Mental Health & Religion

● A state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise
their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community (WHO)
● Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders

Mental disorders:

● Characterised by a clinically significant disturbance in an individuals cognition, emotional

regulation, or behaviour
○ It is usually associated with distress or impairment in important areas of
functioning
● Anxiety disorders: characterised by excessive fear and worry and related behavioural
disturbances
● Depression: characterised by depressed moods (feelings of sadness, irritability,
emptiness) or loss of pleasure of interest in activities
● Bipolar Disorder: characterised by alternating depressive episodes with periods of
manic symptoms
● Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Characterised by the development following
exposure to an extremely threatening or horrific event of series of events

Factors Influencing Mental Health:

● Risk factors: factors that increase the likelihood of occurrence of mental disorders and
dampens well-being
○ Personal factors: maladaptive genetics (some people are more vulnerable to
certain disorders), malfunctioning beliefs
○ Chronic Stress*:* Financial issues, high-stress work
○ Environmental factors: poverty, violence, inequality
● Protective factors: factors that decrease the likelihood of occurrence of mental
disorders and improves well-being
○ Personal factors: resilience, emotional skills, adaptive coping
○ Environmental factors: social support, quality, education, safe community
○ Physical health:

Religion and Mental Health (+ explanations)

Evidence of protective factor of religion (+ study)

● Koenig et al (2001) summarised hundreds of studies analysing effects of dimensions of

religion
○ Involving depression, suicide, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and other
psychoses + alcohol & drug abuse, delinquency, features of personality,… and
other outcomes
 ● Over half of the studies in these categories point to a statistically significant protective
effect
● Studies of dimensions of psychological distress and well-being, consistently find a
protective effect of religious participation
● This does not mean that religious people do not become ill

Evidence of risk factor of religion

● Excessive reliance on ritual and prayer may delay seeking psychiatric help and
consequently worsen prognosis
● Religion can create feelings of guilt, shame and fear, social isolation and low
self-esteem, limit and hinder personal growth or encourage rigid thinking and
narrow-mindedness when religiosity is distorted or misused (Koenig & Larson, 2011)
● Negative religious beliefs (eg; “God is punishing/abandoning you”) have been linked with
harmful outcomes, including higher rates of depression and lower quality of life

Behavioural Explanations

● Commitment to a religious belief system may benefit mental health by promoting healthy
behaviours conducive to wellness (eg; avoidance of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, antisocial
behaviour,…)
● Fellowship with likeminded congregants facilitates receipt of tangible and emotional
support
● Private or group prayer or worship may produce salutary emotions - gratitude, humility,
grace, forgiveness, love
● Religious beliefs (about God, human existence, the purpose of life, life after death) may
be consonant with beliefs that foster preventative health care practices ****
○ Eg; (1) Christianity: the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and so one should take
care of their body and health as a way to honour and serve God. (2) Islam: the
belief in the importance of cleanliness and hygiene encourage believers to
practice frequent hand washing

Biological Explanations

● Growing evidence suggests that religious beliefs and practices can have a positive
impact on the brain and body, and may help to promote mental health
● Stress reduction: some religious practices (eg; meditation) may activate
parasympathetic nervous system, which can help reduce stress and promote
****relaxation
● Emotional regulation: participation in transcendental mediation was associated with
increased grey matter in the brain’s prefrontal cortex - concerning emotional regulation
and decision-making
● Anti-inflammatory effect: higher level of religious attendance and prayers had lower
level of interleukin-6 (maker of inflammation in the body) associated with depression and
anxiety
Psychological Explanations

● “People who are more involved in religious practices and who are more religiously
committed seem to cope better with stress”
○ A reason for this is because religion gives people a sense of purpose and
meaning*,* and helps people make sense of negative things that happen to them
(Koenig)
● Religion serves as a meaning-making framework ****in coping with life stress (Park,
2005)
○ Provides ways to understand suffering and loss
○ Provides coping strategies: helping to restore beliefs that the world is safe,
predictable, fair, and controllable
● Most religions encourage helping and caring for others, they promote such virtues as
forgiveness, mercy, kindness, compassion, and generosity towards others, strengthening
thus people’s bond with each other
● The presence of such supportive relationships in times of stress of painful losses, has
the power to enhances the proper handling of the emotional disorder and prevent
non-functional behaviours
● Moreover, religious participation was found to increase resilience by fostering a sense of
belonging and togetherness

Transpersonal Explnations

● Transpersonal theory (eg; mindfulness) emphasises “self-determination,

self-actualisation, self-realisation, and self-transcendence” (Vaughan, 1984)
● Spiritual pursuit may have therapeutic or instrumentality

Religion’s Contributions to Mental Health

● 5 main ways religion can be beneficial to mental health:

1. By providing social integration and support from the faith community
2. By offering a framework for meaning-making
3. By providing a personal bond with God or other divine beings
4. By offering the possibility of performing private and public religious activities, and
5. Religion stimulates a healthy lifestyle

Religion and Covid-19

Study: Bentzen (2021)

● Research, using daily weekly data on Google searches for 107 countries, demonstrated
that the COVID-19 crises resulted in a massive rise in the intensity of prayer
● During the early months of pandemic, Google searches for prayer (relative to all Google
searches) rose by 30%, reaching the highest level ever recorded
Religion as a Stress Coping Mechanism

● Religion/spirituality has been found to be helpful for people coping with various stressful
situations and symptoms, natural disasters and diseases, and various adverse life
situations, bereavement and end-of-life conditions (Koenig, 2012)
● The Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic was a global health crises

Religion’s Perspective on Adversity

● Every religion offers a way to come to terms with suffering, tragedy, and crises in life
● Buddhism: existence is first experienced as suffering (Dukkha)
● Judaism: individuals have a responsibility to work towards repairing the brokenness and
suffering in the world (Tikkun olam)
● Christianity: suffering in the world can be understood through the Crucifixion of Jesus
Christ

Religion as Protective Factor During COVID-19

● Pirutinsky et al (2020; American Orthodox Jews): Positive religious coping, intrinsic

religiosity and trust in God strongly correlated with less stress and more positive impact,
while negative religious coping and mistrust in God correlated with the inverse
● DeRossett et al (2021; American national sample): Negative religious coping was most
strongly associated with Covid-19 anxiety, but positive religious coping was not related
● Schnabel & Schieman (2022): religion proved helpful during the early days of exposure
to new stressors created by the virus and the accompanying societal challenges, offering
mental health protections to highly religious Americans and especially evangelicals
○ But it seems that the mental health benefits were also accpmpanied by harmful
views, reducing concern about the pandemic and lowering support for public
health measures
● Lucia et al (2021): religious teachings prioritise prayers over medicine, resulting in
vaccination-hesitancy among devotees
○ Muslims: concern porcine or non-halal ingredients content of vaccines’
vaccination is not allowed during Ramadan
○ Protestants, Catholics: faith in divine protection and healing; has ethical concern
about the vaccine (eg; the sue of aborted foetal cells for vaccines’ production)
(Sen et al,. 2022)

Religious Communities Support

● Emotional support: Religious communities provided emotional support to their

members. (e.g., virtual counselling sessions, prayer meetings).
● Material support: Many religious communities provided material support to those in
need, such as food, shelter, and financial assistance, especially to those who have lost
their jobs or are struggling to make ends meet.
● Health education: Religious communities educated their members on the importance of
following health guidelines such as wearing masks, social distancing, and getting
vaccinated.
● Spiritual guidance: Religious leaders offered spiritual guidance to their members,
helping them find hope and meaning in the face of the pandemic