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It's belief systems that keep us healthy, not religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jeremy A. Holmes*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Exeter, email: j.a.holmes@btinternet.com
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Abstract

Type
Columns
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2010

Dein et al Reference Dein, Cook, Powell and Eagger1 appear to believe, on the basis of suggestive but by no means overwhelming evidence, that religious belief is associated with good mental health. Bruno Bettelheim, in his account of his concentration camp incarceration, Reference Bettelheim2 noted that those who survived best were those with firmly held beliefs and ideology. Devout Jews and committed Marxists (atheists all) survived longer than those without a belief system. It is not religion as such that saves, but –however derived – a sense of community and connection, and the capacity to put even indescribable suffering into a wider context. Christianity can do this, but so equally do secular belief systems, including non-theistic religions such as Buddhism.

References

1 Dein, S, Cook, CHC, Powell, A, Eagger, S. Religion, spirituality and mental health. Psychiatrist 2010; 34: 63–4.Google Scholar
2 Bettelheim, B. Surviving and Other Essays. Vintage, 1980.Google Scholar
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