Religion And Mental Health

[Golden Meadows]

It would be interesting to read peoples opinions on the positive or negative impact religion has had on their own mental health or people they know. A xtian counsellor once told me that certain xtian denominations accounted for a disproportionate incidence of schizophrenia. Especially welcome would be pointers to any research that has been published on this subject.

[Lycorth]

It would be interesting to read peoples opinions on the positive or negative impact religion has had on their own mental health or people they know. A xtian counsellor once told me that certain xtian denominations accounted for a disproportionate incidence of schizophrenia. Especially welcome would be pointers to any research that has been published on this subject.

 

I have nothing scholarly to offer, but personally, when I converted to Odinism, I found my depression and suicidal thoughts to have faded muchly. When I was a Xian was when I landed in depression, and even during my time as a strict Deist, I was very much depressed. But in the times in my life where I explored and flirted with Heathenry, I was always lighter and happier. Now that I've dropped Xianity totally for Asatru, I haven't felt better, even though there are still problems in my life that have sent me to the bottom before my switch.

 

Didn't even try to make it work out like that, it just happened

 

I think Xianity is a breeding ground for mental illness. One of my best friends is in a mental hospital again, and he's only a nominal Xian. It's the only spirituality he knows....

[Young Mother Atheist]

Where to start?

 

First of all, I am a student of psychology and also have quite a few relatives with mental disorders. I myself have panic attacks that are a direct result of religion. I guess I should start there first.

 

This is the full story on how my panic attacks stemmed from xianity.

 

My mom came from a home of two xian parents who are now both methodist ministers. However, they are also very into the "name it and claim it" philosophy and believe heavily in an unseen spiritual realm where demons and angels are constantly fighting for our souls. I have actually heard my grandmother say things like "that's just the spirit of wanting to eat too much" when someone is talking about not being able to lose weight. I'm serious. They think there is an evil spirit that causes every bad action we commit. They think that people can be anointed with oil and have spirits prayed off of them so they carry anointing oil around with them wherever they go. They read off a two page prayer every morning that is supposed to come against all the evil spirits individually and guard them and their families for that day. I don't know why they think this neccesary, but they do it.

 

My mom was raised in a home where she wasn't even allowed to wear shorts outside the house. She wasn't allowed to wear a swimsuit in front of poeple she attended church with. She was forced to stay around the house with an extremely limited social life because she had to be at church every time the door was opened. My mom had an amazing voice and talent at the piano so her parents always forced her to sing and play at church. Thus, when my mom met my dad at age 17, she was glad to just get the hell out of that house. Unfortunately, though my dad was just out of college and came from a liberal Unitarian home, my mom had no experience with the real world outside of church and the bible. I should probably mention that around age 10 she was molested by two different deacons in the church. Of course, she never felt she could tell her parents and so suppressed it for a time, but we'll come to that later.

 

My mom raised my younger brother and me as xians. She was very strict about what we were able to watch, hear, and do. We went to church a lot. My dad didn't really say anything about the rules she made for us, though I wish he had. I suppose he thought she was doing what was best for us. She was a house wife and still is so she was always there. She was a great mom and doted over us, probably too much. However, the limitations we had were crazy. I couldn't watch Care Bears, the Little Mermaid, or play with toys that were from shows that had any trace of evil. My mom was so scared that demons and evil would come in through anything not of God that she monitored everything so closely. I listened to only xian music and watched only xian movies. Of course, once I got older I would go to friends' houses and be exposed to different influences. Anyhow, this was the way of things until 1999.

 

In the fall of 1999, my mother got more superreligious. She started praying over everything in the house, in tongues, and throwing out things she felt had an evil spirit. She started to lose her grip on reality. In the end, she had a manic episode and was hospitalized. During that time, she thought she was Jesus and that she had to save everyone. She thought there were demons in our chimney, in our dog, and in my pet rat. She even thought my dad was possessed because he was telling her they should go to the hospital. She did recover, but then she went into a deep depression and and back to hypomania (which is almost mania) a couple of times. Since then, she has become less religious because if she ever starts getting absorbed in it like she was, she starts to head towards mania.

