The Link Between Religiosity and Mental Health

Religiosity and Mental Health: A Battlefield All Over the World

The idea of religiousness having a connection with mental health is not something new or foreign. Many religious fanatics argue that a strong belief system helps to cope with everyday problems and the copious stresses that people experience throughout their lives. On the other hand less spiritual people tend to argue that religion causes more stress than it can alleviate, alternately classifying religion as an additional mental burden. What is fascinating is that the connection between religiosity and mental health applies not only to one specific religion and area, but rather to many religions and all places. While many studies have been conducted on the subject, no definitive side has been crowned correct by a substantial majority nor has anyone analyzed the widespread effects of religion on mental health through multiple religions and places on all age levels. Altogether, this paper will attempt to prove that religion may help with overall coping of stress but surely leads to additional anxiety which is directly correlated with religiosity.

The effects of religiosity on mental illness certainly exists and can be examines all over the world. Starting in Europe, more specifically post-communist Europe, one can examine the effects of Christian religiosity and mental effects by reading the paper “Relationship Between Religiosity and Health: Evidence from a Post-communist Country” by Barna Konkolÿ Thege, János Pilling, András Székely, and Mária S. Kopp. In this paper, the authors examine a study in which previously religiously suppressed Europeans are examined and surveyed in order to conclude on mental health issues. What was eventually discovered is that in this specific area and timeframe, the participants showed a positive correlation between religiousness and overall physical health. Moreover, the population also appeared to be better at coping with issues if they identified to be more religious, perhaps showing that religion is a good coping measure. Where the evidence appears negative though, is when examining the anxiety levels and proneness to depression amongst religious people. In this specific study, there was a positive correlation between religiosity and anxiety and depression, which must be examined further, as these are the rout causes of mental illness and mental instability. Overall, in Eastern Europe where religion was frowned upon during the communist regime, positive results have been yielded from a strong belief system, but prove to be lacking the mental health area of study. Looking at Western Europe, similarities apply. In Dany R. Khalaf, Ludger F. Hebborn, Sylvain J. Dal, and Wadih J. Naja’s article “A Critical Comprehensive Review of Religiosity and Anxiety Disorders in Adults” it is clear that a connection can be made between people’s religious beliefs and mental illness. Although beneficial to many in physical ways, religiosity has a dark truth which lies in its tendency to come up when discussing anxiety and depression in many Europeans.

Moving on to the Arab world, one can examine non-Christian beliefs and their effects on mental health from the paper “Religiosity, subjective well-being, and neuroticism” by Ahmed M. Abdel-Khalek. In his paper, Abdel-Khalek discusses the negative impact of religion in the form of neuroticism. This personality trait, which was observed to be higher in participants who identified as religious, is directly linked with a tendency to be moody and to experience feelings like anxiety, fear, worry, anger, jealousy, frustration, envy, guilt, depression, and loneliness. Furthermore, the study did observe an increase in physical health in those who identified to be religious. In a separate paper by the same author, Ahmed M. Abdel-Khalek, called “Religiosity, health, and psychopathology in two cultures: Kuwait and USA”, similar results are found when comparing Middle Eastern Kuwait to the United States. In his paper, Abdel-Khalek states that very similar results were found in both parts of the world, leading to the discovery that finds a correlation between religion and mental health. Once again, physical heath and coping is positively associated with religion, but anxiety and egocentric issues that could lead to psychopathy and self-control problems were elevated at a similar rate with religiousness.

Another essay, named “Religion and Health: Anxiety, Religiosity, Meaning of Life and Mental Health” by Yung-Jong Shiah, Frances Chang, Shih-Kuang Chiang, I-Mei Lin, and Wai-Cheong Carl Tam, examines the Asian world, and more specifically, Taiwan. Reading the research done in this paper, it is evident that a trend is present. Once again, religiosity, and specifically Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, all seem to correlate with boosted physical health and overall coping of situations. Following yet another trend, the connection is again made between anxiety and depression to religiosity, further proving that religion has some sort of causation.

Turning to Africa, Daria Tunca’s paper “The Confessions of a 'Buddhist Catholic': Religion in the Works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie” examines the catholic faith in Nigeria. In her writing, she states that people who have accepted Catholicism show prominent signs of better coping skills but with an increase in anxiety again. With all 6 studies showing an increase in anxiety levels and depression amongst participants who are religious, it is clear that religion has an effect on mental health. Also considering the fact that these studies are non-local and non-specific, one can see that no matter what religion and where, a correlation exist. The fact that all examined religions in the four continents examined with many distinct cultural aspects yielded similar results and tendencies can confirm an association between religiosity and mental illness.