Skip to main content

Religion and Schizophrenia (Alida)

 


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














Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hardin's trauma

“After”, is a 2019 teen romantic drama directed by jenny gage that revolves around the love of  Tessa, an inexperienced teenage girl, with Hardin, a mysterious ‘bad boy’ . Hardin, the main male character, never had a secure relationship with his father. When Hardin was young, his father used to be an alcoholic with a lot of debt. When he was just eight years old, intruders broke into his home looking for his father for money, however, there was only Hardin and his mother. The intruders forced themselves on Hardin’s mother, and Hardin, who was sleeping then, came downstairs to see what was wrong. To Hardin’s shock, his mother was being raped by three men, one by one. Hardin’s mother told him to leave, however, one man forced him to watch everything.  I would assume that Hardin has PTSD as a result of this incident, and in this paper I will try to prove it. Symptoms of PTSD and scenes that prove Hardin had it: The person subsequently re-experiences the event through both intrusi...

Analysing “Anniyan”: Dissociative Identity Disorder meets Personality Disorders

Pranaya Prakash In the movie “Anniyan” (Shankar, 2005), the protagonist Ramanujam Iyengar, also known as Ambi, is the host of his alters: Remo and Anniyan. While the focus of the movie is only on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), the host, Ambi, and the alter, Anniyan, show symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), respectively. In this blog post, I attempt to critically analyse the portrayal of DID and the possibility of the protagonist having comorbid Personality Disorders. While it is highly unlikely for individuals with DID to have comorbidities with Personality Disorders ( Antisocial Personality Disorder ), especially with OCPD and ASPD (Fink, 1991), it is interesting to think of the possibility and analyse the developmental trajectory of these individuals.  The movie starts with the character development of Ambi, a lawyer who is meticulous and very particular ...

The Psychological Depth of Good Will Hunting

Shorya Sehgal Good Will Hunting revolves around the interaction of two rebellious characters, Sean Maguire and Will Hunting, who, to a certain extent, help each other to conform slightly. Will is a brilliant but troubled, young adult. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), inferiority complex, defence mechanisms and attachment disorder. A mathematical genius, Will had a complete disrespect for authority and for his own considerable talents. As the story progressed, I was able to see Will’s personal growth as he developed an extremely strong relationship with his therapist, Sean. Sean had fought his own battles in life which had made him tough. This significantly helped Will and Sean to connect to each other on a deep, emotional level. What struck me the most in the movie is how coherently Will's journey is tied together. His transition from an inexpressive, troubled young guy to a mature and responsible one is shown very exquisitely. By the end, he was able to be...