 

In this case, I think her early sexual abuse had some to do with her mental break. If nothing else, it has caused her mood and personality problems. I can't say which caused which for sure but here is what I think. Many people have imbalances in their brains. These often times go unnoticed unless something triggers a disorder to rear its ugly head. Because my mom probably had some sort of imbalance to start with, she was already prone to develop a disorder. When she was molested by people that were supposed to be of god and trustworthy, this made her paranoid and confused her ideas about god. However, because she was raised in such a fear prone belief of god with spirits lurking around every corner to get her, she was afraid to question god and only delved deeper into god and the bible to cover her insecurities. When she started to lose her grip on reality, it was brought about because she was studying Romans, which is a very intense book. Paul's writing also talks a lot about spiritual warfare. Because she was convinced that this spiritual world existed, she thought there was nothing wrong with going around praying against it- the worse thing is that I didn't see anything wrong with it either since I thought that world existed. Her illness would not have been able to get so out of hand, nor would it have had the avenue to manifest itself, if the idea of a spiritual world would not have been so encouraged throughout her life. I hope I am being clear.

 

Now in my studying, I have found that people who have a mood disorder like Bipolar (which is what she has, by the way) have paranoia, delusions of granduer, and euphoric feelings when they are in a manic state. These can all apply to an xian, or maybe other religious people, when they are in a state of being close to god. Many times they even act the same. The paranoia is easy to see when demons are believed in. If you believe you are god's child and on earth to save souls you easily have a delusion of grandeur, that your life is more important than others' lives. And if you are euphoric you feel you are "filled with the spirit". In psychology, we specify that you have to take a person's culture into account when deciding if they are displaying symptoms of a mental illness. This is because what looks crazy for some people is actually encouraged in a religious setting, so you might have to discount that. Makes you wonder, huh?

 

The other side of this is my panic attacks that developed because my mom always told me that if I was sick I just had a demon in me. She would pray over me. She and my grandparents believed demons came out through screams, vomitting, and all that so I was scared shitless when they would start praying over me. Often times they would pray over me and I would throw up because I was really physically sick already. I believed it was demons coming out. How scary is that? So from there, I developed a fear of throwing up because of the negative connotation it had. I have panic attacks when I start to feel nauseated. Of course, this has developed into panic disorder where I am scared of having a panic attack and is a big mess to deal with.

 

My uncle is Schizophrenic. This is my dad's brother. My dad's parents weren't religious. One was atheist, the other agnostic. My dad became an xian later on his own. Anyhow, at the time my uncle started having schizophrenic behaviors they took him to many doctors trying to find the best help. The first few actually suggested it was demonic and that he needed to have more faith. They made him read or listen to the Bible to try and cure him. Of course, this made him worse. When someone is already hearing voices that aren't there, you shouldn't tell him that god tries to speak to you and tell you what he wants. That is just dangerous. They eventually found some good help, but not until some damage had already been done.

 

My idea here is that because xianity embraces an unseen world it is harmful for those who are prone to mental illness to embrace xianity's ideas. It encourages a break from reality and can send them spiraling into a world that is blind to this one. Without all the invisible characters of the Bible, a person's crazy actions can be misconstrued as just being from god and can go untreated. It makes it difficult for these people to separate what is from the disorder and what is from god because it is all invisible. The simple fact is that mental illnesses manifest themselves in the same way that spiritual highs do. This is dangerous in what I have seen. People are encouraged in some churches to actually display signs of mental illness because it is from god. From what I have seen, it either isn't from god or it is a fucked up god they are serving.

 

I hope this wasn't too rambly or anything. I hope it was clear. It's sort of hard to explain what I am thinking, but hopefully I've gotten my point across (and not bored you with too many details of my life!).

