About Mental Health And Religion

Introduction

There is much research going on about the link between mental health and religion and how one affects the other. As far as mental health and religion go, religious beliefs have long been held to have a connection with hysteria, neurosis and psychotic delusions. However, recent research shows that religious persons might just have a better chance at coping with stress and depression.

History

According to surveys, even today nearly 90% of the population of the world is involved in some sort of religious or spiritual practice. No matter how it may appear to a casual observer, atheism is rather rare. So, we know that religion has survived through all of human history and has been handed down to us in the form we see it in today.

Researchers say this is the key to the link between mental health and religion. Religion is still around because it is a coping mechanism and allows human beings to deal with stress, unwanted internal and external obstacles, etc.

It is interesting to note that the equation between mental health and religion changed drastically with the work of Jean Charcot and his pupil Sigmund Freud. They were the first to link religion with hysteria and neurosis. Before their findings, religious institutions had often doubled up as compassionate homes for those with mental disorders and provided better care for these people than the state-run institutions. After the findings of Charcot and Freud, dominant thought turned to reflect their views and a chasm was created between mental health and religion.

However, in the last few couple of decades, the dominant idea has been that religion need not necessarily have a pathological effect on mental health, and it can also add to the well-being of a person.

Features

Research in a number of countries has shown religion to be coping behavior for a great number of people. Many Americans said they “turned to religion” to cope with the stress of September 11, 2001. In the week that followed, many Americans attended mass and Bible sales grew by some 27%. In earlier studies, many people said religion was the main force that “kept them going.”

In Canada, it was seen that religious attendance is associated with fewer incidents of depression. Many other such examples can be found around the world.

Among all sorts of coping behavior that is religiously colored, in a study it seemed that prayer is the most popular. A lot of patients spent nearly half their time in praying. Meditation is another religious/spiritual way of coping with mental problems.

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