Can religiosity worsen a mental illness?

Question

My cousin is schizophrenic and a Christian. She suffers from visual, auditory and tactile hallucinations, and is a raging marijuana addict. She says that she reads the Bible and draws strength and hope from it, but at the same time she thinks that her faith may be making her illness worse, as she reports seeing devils and peoples' faces contort into demons. I know religion is sometimes part of treatment, but could it make the mental illness worse?

Answer 1

I certainly think so. If someone already doesn't have a proper grip on reality and then you give them a religion that tells you to believe in someone that you can't see, Heaven, Hell, etc I certainly think it will worsen their condition. I've seen this first hand many times.

Answer 2

I found out a long time ago that just because you say you are a christian don,t mean you are one....The Bible says you judge people by the fruit they bear,that don,t mean we are suppose to judge them its just an insight for you to know if they are really a christain,,,Your cousin may believe in God ,but she certainly does not have the charater of a christian..I don,t believe a raging marijana addict is one of the things that a christian would do..I believe your cousin has a mental condition,and needs to be on medication...Her faith is not making her worse...she may read the Bible and she may be drawing strength from it but shes not applying herself as a christian...she sounds like she is a very sick person and is trying to use her faith as a cop out.The bible plainly states thats Gods people are of a sound mind,they dont always see devils and contorted faces,that might be just her drug habit......NO! religion does not make mental illness worse,if you apply your faith by good works ...I just think your cousin needs medical attention and instead of getting the help she needs she is using her belief as a way of explaining her disability..God wants us to seek medical attention when we are sick,thats why we have doctors......

Answer 3

I think religion is portrayed in her visions mainly because it is an important and active part of her life.

For instance, chances are that a non-religious person with the same illness have different visions, probably very scary too, but not about religion.

To answer your question, I don't think religion can make an illness worsen, but I think it plays an important role on the nature of her visions. If she were non-religious, chances are that she'd still be having visions, only not about demons or religion-related symbols.....

Answer 4

I've never encountered a case where religion itself makes a mental illness worse. It is possible, however, that her intepretation of religious texts may be problematic - thought I've never encountered a case like that either. Why don't you suggest that she not read for a week or two and track her symptoms over that period of time to see if there really is a relationhip between the two?

Your cousin absolutely should not be using any non-prescription drugs though. That will *definitely* make it much more difficult for her to get control over her illness.

Answer 5

Personally, I would think that convincing yourself that demons and monsters exist, and there are angels and the devil and all this magical fictitious stuff is real is not healthy. It sounds like she needs something tangible to put her faith in, not something ethereal and imaginary. Go ahead, flame me for calling god imaginary. That's a whole different argument. What I'm getting at here is that to place your faith in something that sane people have a hard enough time believing in when you're having a hard time keeping your grip on reality isn't going to help you hold on. Neither does smoking weed. That's gotta stop. While it may sedate her and calm her, it's also going to make her more paranoid and delusional. Get her head out of the clouds, and get her feet on the ground.

Oh, and there are those who will argue to their death that religion IS a mental illness.

<---one of those people.

She needs to find that strength in herself, and put faith in her ability to overcome because she's the master of her own life, not some book, or some mythical power, or some illness.

Answer 6

Yes. In many cases, intense religious rituals including shouting, speaking in tongues, being "slain by the Spirit", ad nausium, will aggravate the world of fantasy vs. reality. You didn't say much concerning the use of marijuana-other than merely mentioning it. But I doubt that smoking marijuana would be counter-productive. It should calm her. But being a "Christian" should probably teach her against the use of marijuana, even though it's such a soft drug. This would then cause her to have guilt complex which would bother her already chaotic mind.

Answer 7

In her case, she may not be able to truly distinguish what she is feeling as a result of her illness and what she is feeling as a result of her religious beliefs. The hallucinations may be a result of both, but brought on by her schizophrenic mind. The religion may be an outlet for her mind to perceive her distorted thoughts. She should tell a counselor about it, and she may be able to get on medication to lessen her symptoms.

Answer 8

Religion would be used to express the illness - e.g. she sees demons because that is something she has learned is "bad" through her religion. If she didn't have a religion, she would see peoples' faces contort into monstrosities and it would still be just as creepy, just under a different name. Following a religion certainly doesn't help one distinguish reality from what's just in your head.

Answer 9

Dear~ I'm sorry about the Schizophrenic cousin that disease is awful and very powerful and needs to be treated by a trusted Professional, but in my opinion, I don't feel that her Christianity is making it worse. I know she can draw strength from her faith. and there is Power in Prayer <>< I know that the devil knows our weakness. and uses them against us. Keep Praying.......

Answer 10

yes, i think it can,,, the bible can be very confusing even for those without a mental illness, i would suggest she not read it,,,,, but pray to God and perhaps Jesus,,,,,,,
ps: for those who think intense Bible reading cannot make a mental situation worse, just imagine reading in the Bible that God spoke to people, then hearing voices due to your condition,,,,, and thinking its God,,,,, why wouldnt/you shouldnt hear God as well as those mentioned in the book? also some in the Bible has missions to do, such as building the Ark, many with this mental condition feel they are suppose to go on a special mission, to save the world,,, help mankind etc,,,,,, this can be reinforced by bible teachings,,,,,, so its not a stretch of the mind to see how while faith and God might help you,,, reading the Bible might not!