[Lorena Rodriguez]

I have to agree with you YMA. The combination of mental illness with religious fanatism is lethal. And if you add chilhood abuse of any kind, then you get the Hitlers of the world.

 

I was severely emotionally and physically abused as a child. I was told continually that I was ugly, useless, dirty, and stupid. The whole world was bad, but my family was good, they insisted. So whatever they did against me was for my own good. My family was like a cult in itself.

 

My mother, whom I think is a sociopath, used the bible to enforce her harsh rules. Because of the fifth commandment, she thinks she has the right to beat us even as adults--I was 31 the last time she beat me. And because of the fifth commandment, we are suppossed to lover her and worship her. She has never done anything wrong. We are the worthless worms required to sit at her feet and adore her. (I haven't contacted the bitch in 4 years.)

 

So, I grew up religious and didn't question anything. In my twenties I read books about demonic activity and fredoom from demons. The books Victory over Darkness and The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson really screwed me up.

 

As a natural result of my horrific upbringing, I developed all kinds of emotional and behavioural problems. Neil Anderson told me that it was all caused by demons and I believed it. I did not work on my childhood hurts properly; instead, I was casting demons out of me all the time and seeing the devil every where.

 

The greatest benefit of having deconverted is that I am no longer afraid of demons. I am no longer afraid that if I do this or that I may catch a demon.

 

I do have extreme emotional and social problems due to my upbringing, but now that I am not a christian, I am not waiting for god to heal me. I am finally doing everything in my power to heal my wounds and move on.

 

I believe that if I had stayed a christian, I would have ended up seriously mentally ill. I like to think that, right now, the problem is mild.

[Golden Meadows]

I myself have panic attacks that are a direct result of religion.

I also have experienced this through the actions of priest who tried to lay the Judas tag on me - I was trying to return to xtianity after leaving it in my youth. I thought I was going to hell because I was taught that the priest is a type of Christ and in my mind this must be God speaking to me. I knew what "fear of the Lord" was, the kind that had my knees knocking together. People whom you trust can really screw you up.

 

I couldn't watch Care Bears, the Little Mermaid, or play with toys that were from shows that had any trace of evil. My mom was so scared that demons and evil would come in through anything not of God that she monitored everything so closely.

This I also recognise in myself. At one point I gave away all my CD's because I thought it was all the devils work - excuse me while I put the headphones on and play The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" - real loud........thats better

 

Many people have imbalances in their brains. These often times go unnoticed unless something triggers a disorder to rear its ugly head.

Yes, from what I have read there are people still suffering mental health problems through taking psychedelics like LSD in 1960's, 70's. Even some of the milder ones are thought to trigger psychotic episodes in those of who have a problem which would otherwise lay dormant. Though this is through chemicals I guess the principle is the same with other kinds of provocation.

 

In this case, I think her early sexual abuse had some to do with her mental break. If nothing else, it has caused her mood and personality problems.

Such events must leave a big imprint on the mind of a child especially when the people involved are supposed to be representing God.

 

My idea here is that because xianity embraces an unseen world it is harmful for those who are prone to mental illness to embrace xianity's ideas. It encourages a break from reality and can send them spiralling into a world that is blind to this one.

The point you make is very good: If a person is losing control of their imagination the last thing that is needed is something that actually amplifies the working of the imagination by feeding it non sensory, spiritual, call it what you will stimulus.

 

I hope this wasn't too rambly or anything. I hope it was clear. It's sort of hard to explain what I am thinking, but hopefully I've gotten my point across (and not bored you with too many details of my life!).

You have gotten your points over very well and they relate directly to the original question. What made me ask in the first place was the realisation that the groups whom I mixed with as a xtian seemed to have a disproportionate number of people who have or had mental health issues and I wonder if this was unusual or not. I also think you are a real trooper having come through all of that and your rotten experiences are now being turned to the good by helping refugees on the run from religion gone wrong.

