they are mad, even though – as we shall see – the experiences
of neither would be regarded as true symptoms of psychosis.
Might visions, voices and delusions be precursors of psychosis?
We can ask whether, if religions encourage and support experiences
involving visions and voices, might this be dangerous for
some people?
Might religious factors play an important role in the commoner
psychiatric disorders?
Jean doesn’t want to pray any more. She is sleeping badly and cries a lot,
and feels that life is not worth living. She can’t pray. Why should she? It
is just empty words, and she doubts that G-d is there. If he is, he doesn’t
seem interested in her and her problems.
Asma is having trouble praying. She is sleeping badly, and cries a lot, and
feels that life is not worth living. She does pray but her troubles continue
and she wonders whether there is something wrong with her. Perhaps
she is not good, and that is why Allah does not seem to listen to her
prayers.
Are the depressive states suffered by Jean and by Asma made
worse by their difficulties with prayer? Would they be at least
a little better off if there were no such issue? How does Jean’s
Christian background and Asma’s Muslim background affect the
role played by prayer in their depression?
As we shall see in chapter 4, there are people who find that
prayer can be helpful in alleviating distress – if so, what has gone
awry for Jean and Asma?
Might religious factors promote mental health?
Janet has big problems at work. She loves her job as a social worker, and in
spite of the horrific circumstances of some of the families on her caseload,
she is genuinely pleased to feel that sometimes she is able to make a difference
for the better. But Janet has a difficult manager. The manager is
always picking holes in what Janet has done, and has returned a negative
review of Janet’s performance. Janet feels so helpless. She fears that her
work is not valued and that her word is less likely to be accepted than her
manager’s. Janet has been to talk to her minister, who gave her some sensible
advice about ways of handling the problem. He suggested that she talks
to senior management, that she tries to stay calm and pleasant whenever
she discusses the issue – and he also suggested (rather diffidently) that she
might call on her reserves of religious faith, trusting that whatever happens
will be for the best. Janet found all this helpful.
Lou had seemed morose and miserable and withdrawn to his workmates.
Then he seemed to become more outgoing. He exchanged friendly greetings,
smiled more, and started to chat with others now and then. He told
his workmates that he had found the Lord, and felt that his life had been
turned around. Some of his workmates scoffed, some were a bit curious,
and one or two were even a bit impressed. Brian was scornful but a bit
curious, and asked Lou exactly what had happened. Lou persuaded Brian
to come along to a service and see for himself. Brian went along, listened to
the preacher, heard everyone singing and praising the Lord, and then some
people began speaking in a strange way, a kind of babbling – he couldn’t
understand what they were saying. They looked quite happy. Lou was one
of them. Eventually, Brian began to feel that he had seen and heard enough
so he tried to thank Lou and told him that he was going home, but Lou
seemed to be in some kind of a trance and Brian wasn’t sure whether he
had taken it in, though he seemed to smile and nod in acknowledgement
while continuing to ‘speak in tongues’. Brian went home thinking to himself
that it all seemed a bit over the top and he couldn’t imagine himself
getting carried away like that.
Brian thinks that Lou and his co-religionists are over the top, but
he doesn’t think they are really mad. Lou is in a somewhat dissociated
state, but he seems to have some awareness of what’s
going on around him, and he isn’t doing anything dangerous to
himself or to others. So is his behaviour really disordered? Are
dissociative states equally encouraged in different religious and
cultural groups, and what are their effects? These questions and
others will be considered in the chapters that follow. The questions
above were illustrated with hypothetical vignettes, based on
real-life situations. In the ensuing chapter we will be considering
actual case material based on clinical experience and research
interviewing. Before this, we need to look at some definitions of
culture, religion and mental health.
Lou had seemed morose and miserable and withdrawn to his workmates.
Then he seemed to become more outgoing. He exchanged friendly greetings,
smiled more, and started to chat with others now and then. He told
his workmates that he had found the Lord, and felt that his life had been
turned around. Some of his workmates scoffed, some were a bit curious,
and one or two were even a bit impressed. Brian was scornful but a bit
curious, and asked Lou exactly what had happened. Lou persuaded Brian
to come along to a service and see for himself. Brian went along, listened to
the preacher, heard everyone singing and praising the Lord, and then some
people began speaking in a strange way, a kind of babbling – he couldn’t
understand what they were saying. They looked quite happy. Lou was one
of them. Eventually, Brian began to feel that he had seen and heard enough
so he tried to thank Lou and told him that he was going home, but Lou
seemed to be in some kind of a trance and Brian wasn’t sure whether he
had taken it in, though he seemed to smile and nod in acknowledgement
while continuing to ‘speak in tongues’. Brian went home thinking to himself
that it all seemed a bit over the top and he couldn’t imagine himself
getting carried away like that.
Brian thinks that Lou and his co-religionists are over the top, but
he doesn’t think they are really mad. Lou is in a somewhat dissociated
state, but he seems to have some awareness of what’s
going on around him, and he isn’t doing anything dangerous to
himself or to others. So is his behaviour really disordered? Are
dissociative states equally encouraged in different religious and
cultural groups, and what are their effects? These questions and
others will be considered in the chapters that follow. The questions
above were illustrated with hypothetical vignettes, based on
real-life situations. In the ensuing chapter we will be considering
actual case material based on clinical experience and research
interviewing. Before this, we need to look at some definitions of
culture, religion and mental health.
