by sherry11 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The table turned
Found this article in regard to Religious fundamentalism may be a mental illness which can be cured.
"Someone who has for example become radicalised to a cult ideology – we might stop seeing that as a personal choice that they have chosen as a result of pure free will and may start treating it as some kind of mental disturbance."
http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/2013/05/leading-neuroscientist-religious.html
I was about to start a thread on this when I saw yours. I want to read this researcher's book!
No Regrets
bttt
looks really interesting
So almost all of my relatives and neighbors I grew up with were mentally ill? My grandmother was one of the most sane people I ever met, but she was uneducated and never exposed to the larger world.
Apostates are "mentally diseased" too, ya know.
Religious Fundies of any ilk are deluded, to live in a permanent state of delusion is to be mentally "ill".
Believers of any ilk are similarly deluded.
Unfortunately for us in the U.K and you guys in da States , and most of the World, we are ruled over by such deluded people, it is frightening.
The asylum is run by wackos.
S
Having had rather extensive dealings with the mentally ill, this comes as no surprize at all.
Bill.
Interesting articles. Thanks for sharing!
The issue is more complex. I first encountered this view when reading Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller, the seminal book on rape. She listed about seven characteristics of a father rapist. Religiosity was one element. There were several similar ones that made no sense to me. I was curious.
I've asked mental health professionals what it means in context. It is in the DSM-IV diagnostic manual as a criteria for diagnosis for certain disorders. Schizophrenia is one such illness. One person with good credentials explained that excessive religious belief, far more than the norm in the culture, is a hallmark of several disorders. It is a class presentation. I don't know whether the religiosity sparks the illness or the reverse. When I asked another person with the same credentials, I was told that it means excessive religious thought that is not the norm for the individual. If someone is always religious, it is all right. If it is sudden, pathology may be present.
The first prof'l was American while the second one was Indian. I suspect that culture plays a role. I wonder what a cultural anthropologist would say.
I still don't understand how religious belief influences mental illness. Perhaps secular mds have a bias. I don't know.
Personally, I believe culture must be an influence. The South has its Bible thumpers more than the North. I don't believe Southerners are more mentally ill.
What do you think?
Sherry11:
In this secular age we live in, it is the consensus of many that people who are ultra-religious have a screw loose.
I hate to say it, but when I became a JW many people (family and friends) thought I lost my mind. It doesn't matter that I became interested in the JWs only because I was interested in end-time prophecy. They thought the whole thing was whacko. What particularly bothered my family was the all-consuming nature of the religion. They felt it was unhealthy.
Well, I got my mind back when I left.
