RELIGION MAKES us healthier and happier, according to a new study from the Iona Institute, a religious think tank. According to the study commissioned by the privately-funded institute from psychiatrist Prof Patricia Casey, religion makes its adherents happier and healthier on average than those who do not practise religion.
Forewords to the paper have been written by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Dr Ken Good.
Both Archbishop Martin and Bishop Good call on mental health practitioners to be more open to the positive contribution that religion can make to wellbeing.
The full report will be released this afternoon at a conference on the benefits of religious practice in Dublin. Also speaking at the conference are Dr Brad Wilcox from the University of Virginia, and Dr Andrew Sims, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Leeds University.
Prof Casey’s report is the first such to be published in Ireland, and the Iona Institute said it comes “at a time when religion is under strong attack as being harmful and socially divisive”.
The report claims religious practice is associated with lower than average rates of depression and other mental illnesses, and lower than average rates of alcohol and drug abuse.
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(Source: IT)
Again what planet do they live on.
ReplyDeleteReligion has caused nothing but conflict and wars from earliest times.
It should come with a Government health warning.
All the internal squabbles in most Parishes send blood pressures soaring and causes all sorts of problems for those attending these Churches, those maybe kicked out, and those who disagree with how things are run.
If you don't go near a Church at all or have any religion then none of this CRAP (pardon) will affect you, your physical or mental health so you will most likely be much better off.
Even the in-fighting in all Churches, the Catholic Church being no exception, cannot be doing the health of many of the Clergy and their parishioners any good either. Maybe some of them would be better off if they had remained part of the laity especially if they have lost their way as many have and by being part of the Church has caused most of the problems of ill health in the community.
the results that religion is good for mental health is not surprising as it can be a form of positive thinking and at times a form of denial of how truth and vulnerability really sits with people especially in the form of communities but when the time comes if it ever does for some that they genuinely have to look at themselves without selfish security i wonder how their mental health would stand up then .
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