Religious fervor or mental illness: SciAM guest blogger wonders how to tell
From physician Nathaniel P. Morris at Scientific American:
Take an example of a man who walks into an emergency department, mumbling incoherently. He says he’s hearing voices in his head, but insists there’s nothing wrong with him. He hasn’t used any drugs or alcohol. If he were to be evaluated by mental health professionals, there’s a good chance he might be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder like schizophrenia.
But what if that same man were deeply religious? What if his incomprehensible language was speaking in tongues? If he could hear Jesus speaking to him? He might also insist nothing were wrong with him. After all, he’s practicing his faith.
It’s not just the ambiguities of mental health diagnoses that create this problem—the vague nature of how we define religion further complicates matters. More.
Actually it is quite easy to tell: The outcome in the person’s life. Persons who have had near-death experiences, for example, tend to focus more on relationships and less on acquisitions. While it is not possible to tell from the outside what exactly happened, a change that cannot be attributed to mental illness becomes evident. Consider the case of philosopher A. J. Ayers:
“Freddie became so much nicer after he died,” said Dee. “He was not nearly so boastful. He took an interest in other people.” Ayer also told the writer Edward St. Aubyn in France that he had had “a kind of resurrection” and for the first time in his life, he had begun to notice scenery. In France, on a mountain near his villa, he said, “I suddenly stopped and looked out at the sea and thought, my God, how beautiful this is … for 26 years I had never really looked at it before.”
What is also undeniably true — and has never been reported on — is that at the end of his life, Freddie spent more and more time with his former BBC debating opponent, the Jesuit priest and philosopher Frederick Copleston, who was at Freddie’s funeral at Golders Green crematorium. More.
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uncommondescent.com
bornagain77 January 2, 2017 at 6:00 am
In an article in “Scientific American” no less, and especially as ‘a physician specializing in mental health’, I think that Dr. Nathaniel P. Morris, in the interest of fairness, should have instead of just focusing on the outlier cases of mental illness among Christians, and also citing, of all people, Richard Dawkins to claim that religious belief is more or less delusional,,,
In 2006, biologist Richard Dawkins published his book The God Delusion, in which he characterizes belief in God as delusional. Dawkins cites the definition of a delusion as “a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of a psychiatric disorder.”
I think that Dr. Nathaniel P. Morris, in the interest of fairness, should have instead also cited the ample ‘scientific’ evidence showing that religious belief, as far as mental health is concerned, to be much more beneficial than non-belief is:
“, I maintain that whatever else faith may be, it cannot be a delusion.
The advantageous effect of religious belief and spirituality on mental and physical health is one of the best-kept secrets in psychiatry and medicine generally. If the findings of the huge volume of research on this topic had gone in the opposite direction and it had been found that religion damages your mental health, it would have been front-page news in every newspaper in the land.”
– Professor Andrew Sims former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists – Is Faith Delusion?: Why religion is good for your health – preface
“In the majority of studies, religious involvement is correlated with well-being, happiness and life satisfaction; hope and optimism; purpose and meaning in life; higher self-esteem; better adaptation to bereavement; greater social support and less loneliness; lower rates of depression and faster recovery from depression; lower rates of suicide and fewer positive attitudes towards suicide; less anxiety; less psychosis and fewer psychotic tendencies; lower rates of alcohol and drug use and abuse; less delinquency and criminal activity; greater marital stability and satisfaction… We concluded that for the vast majority of people the apparent benefits of devout belief and practice probably outweigh the risks.”
– Professor Andrew Sims former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists – Is Faith Delusion?: Why religion is good for your health – page 100
books.google.com
Is Christianity Evil? (Mental Benefits of Christianity – Meta-analysis, 8:24 minute mark) – 2014 video
youtube.com
Atheism and health
A meta-analysis of all studies, both published and unpublished, relating to religious involvement and longevity was carried out in 2000. Forty-two studies were included, involving some 126,000 subjects. Active religious involvement increased the chance of living longer by some 29%, and participation in public religious practices, such as church attendance, increased the chance of living longer by 43%.[4][5]
conservapedia.com
As News alluded to, there is also scientific evidence showing that ‘Knowledge of the afterlife deters suicide’
Knowledge of the afterlife deters suicide. Lessons From the Light by Kenneth Ring and Evelyn Elsaesser p.257-258:
As far as I know, the first clinician to make use of NDE material in this context was a New York psychologist named John McDonagh. In 1979, he presented a paper at a psychological convention that described his success with several suicidal patients using a device he called “NDE bibliotherapy.” His “technique” was actually little more than having his patients read some relevant passages from Raymond Moody’s book, Reflections on Life after Life, after which the therapist and his patient would discuss its implications for the latter’s own situation. McDonagh reports that such an approach was generally quite successful not only in reducing suicidal thoughts but also in preventing the deed altogether.
…
Since McDonagh’s pioneering efforts, other clinicians knowledgeable about the NDE who have had the opportunity to counsel suicidal patients have also reported similar success. Perhaps the most notable of these therapists is Bruce Greyson, a psychiatrist now at the University of Virginia, whose specialty as a clinician has been suicidology. He is also the author of a classic paper on NDEs and suicide which the specialist may wish to consult for its therapeutic implications. (14)
Quite apart from the clinicians who have developed this form of what we might call “NDE-assisted therapy,” I can draw upon my own personal experience here to provide additional evidence of how the NDE has helped to deter suicide. The following case,,,
ncu9nc.blogspot.com
And in the interest of alleviating depression by increasing belief in the afterlife, I reference former engineer turned Pastor John Burke’s research into over a thousand NDEs, and his video series interviewing Near Death survivors about their experiences from ‘the other side’
Imagine Heaven – video series
Description: John Burke has researched over a thousand accounts of people who have experienced life after death and come back to share their experience, as well as interviewed several in person. He’s researched what the Bible, scholars and experts have to say on the topic.
Youtube playlist
youtube.com
Of related interest, whereas the secularist has no empirical evidence whatsoever confirming that the infinite multiverses postulated by cosmic inflation, or the ‘extra dimensions’ postulated by string theory, are real, the Christian Theist does not suffer from such a embarrassing lack of empirical verification for his belief in a higher heavenly dimension and in a hellish dimension.
Specifically, the empirical evidence validating the Christian’s belief in a higher heavenly dimension, and in a hellish dimension, comes from two of our strongest, most verified, theories in science. i.e. From Special and General Relativity respectively:
Special and General Relativity compared to Heavenly and Hellish Near Death Experiences
youtube.com
Verse:
John 14:2-4
In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know the way.
Also in the interest of fairness, I think that Dr. Nathaniel P. Morris should have also at least briefly mentioned the outlier cases of anti-Christians, mostly Muslims and Atheists, who were psychopathic mass murderers since they greatly outnumber the number of outlier Christians who have committed psychopathic mass murders
Atheism and Mass Murder
conservapedia.com
Young mass murderers
conservapedia.com
Here’s the TRUE Non-Politically Correct History of Islam’s Violence (believe it or not, Islam has been more violent than atheistic nations)
thefederalistpapers.org
Verse:
John 10:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. |
