Ebook: Religion, Personality, and Mental Health
- Tags: Psychology general
- Series: Recent Research in Psychology
- Year: 1994
- Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- pdf
LAURENCE B. BROWN Nearly all the papers in this collection were prepared initially by a group of psychologists interested in the social scientific study of religion. They included some working with the mentally ill in medical, religious, or secular contexts, as well as teachers and researchers in psychology or theology. Their papers aim to test, or to reflect on, common prejudices about the links between mental health and religion, especially when they are thought to be mediated by personality characteristics. All the papers have been revised for this collection. A clear consensus emerged that religion has many positive effects, despite Wulff's (1991" p. 307) unguarded assertion that, "without ques tion the mentally disturbed are frequently attracted by religion." Any assumption that religion is necessarily a "danger" to health, or closely related to mental illness, is not supported by the evidence from carefully controlled studies that follow a social science perspective. Malony's paper, page 16 in this collection, therefore emphasizes that we must take account of the ways in which anyone's religion is integrated into their life, the functions it serves for them and their acceptance by other members of the religious and other groups to which they belong.
The data from longitudinal studies presented in Religion, Personality and Mental Health indicate that there is no evidence of a consistent link between religiosity and pathology. Psychiatrists have traditionally used religious examples to illustrate such categories as catatonic posturing, delusions and depression. A close look at the role of religion in people's lives, however, shows that religious beliefs and practices have benefits as well as costs for psychological functioning. This book, which includes chapters on religion and counseling, happiness, religious lifestyles and mental health, the role of prayer, women religious professionals and stress, with data from a variety of studies and a review of the literature, will interest a wide range of researchers and practitioners.