Would religion help my psychological issues?

Interesting question, actually.   But I see no evidence to suggest that religious people are more “well-adjusted” than those who are not.  They seem to have the same psychological problems everyone else does.    Add in that many of the real crazies think they are channeling God and are emboldened to action on that basis.  No help there …

My mother has suggested this to me as I have been dealing with depression for the last several years. She wasn’t trying to force it on me as a “cure”, she simply asked me if I thought my depression was a result of not believing in god anymore.

It’s not a given that christian faith will help you with mental health issues.  This is ultimately why I stopped being a christian – despite a supportive community, and an unshaken belief in God, I came to a realisation that daily having to ask forgiveness for staying in bed all day and cutting myself with razor blades, and begging the Holy Spirit to magically give me the grace and power to help me surmount my problems was not only pointless and ineffectual, but actively harmful and making me worse.  While still a believing Christian, I deliberately set aside practising my faith in order to concentrate on getting better (justifying it as my “forty nights in the wilderness”), and like a good Calvinist, believing that if God had a plan for my life like everyone told me he did, then he would bring me back in his time.I wouldn’t like to say that leaving christianity was the biggest factor in my recovery (as far as I have recovered), but it allowed other things to happen that were instrumental in that.

‘Cept that talking to God entails all these hangups and preconceptions about what you imagine God must think of you. And if you’re feeling depressed then I can strongly imagine it wouldn’t be positive. The ideas people build about God are too unwavering and (especially) judgemental to help them help themselves.”Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower.”

I agree. While my religious activities add a lot to my life, it’s not faith in the sense people generally talk about that’s beneficial – largely because I don’t have any. What does help, and sometimes makes things worse as well, is something that a lot of people do get from religious activity (especially in places where religion is common)  – community. Religions aren’t the only source of community, though. Trying to integrate in a community that you fundamentally don’t agree with (like a religious group you don’t share the beliefs of) is likely to be counter-productive.

I tried going back to religion, after several years of considering myself an atheist during and after college and a brief stint in grad school, when depression and anxiety overwhelmed me. It only lasted seven months before I realized I couldn’t make myself believe something I found absurd. Anyway, seven months as a practicing Catholic certainly didn’t help my mental health issues.

The recovery from my mental break – when my depression/anxiety became so much I had to seek more than just my GP’s help – began when I accepted my atheism wholeheartedly. Meaning I admitted to myself there was not even an ounce of belief and to stop pretending there might be. It was not the greatest weight taken off my shoulders, but it was the first pebble off my back that started an avalanche of  discovery & healing. Still working on it (the depression & anxiety), but now I can at least breathe without restriction. Also I advocate for secularism in therapy. Too many times therapists call on the spiritual as a tool, or recommend church groups. The group of CFI I belong to encourages secular alternatives.