Religion and mental health

The media love stories about how healthy religion is for people and/or plants. Here are some items from the medical literature that won't be featured on FOX News.

1. Going to church is good for your mental health, provided you don't believe what they tell you.

Baetz M, Griffin R, Bowen R, Koenig HG, Marcoux E. The association between spiritual and religious involvement and depressive symptoms in a Canadian population. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2004 Dec;192(12):818-22.

Data from a large epidemiologic survey were examined to determine the relationship of religious practice (worship service attendance), spiritual and religious self-perception, and importance (salience) to depressive symptoms. Data were obtained from 70,884 respondents older than 15 years from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (Wave II, 1996-1997). Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship of the religious/spiritual variables to depressive symptoms while controlling for demographic, social, and health variables. More frequent worship service attendees had significantly fewer depressive symptoms. In contrast, those who stated spiritual values or faith were important or perceived themselves to be spiritual/religious had higher levels of depressive symptoms, even after controlling for potential mediating and confounding factors. It is evident that spirituality/religion has an important effect on depressive symptoms, but this study underscores the complexity of this relationship. Longitudinal studies are needed to help elucidate mechanisms and the order and direction of effects.

2. It is healthy to shake hands with highly religious Protestants, again, provided you don't believe what they tell you. Protestantism is highly transmissible.

Abramowitz J, Deacon BJ, Woods CM, Tolin DF. Association between Protestant religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and cognitions. Depression and Anxiety. 2004;20:70-76.

Abstract

There is evidence that religion and other cultural influences are associated with the presentation of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, as well as beliefs and assumptions presumed to underlie the development and maintenance of these symptoms. We sought to further examine the relationship between Protestant religiosity and (1) various symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (e.g., checking, washing) and (2) OCD-related cognitions. Using self-report questionnaires, we compared differences in these OCD-related phenomena between highly religious Protestants, moderately religious Protestants, and atheist/agnostic participants drawn from an undergraduate sample. Highly religious versus moderately religious Protestants reported greater obsessional symptoms, compulsive washing, and beliefs about the importance of thoughts. Additionally, the highly religious evinced more obsessional symptoms, compulsive washing, intolerance for uncertainty, need to control thoughts, beliefs about the importance of thoughts, and inflated responsibility, compared to atheists/agnostics. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between religion and OCD symptoms in the context of the cognitive-behavioral conceptualization of OCD.

Comments

[Dr Pretorius]

So, as far as mental health goes, having lots of friends (in the sense of a broad social community) is good and believing insane things is bad?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

That's sort of what I figured.

I started wondering if science has ever studied the mental health of people of various philosophical persuasions. For example, I wonder if the average Nietzschean is more or less healthy than the philosophical community at large. How 'bout it, science?

[Herbert Browne]

"..Additionally, the highly religious evinced more obsessional symptoms, compulsive washing, intolerance for uncertainty, need to control thoughts, beliefs about the importance of thoughts, and INFLATED RESPONSIBILITY, compared to atheists/agnostics.."
Q: does "Responsibility" here = "Agency"?
It seems that god's fervent followers are doing a bit of transference, here, ie Believing is Being.
My cousin, a great fan of Superman, made a cape of a pillowcase and jumped from the back of the couch away from the cushions(?!), while attempting to fly, when he was eight. He broke an arm, and gave it up...

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

I think that in the psychiatric context "inflated responsibility" means irrational or magical thoughts about one's own guilt, blame, or duty. The term isn't usually applied to people who are extraordinarily ethical or altruistic. It's usually reserved for beliefs like "my parents got divorced because I was bad." or "I have been chosen to clean up this town." or "Every time I masturbate, God kills a kitten."

[Aunt Deb]

Just *one* kitten??

Wonderful post, Lindsay. I'm so glad James Wolcott linked to you.

[Pablo Stafforini]

Interesting. The first study reminds me of a remark once made by Dan Dennett: "Most people do not believe in God. They believe in belief in God." In other words, most people believe that believing in God is a great idea, something to which one must aspire to, though they themselves do not, because they cannot, have that belief. Instead, they do as if they had it. So they go to church. But they don't get sick.

[Thom]

There has been studies with religious figures in a psychological undertaking. Read Jung's 'Aion' and Marie-Louise von Franz 'Aurora Consurgens: A Document Attributed to Thomas Aquinas on the Problem of Opposites in Alchemy : A Companion Work to C.G. Jung's Mysterium Conjunctionis".

These two book are just for starters.

And outside of that, personally I have been empirically convinced that atheists are caught up in ego-worship, infantilism, overbearing rebellion, prey to their father-complex, and all around neurotic and mentally pathological.

[Cara Fletcher]

I think that some of the religions cause such obsessive compulsive disorders with the beliefs they introduce.That's why for the people of other religions it's hard to realize what are those people thinking.