Religion, culture, and mental health PDF
Preview Religion, culture, and mental health
Religion, Culture and Mental Health Are religious practices involving seeing visions and speaking in tongues beneficial or detrimental to mental health? Do some cul- tures express distress in bodily form because they lack the linguis- ticcategoriestoexpressdistresspsychologically?Dosomereligions encourageclinicallevelsofobsessionalbehaviour?Andarereligious peoplehappierthanothers?Bymergingthegrowinginformationon religion and mental health with that on culture and mental health, KateLoewenthalenablesfreshperspectivesonthesequestions.This bookdealswithdifferentpsychiatricconditionssuchasschizophre- nia,manicdisorders,depression,anxiety,somatisationanddissocia- tionaswellaspositivestatesofmind,andanalysesthereligiousand culturalinfluencesoneach. isProfessorofPsychologyatRoyalHolloway, UniversityofLondon.Shehaspublishednumerousarticlesandspo- kenatinternationalconferencesonherresearchareasoftheimpact ofreligiousandculturalfactorsonmentalhealth,andoffamilysizein relationtowell-being.Herresearchhasalsoearnedherfundingfrom theEconomicandSocialResearchCouncil,theWellcomeTrust,the Leverhulme Trust and the Nuffield Foundation. She serves on the editorialboardofseveraljournalsconcernedwiththepsychological aspects of religion, and is an editor of Mental Health, Religion and Culture. Religion, Culture and Mental Health Kate Loewenthal RoyalHolloway UniversityofLondon cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521850230 ©KateLoewenthal2006 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublishedinprintformat 2006 isbn-13 978-0-511-49012-5 OCeISBN isbn-13 978-0-521-85023-0hardback isbn-10 0-521-85023-1 hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents Listoffigures page vii Listoftables viii Acknowledgements ix Noteabout‘G-d’ x 1 Introduction 1 Somequestions 1 Definitionsofculture,religionandmentalhealth 4 Howdoescultureaffecttherelationsbetweenreligionand mentalhealth? 9 2 Schizophrenia 11 Definitionsandsymptoms,andanoverviewofcausesand relationswithreligion 11 Visions,voices,delusionsandschizophrenia 15 Spiritpossession,demons 24 Afro-Caribbeanschizophrenia? 34 Diagnosticissues 39 3 Manicdisorder 49 Definitionsandcausesofmanicdisorder 49 Religiousfactorsandmanicdisorders 50 4 Depression 55 Definitions,symptoms,causesandrelationswithreligion 55 Religiouscopingbeliefs 60 Somegenderissues:women,religionanddepression 67 5 Anxiety 74 Definitions,symptomsandcauses 74 Theoverallanxiety-loweringandanxiety-heightening effectsofreligion 76 Obsessive-compulsivedisorderandreligion 81 Arereligiouspeopleseenasmoreanxious? 85 v vi Contents 6 Somatisation 87 Definitions,symptomsandcauses 87 Between-groupvariationsinsomaticandpsychological symptoms 88 Explanationsofthesevariations 96 7 Dissociation 105 Definitionsandcausesofdissociationanddissociative personalitydisorder 105 Religiousfactorsinrelationtodissociativestatesand tendencies 107 Religiousfactorsinrelationtodissociativepersonality disorder 110 Religiouspossessionandtrancestates:aretheydissociative? 118 8 Positivestates 125 Religionandpositivemood:definitionsandassociations 125 Purposeinlife,andhope 127 Forgiveness 132 Authentichappiness 136 9 Conclusion 140 References 142 Index 164 Figures 4.1 Distressstimulatesreligiouscopingbeliefs,which canthenaffectlevelsofdistress page64 4.2 Somerelationsbetweenstress,religiouscoping beliefsandmood 66 4.3 Thealcohol-depressionhypothesis 71 5.1 Commonthemesofobsessionsindifferentcultures 82 5.2 Clinicaljudgementsmadeaboutpeoplehighandlow inreligiousactivity 86 8.1 Purposeinlifeinrelationtoreligiousbeliefandtime sinceconversion 129 vii Tables 2.1 Changesinreligiousactivityamongfirst-onset schizophreniapatients page21 6.1 Atreatmentplan 100 7.1 Similaritiesanddifferencesbetweendemon(dybbuk) possessionanddissociativepersonalitydisorders 120 viii Acknowledgements Thankstomyfamily:mydearparents,myhusbandTaliLoewenthal and our children – Esther Cadaner, Leah Namdar, Yitzchok Loewenthal,Chana-SorohDanow,MosheLoewenthal,RivkaLent, Brocha Werner, Freida Brackman, Sholi Loewenthal, Mendy Loewenthal,ZalmyLoewenthal–whowerealwaysinterested–and to their husbands, wives and children. Gratitude is due to leaders of the Jewish community, especially the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rav J. Dunner, Rabbi S. Lew, Dayan A. D. Dunner and Rebbetzen Hadassah Dunner, Lady Amelie Jakobovits and the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks. My dear friends and advisers Naomi Futerfas, Kerry Bak, Joyce Paley, Feigy Rabin, Shoshana Segelman, Evadne SternandYaelKestecherareamongmanywhosharedexperiences, wisdom,practicalsupportandmanylaughs. Almost last, but certainly not least, thanks to many academic colleaguesandcollaborators:ProfessorMichaelEysenck,Professor Andy MacLeod, Dr Marco Cinnirella, Vivienne Goldblatt, Esther Spitzer, Professor Stephen Frosh, Dr Caroline Lindsey, Micky Herzog, Diane Heywood, Jeffery Blumenfeld OBE, Guy Lubitsh, Dr Simon Dein, Dr Chris Lewis, Professor Ken Pargament, Tirril Harris, Dr Joseph and Shree Berke, Professor Robert Kohn, ProfessorElyWitztum,ProfessorDavidGreenberg–andmanyoth- ers, each of whom has had an influence which would need a much longerbookthanthisonetodescribe. Special thanks to Sarah Caro and her colleagues at Cambridge UniversityPress,forinspiringandnursingthisbookalong. ix Note about ‘G-d’ Whenyoustartreading,andwonderabout‘G-d’,hereistheexpla- nation. I could write a book of stories solely about my adventures as an author writing on the psychology of religion, who is also an orthodox Jew, and who wishes to follow the prescription of Jewish law not to write out any name of G-d in full. One reason for this prescription is to avoid the possibly of a sacred name finishing up in a place which is not fitting or respectful, euphemistically termed a rubbish heap in some sources of Jewish law. Probably a cesspit or similaristhehorriblefatedevoutlytobeavoided.Someeditorsand publishershavechosentoeditinthefullnameofG-dtoavoidconfu- siononthepartofthereader.Forthisbook,thereviewerandeditors havedecidedthatreadersareunlikelytobeconfusedorirritatedby ‘G-d’,or‘L-rd’.Thisnoteistoexplainwhy. x
The list of books you might like
