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Author Topic: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety  (Read 2414 times)

Demophon

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The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« on: September 07, 2016, 10:55:26 pm »
Religious people seem more predisposed to anxiety and mental health issues, judging just by anecdotal evidence. It can also be argued that religion as a greater social and cultural phenomenon is a reaction to human anxiety, especially in regards to death, although that statement is a reductive understanding of the very broad phenomenon that falls under the umbrella of "religion."

I have struggled with anxiety myself, and I have been noticing that certain things exacerbate these issues. For example, it's very important for me to try and simplify my practice and my personal sacred space as much as possible. The more shrines I have, and the more elaborate they are, the more I get anxious about purity and ritual pollution defiling them. Sometimes it gets to the point that I won't engage in any ritual besides prrayer if I have come into contact with anything I consider polluting, even if there is no physical contamination and it's all in my head. I feel much more calm when I keep things simple, with as few objects as possible that can be corrupted. Has anyone had any similar experiences?

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Re: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2016, 12:04:18 am »
Quote from: Demophon;195936
although that statement is a reductive understanding of the very broad phenomenon that falls under the umbrella of "religion."


That basically sums up my response to everything in your first paragraph. "Religion" is so broad a term in the human experience as to be meaningless in this context. It's likely that, for example, Zen Buddhism and Fundamentalist Mormonism have wildly different influences on the psychology of their practitioners overall.

Quote
I have struggled with anxiety myself, and I have been noticing that certain things exacerbate these issues. For example, it's very important for me to try and simplify my practice and my personal sacred space as much as possible. The more shrines I have, and the more elaborate they are, the more I get anxious about purity and ritual pollution defiling them. Sometimes it gets to the point that I won't engage in any ritual besides prrayer if I have come into contact with anything I consider polluting, even if there is no physical contamination and it's all in my head. I feel much more calm when I keep things simple, with as few objects as possible that can be corrupted. Has anyone had any similar experiences?

 
Frankly yes, and the thing that helped was getting professional help dealing with my OCD and anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy were the most helpful, and having recently started taking Prozac, I've found that helped immensely as well.
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missgraceless

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Re: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2016, 11:22:16 am »
Quote from: Demophon;195936
Religious people seem more predisposed to anxiety and mental health issues, judging just by anecdotal evidence. It can also be argued that religion as a greater social and cultural phenomenon is a reaction to human anxiety, especially in regards to death, although that statement is a reductive understanding of the very broad phenomenon that falls under the umbrella of "religion."

I have struggled with anxiety myself, and I have been noticing that certain things exacerbate these issues. For example, it's very important for me to try and simplify my practice and my personal sacred space as much as possible. The more shrines I have, and the more elaborate they are, the more I get anxious about purity and ritual pollution defiling them. Sometimes it gets to the point that I won't engage in any ritual besides prrayer if I have come into contact with anything I consider polluting, even if there is no physical contamination and it's all in my head. I feel much more calm when I keep things simple, with as few objects as possible that can be corrupted. Has anyone had any similar experiences?
I've actually found the opposite to be true. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was 15 and suicidal, and started exploring other religions a year later as a way to cope. Over the years I've turned to my faith after a bad break up or just whenever my depression starts acting up, and for the most part it seems to help.

Maybe it's not the religion itself, but rather the act of turning my attention to something other than my mental illness, using it as a distraction. Is it actually healing me? Probably not. Does it work? Yup. And why fix something that ain't broke?
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MeadowRae

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Re: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2016, 10:01:33 pm »
Quote from: missgraceless;195960
I've actually found the opposite to be true. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was 15 and suicidal, and started exploring other religions a year later as a way to cope. Over the years I've turned to my faith after a bad break up or just whenever my depression starts acting up, and for the most part it seems to help.

Maybe it's not the religion itself, but rather the act of turning my attention to something other than my mental illness, using it as a distraction. Is it actually healing me? Probably not. Does it work? Yup. And why fix something that ain't broke?

 
I Agree. Generally, I feel that consistent, simple practice has really improved my mental state.

I feel that religion, like so many other psychological factors, is nearly impossible to describe quantitatively. Also, I'm not aware of any societies that were/are completely devoid of religion, so it's really, really difficult to find a comparison.

I will say that the more fundamentalist my religion was, the more stressed I was about doing it "right", but that's only my experience.
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Demophon

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Re: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2016, 10:47:02 pm »
Quote from: missgraceless;195960
I've actually found the opposite to be true. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was 15 and suicidal, and started exploring other religions a year later as a way to cope. Over the years I've turned to my faith after a bad break up or just whenever my depression starts acting up, and for the most part it seems to help.

 
Quote from: MeadowRae;195981
I Agree. Generally, I feel that consistent, simple practice has really improved my mental state.

 
Yeah, fair. It can also help people cope with their anxiety, but I think there's a significant connection between anxious people and religious behaviour of some sort.

Jack

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Re: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2016, 11:23:11 pm »
Quote from: Demophon;195986
Yeah, fair. It can also help people cope with their anxiety, but I think there's a significant connection between anxious people and religious behaviour of some sort.

Well, there's scrupulosity.

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CoraFrost

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Re: The Relationship Between Religion and Anxiety
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2016, 11:26:45 pm »
Quote from: MeadowRae;195981
I Agree. Generally, I feel that consistent, simple practice has really improved my mental state.

I feel that religion, like so many other psychological factors, is nearly impossible to describe quantitatively. Also, I'm not aware of any societies that were/are completely devoid of religion, so it's really, really difficult to find a comparison.

I will say that the more fundamentalist my religion was, the more stressed I was about doing it "right", but that's only my experience.

 
Yes -- it can go either way. They've actually tried to do studies looking at the relationship between religion/spirituality and mental health. The results are largely non-generalizable. While religion/spirituality can be a powerful and positive source of strength, meaning and love, there are a large number of people whose mental health concerns (especially trauma) is intertwined with religion/spirituality.

This is an interesting article about it: Role of Religion/Spirituality in Mental Health

In my professional experience, I think it's been about 50/50. Half of my clients find that religion/spirituality offers them comfort. The other half seem to experience additional stress.

Personally, I want my spiritual practice to be part of my self-care ritual, so if something starts to stress me out -- I'm not going to do it much longer. I got that way with yoga. I loved yoga until I started hanging out in a "yogi circle" where my focus shifted away from self-care and towards "being a yogi".  It completely ruined it for me. And it was a darn shame.
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