Skip to main content

Changing Ways of Doing Things: An Autobiographical Account of Some of My Experiences in the Psychology of Religion

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Path in Psychology ((PATH))

Abstract

I had two early ambitions. One was to be teacher. My father discouraged that. He had what seemed to be a perfectly satisfactory career as a classroom and head teacher, but felt disappointed that his family circumstances hadn’t allowed him to go to university; teacher training in the early twentieth century was seen as a second best to university. My mother’s views and experiences were similar. She could have gone to university, she said, but the funding for her university place was contingent on teaching thereafter. So she opted to go straight into the workplace, but felt intellectually frustrated in her office jobs, and always regretted missing out on university. My intellectually frustrated parents said they were sure that “these days” (late 1950s) you can achieve whatever you set your mind to. They certainly encouraged serious reading. Our house was lined with books: history, biography, science, religious, and literary classics. So in our family, we read and read.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Allport, G. W. (1950). The individual and his religion: A psychological interpretation. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beit-Hallahmi, B. (1992). Despair and deliverance: Private salvation in contemporary Israel. New York: State University of New York Press (SUNY).

    Google Scholar 

  • Beit-Hallahmi, B., & Argyle, M. (1975). God as a father projection. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 48, 71–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, L. B. (Ed.). (1973). Psychology and religion: Selected readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. O. (1978). The social origins of depression. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dein, S., & Sembhi, S. (2001). The use of traditional healing in South Asian psychiatric patients in the U.K.: Interactions between professional and folk psychiatries. Transcultural Psychiatry, 38, 243–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, M. W. (1998). Personality and the psychology of religion. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 1, 11–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis, L. J. (1993). Personality and religion among college students in the UK. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 619–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frosh, S., Loewenthal, K. M., Lindsey, C., & Spitzer, E. (2005). Prevalence of emotional and behavioural disorders among strictly orthodox Jewish children in London. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 351–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glinert, L., Loewenthal, K. M., & Goldblatt, V. (2003). Guarding the tongue: A thematic analysis of gossip control strategies among orthodox Jewish women. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development, 24, 513–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D., Witztum, E. S., Sanctity Greenberg, D., & Witztum, E. (2001). Sanity and sanctity: Mental health work among the ultra-orthodox in Jerusalem. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., Heath, A. C., & Eaves, L. J. (1992). A population-based twin study of major depression in women: The impact of varying definitions of illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 257–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levav, I., Kohn, R., Dohrenwend, B. P., Shrout, P. E., Skodol, A. E., Schwartz, S., et al. (1993). An epidemiological study of mental disorders in a 10-year cohort of young adults in Israel. Psychological Medicine, 23, 691–707.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levav, I., Kohn, R., Golding, J., & Weismann, M. M. (1997). Vulnerability of Jews to affective disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 941–947.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C. A. (1998). Cleanliness is next to Godliness: Religiosity and obsessiveness. Journal of Religion and Health, 37, 49–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, C. A., Rogers, M. B., Loewenthal, K. M., Amlot, R., Cinnirella, M., & Ansari, K. (Eds.). (in press). Martyrdom and terrorism. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Littlewood, R., & Dein, S. (1995). The effectiveness of words: Religion and healing among the Lubavitch of Stamford Hill. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 19, 339–383.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (1995). Mental health and religion. London: Chapman & Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (1996). An introduction to the construction of psychological tests and scales. London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (2000). The psychology of religion: A short introduction. Oxford: Oneworld/Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (2001). An introduction to psychological tests and scales (2nd ed.). London: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (2007). Religion, culture and mental health. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (2009a). Hope being fulfilled? Obstacles and progress in addressing religion-related inequalities in mental health services. (The Mary Hemingway-Rees Memorial Lecture at the World Federation for Mental Health, Athens, September 2009.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M. (2009b). The alcohol-depression hypothesis: Gender and the prevalence of depression among Jews. In L. Sher (Ed.), Comorbidity of depression and alcohol use disorders (pp. 31–40). New York: Nova.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., & Bradley, C. (1996). Immunisation uptake and doctors’ perceptions of uptake in a minority group: Implications for interventions. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 1, 223–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., Cinnirella, M., Evdoka, G., & Murphy, P. (2001). Faith conquers all? Beliefs about the role of religious factors in coping with depression among different cultural-religious groups in the UK. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74, 293–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., Eames, K., Loewenthal, C. S., Goldblatt, V., Amos, V., & Mullarkey, S. (1993). Levels of wellbeing and distress in orthodox Jewish men and women. Journal of Psychology and Judaism, 16, 225–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., & Goldblatt, V. (1993). Family size and depressive symptoms in orthodox Jewish women. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 27, 3–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., MacLeod, A. K., Cook, S., Lee, M., & Goldblatt, V. (2003). Drowning your sorrows? Attitudes towards alcohol in UK Jews and Protestants: A thematic analysis. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 49, 204–215.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., MacLeod, A. K., Goldblatt, V., Lubitsh, G., & Valentine, J. D. (2000). Comfort and joy: Religion, cognition and mood in individuals under stress. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 355–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loewenthal, K. M., & Rogers, M. B. (2004). Culture sensitive support groups: How are they perceived and how do they work? International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 50, 227–240.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moroney, M. J. (1956). Facts from figures. Harmondsworth: Pelican.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pargament, K. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. (1934/1962). Thought and language. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kate Miriam Loewenthal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Loewenthal, K.M., Loewenthal, K.M., Loewenthal, K.M., Loewenthal, K.M. (2012). Changing Ways of Doing Things: An Autobiographical Account of Some of My Experiences in the Psychology of Religion. In: Belzen, J. (eds) Psychology of Religion. Path in Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1602-9_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics