Cynthia was a promising student in 10th grade, and an overall happy girl. However in the near future, all of this would be forgotten about her, and a few episodes would later become her label. She would occasionally get violent towards her classmates, and she would talk about the monster that she saw before every episode. Due to this incident, she was put in an isolated room for the safety of the rest of the class. She would always carry a bible in her bag as she believed it would chase away the monster.. Cynthia was in a strict religious environment, a nun's school, and the beliefs in that society were not favorable for somebody suffering from schizophrenia. On one hand Cynthia is taking treatment to ease her symptoms, while on the other hand her classmates would recite the rosary to cast out the demon in her. Cynthis is just one girl who has been shunned by society, because she has a condition that most people refuse to understand. In this paper, we will analyze the intersectionality of religion and schizophrenia, and we will see how important it is to equip religious communities for supporting patients.
A study from India reported that about 66-70% of the patients have at least one non-biomedical explanatory model of supernatural type. (Nehra, 2012) However, studies from other countries have reported a 10% prevalence of supernatural explanatory models in patients. It is also very common in most African countries for schizophrenic people to be confused as demon-possessed or being possessed by ancestors. For deliverance, the person would be put in front of a huge congregation in church, and then undergo a minimum of five minutes to “remove the demon”. Even though, most times the priests claim that these people were delivered, there really is no follow up to actually confirm whether the person is fine. For people who practice traditional religion, the person has to visit a traditional healer as it is believed their ancestors have something they want to say. Similarly, in India patients seek help from faith healers to get rid of their symptoms.
Some studies suggest that non-medical explanatory models influence the insight, and help seeking and is associated with poor outcome. Societies that instigate these religious explanations for mental diseases will most likely encourage unethical treatment (like exorcism, and faith healers), which will eventually attenuate the shame and spiritual; distress of the patients. This misconception around schizophrenia is very detrimental to schizophrenic individuals, as it might discourage them from seeking psychiatric help. This might in turn lead the patients to isolate themselves when religious solutions do not give desired results. . All in all, myths like this instill fear in the general public, and reduce empathy towards people with schizophrenia.
Different studies about the correlation between religion and schizophrenia treatment keep finding contradicting results. Some studies suggest that religiousness in patients with schozophrenia was associated with increased social integration, while others said it was associated with increased suicidal attemps. Also, some other studies say that religiousness correlates with the willingness to seek psychiatric help, while other studies say the opposite. These results may be very confusing, however putting into account the vastness of religions and spirituality it is no surprise. When studying religion, there needs to be a specificity that helps incorporate culture and differences in culture differences. One example of the differences is how Protestants are more likely to have religious delusions than Catholics, while Buddhists have lower religious delusions compared to christians in general. The results can be helpful, however, because they indicate that some religious societies know how to support the mentally ill, while others discourage them.. Therefore, there needs to be an analysis of the differences between institutions that show positive results and the rest, in order to learn what religious institutions can do to help the patients..
In conclusion, there needs to be a lot of research done in this regard, especially in countries where religious institutions have a strong presence in mental health. We need to make sure that the stigma around patients with schizophrenia ends, and that these institutions are equipped to help the patients. As we have seen in past research, religious institutions have the power to give hope to patients, however, they have the power to completely shutter it as well. These institutions should be spaces where patients feel included and understood.
References:
Kate N, Grover S, Kulhara P, Nehra R. Supernatural beliefs, aetiological models and help seeking behavior in patients with schizophrenia. Ind Psychiatry J 2012;21:49-54
Ahmad Malla, A., & Mohammad Bhat, N. (2022). Religion, Spirituality , and Schizophrenia. Retrieved 30 April 2022, from https://ijip.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/C03178V3I12015.pdf
Ahmad Malla, A., & Mohammad Bhat, N. (2022). Religion, Spirituality , and Schizophrenia. Retrieved 30 April 2022, from https://ijip.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/C03178V3I12015.pdf
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