[Golden Meadows]

I do have extreme emotional and social problems due to my upbringing, but now that I am not a christian, I am not waiting for god to heal me. I am finally doing everything in my power to heal my wounds and move on.

 

I believe that if I had stayed a christian, I would have ended up seriously mentally ill. I like to think that, right now, the problem is mild.

 

Good for you Lorena, xtianty would have a person depend totally on its God but like you I have found out what that really means. In the few weeks since I have come to this forum I have felt better and stronger through contact with people like you who have been through the xtian "experience". Thanks for the input.

[Lorena Rodriguez]

For my own mental stability I need two things...hope, and moderation.

 

 

Wow Zoe Grace. That is deep.

I can totally relate.

[Mythra]

I'll try not to be too deep here (well, nevermind - not much chance of that..)

 

 

But

 

 

The times in my life when I was closest to God were also the times when I was closest to the freakin loony bin.

 

Maybe it was just coincidence.

[Guest revpo]

Very interesting stories, enjoyed it.

In the christian world the people believe so deeply in their religion and are constantly reminded of it by their churches on fear of fear or evil coming upon them, it is no wonder they end up in mental institutions. Some believe they are HIm, others hear voices, and others keep quoting the bible constantly..what causes this is the christian evangelism constant prying at the mind.

The people never let go. What use to get me the one's who bring their bible with them and read read read it constantly nightly, those are the ones who received heavy medications, , in layman's terms heavily sedated .

I remember we had two or three seminary students arrive weekly, embedded in the bible verses who just lost it , and they interpert their own version of the bible<ugh>

 

And they do get violent, if you walk away from their preaching in the mental hospital....

Christianity is dangerous to many minds.

 

revpo<retired medicine tech..mental hospital>

[Japedo]

 

 

 

I can only speak for myself and my family, I'm not a Dr nor have any credentials to be one.

 

Xtinaty complete screwed with my psyche. Being raised in an extreme Pentecostal environment where Hell fire, brim stone. lurking Satan's playing mind tricks, end times and hell were the highlights of just about every service and school topic, I can honestly say It greatly assisted in giving me extreme Panic disorder. I most likely always had it, but the constant talk of death and burning of loved ones (such as my dad) was a mental horror and constant torment I couldn't escape from.

 

Shortly after 911, and my sister became gravely ill with Meningitis and my father was off to the middle east which were all in the same short time frame.. I had sort of a mental break down. Fear of death consumed me as it was potentially all around me, it got to the point I couldn't leave my house, was afraid to go to sleep.. and all sorts of other emotional afflictions to great to list here.

 

I was put on Paxil CR and given xanex which I was also extremely phobic of becoming addicted to. I can't say what kind of person I would have turned out if my entire childhood wasn't built around fear and death of the extreme fundy cult. I didn't even enter a public world until the age of 13/14 I was completely sheltered which in my Anti-T goes into some detail. The indoctrination and fear tactics these people use are extreme child abuse and evil. I'm off the Paxil and coping with my greatest fear, that being Death of myself and those I love. I've come a long way I'm happy to report. I still have my fears they just don't control my life like it use to.

 

My mother is another story entirely, and believed god talked to her. The church of course confirmed this and when things didn't pan out like 'god' said they were, of course she was mislead by Satan, which the church also supported and told her. These fuckwads encourage the mentality ill to give their entire life savings and will tell people anything to make them feel special, Once the people are there they scare them to death of hell and damnation if they even think of faltering off the mindset. It's mind control and people hear the voice of god because they have a mental illness or because they want to so much their mind creates it IMO.

 

Religion plays a big part in Mental health, all one has to do is view any Zealot of any stripe to see it's extremely dangerous.

 

I'd like to just state for the record to any "real" Xtins reading this, who have in the back of their mind.. " you poor dear, you weren't raised by "real Christians" mantra that many of you love to say. I say, you're full of shit, the entire Cult is built on blood and death, and you rejoice in that monstrosity and call it salvation, so save it.

[padhyde]

I am delighted that this thread was sparked off by my first post!

