RELIGION & MENTAL ILLNESS? SUCCEPTIBILITY OR AFFINITY? Either way, Why?

[gbaby65]

My question is are mental illness and religion connected? It seems to me the

 

appearance of faith and a life being given direction is becoming a poor substitute

 

for the coping mechanisms we strive to find in life. Could anyone get me on the

 

right track to discovering some literature that can answer these questions for me.

 

I am looking very actively as i am doing a paper on the premise, Is religion helping

 

us or hurting us with respect to our mental well-being. Do certain people have an

 

affinity for taking up religion because they are sensitive, timid easily manipulated

 

sad in most cases or does the religion give them too much to handle and sends

 

them emotionally reeling out of control.

 

Remember i'm looking for any and all pages journal articles of any sort and this

 

could become a good discussion.

 

"The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth" Matthew--- Hoping everyone sheds some light!!!

 

THANK-YOU

 

gbaby65-out

[moimeme]

I firmly believe that students should do their own research. It's one of the most important things to learn in school. Here is one article for a starting point. The works it references look useful; you may want to look them up in your school library.

 

http://home.sprintmail.com/~dtrout/psych/disorder.html

 

You might also wish to look into social psych, especially the theories of social influence.

[Tony T]

I agree with moimeme that you need to get to a good library and I think you will easily collect more data that you will know what to do with.

 

Be cautious not to make generalizations. There are many who are very healthy emotionally and mentally who are very active in their religious practices. They use religious beliefs and spiritual pursuits to balance their lives in positive ways. There are also those who use religion as an escape or to effect some sort of magic undoing for their evil deeds. I can't begin to tell you how many prison inmates "find Jesus" once they arrive on death row. There are some who use it simply as an escape from the dysfunctional origins. An obsession or preoccupation with anything is pathological. In the late 70's, Rev. Jim Jones convinced nearly 1,000 of his church followers to drink poison. Many of the 9/11 terrorists participated in the belief that their death would bring them an early meeting with their creator and eternal reward. There's a fine line between mental illness and ignorance sometimes.

 

In my opinion, religion emerged on the world scene to give meaning and direction to life and to give hope to those who wondered about the hereafter. Today, many are looking more closely at their beliefs and gravitating to the new age movement which emphasizes more the spiritual aspect of the self rather than worshipping an otherworldly deity.

 

You need to sit down and write an outline of your thoughts and get your subject matter into better focus. Review this with your teacher or professor to be sure you're going in the right direction and not making generalizations that may get you into trouble. But you are definitely onto something and your research paper could be an excellent one.

 

Most of my relationships break up for religious reasons. My girlfriends worship money...and when they find out I have none they leave. (lol)

[gbaby65]

Thank-you moimemme and tony. I agree with quite a few things you said, i did want to make it clear though that i was going after the depression and manic mental illnesses and not the mania and fanatacism surrounding 9/11. Mentally ill doesn't necessarily mean crazy. I found some good sites after i wrote the starter and am pretty sure i have the angle i want to attach myself to.

 

Religion fills a void, when it becomes all we have it is not conducive to good mental health. At the same time those of us succeptible through naivete, feeble-minded when i say this i mean no hardness to the world (a babe) will have to beware as any new knowledge will set off needs that we can't fulfill and that leaves us depressed.

 

Some other pages...

 

http://www.skepdic.com

 

a book Crisis of Faith

 

and gospel.com

 

thanks

 

gbaby

out