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Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions pp 167–180Cite as

Functional and Dysfunctional Religious/Spiritual Beliefs in Psychotic Disorders

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Part of the book series: New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion ((NASR,volume 1))

Abstract

Many of religious/spiritual belief processes (as a possible form of “creditions”) have been constantly demonstrated as being positively related to parameters of mental health, as well as to indicators of subjective well-being and personality factors. It has also been suggested that a religious/spiritual dimension might play an important role in coping with mental diseases. In particular, religion and spiritualit y were shown to be protective against addictive behaviour s and suicide attempts. However, despite such findings, there have also been numerous instances of a religious person suffering from delusions and hallucinations. Furthermore, there is some evidence that dysfunctional religious/spiritual beliefs might have an aggravating effect, especially in neurotic, as well as psychotic, disorders. Currently, relevant empirical evidence is sparse and more research is needed in order to characterize the role of the religious/spiritual belief system more clearly as it may be part of the disease as well as part of the cure, or, indeed, simply irrelevant for its etiology. We aim to contribute to this ongoing discussion based on a synoptic review of recent findings, by focusing on the relationship between religious/spiritual belief processes and psychotic disorders.

This contribution is based on previously published work: Unterrainer HF (2014) Dimensions of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being and the Psychotic Experience: Empirical Results and Perspectives. In: Gale J, Robson M, Rapsomatioti G (eds) Insanity and Divinity: Studies in Psychosis and Spirituality. Routledge, East Soussex, pp. 177–193 Full permission for re-use of the material has been granted by Taylor & Francis Publishing Group UK.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For details about the items of the English version of the scale, together with a short manual, please contact the author of this chapter or refer to Unterrainer et al. (2012b).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Human-Friedrich Unterrainer

  2. University Clinic of Psychiatry, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Human-Friedrich Unterrainer

  3. Center for Integrative Addiction Research (Grüner Kreis Society), Vienna, Austria

    Human-Friedrich Unterrainer

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  1. Human-Friedrich Unterrainer
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Correspondence to Human-Friedrich Unterrainer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Catechetics and Religious Education, Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Hans-Ferdinand Angel

  2. Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, Italy

    Lluis Oviedo

  3. Department of Psychology, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    Raymond F. Paloutzian

  4. Department of Theology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

    Anne L.C. Runehov

  5. Department of Neurology, Centre for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Rüdiger J. Seitz

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Unterrainer, HF. (2017). Functional and Dysfunctional Religious/Spiritual Beliefs in Psychotic Disorders. In: Angel, HF., Oviedo, L., Paloutzian, R., Runehov, A., Seitz, R. (eds) Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions. New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion , vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50924-2_12

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