These are my opinions.

Religion and mental heath sit rightly in the same sentence. Religion can improve mental health. Reigion can destroy mental health. Religion is a mental disorder. It has emerged from the human mind. All those religious experiences which form the basis of religious belief occurred while human minds were disturbed. To those who have them, visions and messages from 'God' are very real. They may not have lied when they told of them. The tragedy of religion is that it took root at a time when people knew little about mental illness. Religion is like a virus that works on the human mind. Once it gets in it is remarkably difficult to get rid of it. The only cure is a good dose of reason coupled with a deep commitment to search for the truth. That so many people still believe is due to the fact that they are not prepared to make the effort towards understanding. And it is an effort. More needs to be known about the relationship between religion and mental health. I hope some bright psychologists read this website!

[Golden Meadows]

I am delighted that this thread was sparked off by my first post!

These are my opinions.

Religion and mental heath sit rightly in the same sentence. Religion can improve mental health. Reigion can destroy mental health. Religion is a mental disorder. It has emerged from the human mind. All those religious experiences which form the basis of religious belief occurred while human minds were disturbed. To those who have them, visions and messages from 'God' are very real. They may not have lied when they told of them. The tragedy of religion is that it took root at a time when people knew little about mental illness. Religion is like a virus that works on the human mind. Once it gets in it is remarkably difficult to get rid of it. The only cure is a good dose of reason coupled with a deep commitment to search for the truth. That so many people still believe is due to the fact that they are not prepared to make the effort towards understanding. And it is an effort. More needs to be known about the relationship between religion and mental health. I hope some bright psychologists read this website!

 

Hello, thank you and welcome!

 

I agree that bad religion is a product of mans more base instincts. Though I have not given up on the God(s) I can understand how people can reach the point that can take no more. I am glad you have now found peace without religion and that this has made you a better person, not just to yourself but the people who know you.

 

Another point I would like to through into this discussion relates the very essence of xtianity and how it postively encourages mental illness. For example how can it be good for mental health to worship and love a god who is associated with so much evil in the Bible, i.e ethnic cleansing, injustice, sadism, lying, and towering above all else in the scales of iniquity - the doctrine of hell.

 

These basic forces cannot be reconciled by the rational mind and it seems to me must, in the sensitive person, give rise to all sorts of potential mental health issues.

[Ex-COG]

It would be interesting to read peoples opinions on the positive or negative impact religion has had on their own mental health or people they know. A xtian counsellor once told me that certain xtian denominations accounted for a disproportionate incidence of schizophrenia. Especially welcome would be pointers to any research that has been published on this subject.

Mental Health and Christian Belief

Marlene Winell, Ph.D.

[Lorena Rodriguez]

"Another point I would like to through into this discussion relates the very essence of xtianity and how it postively encourages mental illness."

 

I was never a pentecostal, thankfully. I was a baptist. Any person, at the churches I attended, who had any minor tendencies to be obsesive compulsive, would have been bothered by the following teachings:

 

- keep your mind stayed on god - I used to feel guilty for going without thinking of god for hours. Now if that isn't insanity, I don't know what is.

 

- Rejoice in the lord always - talk about feeling guilty just for the fact that you were sad.

 

- From psalm 100, meditate on the law day and night - I thought that I had to continually mull over the stuff I read in the bible, and that it was good to that.

 

- Witness to the lost - this was the worst one. Because the bible said that the converted would be the jewels of my crown -- oh the guilt I felt for not preaching enough and for not getting anyone to convert.

 

Now, my guilt wasn't unfunded. They actually preached about these things over and over and over again. Come to think of it, I was insane, really insane.

 

And then there are people, like my DH, who goes to church Sunday after Sunday, and doesn't let the preaching bother him. All the stuff, as far as I know, doesn't make him feel guilty.

[Ophy]

This is a fascinating idea for me. I actually considered writing my thesis about the link between extreme religiosity & certain types of mental illness. I mean, it just seems to me that you need to be a little unhinged to really, really believe some of that crap.

