Intersections between religion and mental illness

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The voluntary anchorites

Some of these people are now venerated as saints. They literally had themselves walled up inside churches, in cells little bigger than a wardrobe, for years (and until their eventual death). For many of them, as well, they were self-declared "living dead" - not to be even spoken to.

Of course, this kind of treatment was not uncommon in medieval times for certain prisoners (those thrown into the "oubliettes") or even unfortunate victims of barbaric cruelty by tyrants who used the terror of punishment as a way of securing power among the masses. But to volunteer for this kind of treatment? To "reach God"?

It's literally stomach-churning.

[Brandenburger Toro]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

I will simply note that your digestive events do not currently appear to be recognised in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.

[Edie St Pierre]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

I wouldn't blame that on religion, really. The kind of head-space these people seem to have been in, doesn't sound fundementally different from anorexia.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Yeah, and we got some good art out of it.

[Edie St Pierre]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Yeah, exactly. Win, win.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

[Edie St Pierre]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

But the word 'self-mortification' always puts me on my guard.

[Bored Of Education]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Has this just made the news or something? It wasn't on Radio 4 this morning

[Amor de Cosmos]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Yeah, and we got some good art out of it.

We did? I wasn't aware there were anchorite artists? I know Hildegard of Bingham's teacher was one but I'm not sure she had much to do with her music.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

I meant we get good pictures of, well,, God-inspired loners, if not of paid up anchorites.

St Anthony (Temptation thereof) and St Jerome, for starters.

It's really very naughty they hang on to that altarpiece in Isenheim. In the old days we'd just go and get that and take it to the Louvre.

[Bruno]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Hildegard didn't approve of lesbian sex, though. She was aligned with the fascists on that one. Draw your own conclusions.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Religious people have (slightly) better mental health outcomes than non-believers.

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Only with respect to depression (they're at greater risk of schizophrenia, though it's unlikely religion's a cause there; more likely, it's a coping strategy, though sometimes an ineffective or outright problematic one).

And, interestingly, only if they belong to organised congregations. Your lone religious meditators show somewhat elevated levels of depression compared to the general population.

That suggests that if there's a causal role for religion (which is a very big if, because the causality is hellishly complicated), it seems to hinge on fellowship, connectedness, membership of community, and that sort of thing, more than on, say, belief in an afterlife.

That's my understanding, anyway.

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

What complicates the findings still further is that a lot of the depression research has been done in the US, which is different in a number of important ways from other cultures that may be of interest to OTF posters, such as Western Europe. It may be that the decline of organised religion on this side of the Atlantic has brought non-religious communal structures into play in a way that doesn't apply in the same way in the US.

[Edie St Pierre]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Dunno, there's still the void to cope with, isn't there?

[Edie St Pierre]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Fuck, I sound like a character from a shit film.

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

But then there is that stat: that it's organised, communitarian religion, and only that, that's associated with lowered incidence of depression. Suggesting the Void may have a smaller role than one might suppose.

I mean, at one level, we're social mammals. Right? Belonging to communities is a need for us. It may even be that a lot of the sense of bereavement people in Europe felt during the Crisis of Faith had as much to do with the breakdown of trusted communitarian structures as with existential fear. That the latter might to some extent have been a rationalisation.

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

So, er, if it comes to it, don't be an anchorite. Go to church instead. Or something.

[Bored Of Education]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

That sounds like a very good and logical rationale, WE. (The community benefits rather than the last post, although that obviously is good as well)

On a bit of digression, have you read "The Spirit Level" by the way? It basically looks at the argument that it isn't poor societies with low average incomes that are worse off but inequal societies between the rich and poor

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

I could be completely wrong about all this, but it does kind of fit with some of the other things that are associated with a lowered incidence of depression: living with a partner, regular social contact, and so on.

All you need is love, you might say. How you get it may be secondary.

(I've not read that book, no, but I will; thanks.)

[evilC]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

'Shared experience' is a powerful thing. IMHO, it's the major factor in how people align themselves socially, politically and yes, even personally. (A sense of being 'empathised with' can be a spark for closeness.)

I've probably totally misinterpreted what Wyatt is saying. If I have, I expect we're about to find out. ;-)

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Well, yesterday I said "go to church" and today I've said "all you need is love", so I'm suspecting that I must have been killed and replaced by a doppelganger, like Paul McCartney was.

[evilC]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

(Oh no! They've got to Wyatt!)

[delicatemoth]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

Apparently a 'void' is the correct term for an empty but useable flat. I found this out because my mum was having a load of work done which meant she couldn't use the bathroom. One of the workmen said "Well, you can always use the void downstairs," which my mum obviously found hilarious.

As I recall not all anchorites were walled up - didn't some sit on top of giant rocks like Ailsa Craig? That'd be some good meditation.

[Wyatt Earp]

Intersections between religion and mental illness

delicatemoth wrote:

Apparently a 'void' is the correct term for an empty but useable flat.

I gather Siouxsie considered and rejected the title "Shagging In An Empty Flat".