was loosely inspired by King's brief encounter with a holy roller, who happened to have a life-sized, cardboard Jesus standing in the middle her living room at the time. 

At any rate, it should be easy enough to find out about the author's personal insight into his fictional creations; Check out Stephen King's On Writing. 

Or easier yet, visit an official fan site.