[Lorena Rodriguez]

This is a fascinating idea for me. I actually considered writing my thesis about the link between extreme religiosity & certain types of mental illness. I mean, it just seems to me that you need to be a little unhinged to really, really believe some of that crap.

 

Well, Alice Miller, a Swiss psychologist and best-selling writer, believes that childhood abuse causes permanent brain damage. Given that most religious believe in punishing their children and humiliating them, it would be fair to say that most church goers are somewhat brain damaged and thereby a little insane.

[Ophy]

I'll definitely look her up, Lorena- her ideas sound really interesting. Thanks for the info!

[Lorena Rodriguez]

I'll definitely look her up, Lorena- her ideas sound really interesting. Thanks for the info!

 

Here is her website:

http://www.alice-miller.com/index_en.php

[godlessgrrl]

I can't offer anything other than personal experience.

 

As far as that goes - I live with clinical depression, and I firmly believe that if I hadn't abandoned Xianity, I would be dead by now from suicide.

 

It didn't do shit to heal or help my mental state; in fact it only made it worse. In fact it was crazymaking, hearing that I was utterly wicked, utterly lost, unworthy of god's grace, sinful, etc. etc. etc... and then being shamed and criticized for not realizing that I was in fact a child of god, precious in his sight, blah blah blah! It was like, jeez, make up your fucking minds, willya??

 

One of the reasons I converted, too, was because I had been sexually assaulted at 16, and was blamed for it, and was trying to find a way to become "pure" again so that my family wouldn't think I was a slut or somehow tainted. Yet it just provided one more tool for criticism and one more tool for being shamed, and one more way for my mother to let me know that I wasn't good enough and never would be. And with Xianity I wasn't just not good enough for her, I wasn't good enough for *god* - so I had the constant worry that my salvation wasn't permanent and that somehow I was going to screw up badly enough that I'd get sent to hell, and I wouldn't even know I was screwing up.

 

I got to a point where I hated myself for breathing wrong, for chrissakes. And then I ended up getting married too young, and it was an absolutely dead, miserable marriage - by the end he wouldn't even look at me when I walked into a room, much less say anything. And if I wanted to be a Good Xian Wife™ I had to stay with him. I had to fix the marriage all by myself and stay with him; that was what the Bible and my church and my mother said I was supposed to do, in one way or another.

 

So Xianity didn't do anything but emphasize to me what a wretched failure I was, and what a terrible disappointment I was, and that there really wasn't ever going to be a way out.

 

The first stirrings of leaving Xianity happened shortly before I left my ex. I'd gotten to a point where I realized that I was so desperate to get out of being married to him that I was either going to kill him, kill myself, or get a divorce - and I guess some sensible part of me realized that if there's a god worth following, s/he probably didn't want anybody dead. So I divorced instead.

 

My spouse was full of sanctimonious, self-righteous anger, my church did what they could to manipulate me back to him, but my family - bless them, if an agnostic can! - were amazingly supportive. It was hard, but man... it was a step towards sanity.

 

I still have trouble with depression sometimes. Lately it's been hard. But boy, I haven't felt the kind of endless, abysmal blackness that I used to feel when I was a depressed *Christian*. There's just so much weight lifted now that I don't give a shit whether or not there's a sky daddy judging me or not. Fuck him, I can't be anything other than what I am, and if I'm not good enough for Biblegod he can go fuck himself.

 

So I think in my case Xianity didn't provide any relief, it actually ended up feeding my illness - which in the long run may have done more damage, I don't know.

 

It's just so damn good to be out, I can't even describe it.

[Golden Meadows]

 

There's just so much weight lifted now that I don't give a shit whether or not there's a sky daddy judging me or not. Fuck him, I can't be anything other than what I am, and if I'm not good enough for Biblegod he can go fuck himself.

The xtian "good news" is basically "you are all shit but since I am so fantastically good I am going to save you who are so unworthy of anything" forgetting who it was who made us shit in the first place. Glad to here you are puttting all this craziness behind you.

 

[padhyde]

Since my previous post I have read 'Psychosis and Spirituality' Edited by Isabel Clarke. It is pretty heavy reading by a group of psychologists and psychiatrists. Nothing has changed my opinion. There is a synopsis of the book on Amazon and I commend it to anyone who wants to explore this subject.

[weary traveler]

 

So, I grew up religious and didn't question anything. In my twenties I read books about demonic activity and fredoom from demons. The books Victory over Darkness and The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson really screwed me up.

 

Wow...thanks for your honesty in sharing in your post. Regarding Victory Over The Darkness and Bondage Breaker, what was it that most "screwed you up" from these sources? Was it mainly the idea that demons could put thoughts into your mind? I have used a lot of stufff from the Neil anderson collection,and you want to know something? That was the start of some really strange pychological problems for me as well! At first I figured that God was bringing all these inner conflicts to the surface, so I "went with it" and tried to work through the "Steps To Freedom". But I know what you mean when you mentioned how you were afriad of "catching a demon". I honestly started to get a little paranoid myself but I thought that my paranoia of the evil spirits was simply an attack from the devil. I tried to rebuke it and all, but...

Now I have a wonderful in-law and friend who feel as though I have a demon spirit because of the fact that I have been going over bible verses and passages that show that the bible can't be the inspired and perfect Word of God. I can honestly see how someone can get messed up in the head from all this, now that I have stepped back to take a look at it all from an observer perspective. The only other problem I am dealing with now though is I feel a sense of emptyness without God (as I knew or perceived of Him anyway). And that emptyness is rather depressing. Some have said it takes a few months to like "deprogram" your mind (ah the old battle for the mind!!). I have been falling away from christianity for about a year now and the feelings of loss and sadness still persist. Talk about psychological ramifications--I often wonder if I am being allowed to feel this pain inside because of my letting go of my former faith. Guilt complex, perhaps?

[sidhe]

Well, I'm schizophrenic, and I never really committed to Christianity, but I'm absolutely amazed that people actually come to me and say "You hear voices and see things because of demons, and if you turned your life over to Jesus, you'd be cured!"

 

Fortunately, my headvoices are very paranoid, and anyone who tells me to turn my life over to anything is viewed with utmost suspicion.

[Sawu]

Quite frankly christianity's appeal is escape from this world to a better place. Certainly it's about survival and happyness, living a life where you are most likely destined to die before science solves the problem of death and disease for everyone.

 

The whole reason I was so attracted to christianity / religion god in the first place was simply that it is difficult to be happy as secular person if one is not very gifted or good at much or can take pride in something, and even then its still difficult. Since you don't get to keep all the things you worked for, and your time is not your own, it's owned by the rich and the state. Hence you are forced to work to survive because of selfish economic idealogy and unethical human beings.

 

Living in the world this world is not really that great.

 

The reason why people believe in god are many but fundamentally they are about survival, no one would believe in the bible or jesus if all they promised at the end was a pat on the back.

 

-Eternal life

-Happyness

-No evil

-People that do not discriminate and hate one another

 

You can easily see why the bible is so appealing. But frankly even most christians barely read their bible. Not only that the bible is in such conflict with itself doctrinally having been re-written it's not hard to see why there are so many denominations.

[Sawu]

Now the effects of religion on mental health...

 

Religion has huge effects: It causes depression, it causes needless waste of time, it's akin to child abuse, and indoctrination.

 

In my opinion teaching a child a religion is just as bad if not worse then sexually abusing a child. You're taking a child and lying to it during critical developmental stages of its life, those that children that are susceptable will be scarred for life.

 

My school record and much of my adult life has been consumed by depression, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts since around 12 years old. For some kids they will pin all their hopes and dreams on religion and neglect any real dreams they might have in this world. Many will be content with a simple life based on the belief in the fantasy of christianity.