Religion can be good for your mental health

Yes, the placebo effect is very powerful. And, of course, having the support of any group must also be good.

greatnan
Sarky! Tut, tut!

If the truth is sarky, so be it.

Not at all - I meant it quite genuinely. I have heard of such research before and I am happy to believe it - I just don't think there is anything supernatural about it. Of course, if you don't believe it is quite impossible to make yourself believe just because you are ill.

I should add that I have long believed that having an optimistic and positive attitude to life is one factor of good health.

I know you meant it, gn. I was telling jeni you weren't being sarky, just telling the truth.

We all know mutual support is helpful to one's frame of mind.

Oh yes I would agree!
But it is amazing how many people turn to religion when I'll, and how many find it helps!
Personally I have seen several miracles recently! People who can hardly walk when coming into the court, have been seen walking perfectly normally after leaving it, having been refused!

If we believed all the 'research' results reported, we would be just one thing - thoroughly confused. There are so many surveys. How exact was this one's measure of 'mental health' - hardly the easiest thing to measure and compare? And did this study reveal how many people of strong belief failed to recover at all. I am almost as sceptical of surveys as I am of religion.

Sorry, bags, I was replying to jeni's remark.
I did read one report that said people who were told they were being prayed for by a number of strangers actually had a poorer outcome, because they felt guilty about not getting better! And perhaps members of a group felt obliged to say they felt happier to make their fellow members happy.

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/40765.php ( I googled 'people who are prayed for do not get better and found this article).

jeni - I like your comment on miraculous recoveries!
By the way, I would not turn to religion if I were very ill - after nearly 60 years of atheism nothing would induce me to turn to superstition.

jeni, we all know Atos can make the lame walk. Didn't know you had the same effect!

I don't think Greatnan's remark was sarky.

Having a place in a community, sort of belonging, is bound to be good for you. And churches can be quite enfolding. They usually run different groups - craft evenings, supper and prayer nights at each other's houses in turn, planning for the different "fairs" and so on. It's all bound to be good for people's emotional health.

To be honest I think, probably, the religion comes second!

Did they really need research to uncover this?!

I expect they undertook the research because there are so many sceptics around! If you believe in the efficacy of prayer, knowing that people are praying for you is different, I think, from a general feeling of being supported. You don't expect the prayers to result in a miraculous recovery, that happens very rarely.

Lily, I am not at all sceptical about the benefits of being part of a loving community - I just don't believe in the supernatural part but if those taking part do believe, who am I to deny them that right?

annobel Ive seen people half carried into the court and then seen them walking perfectly normally out of the building!
Also being folLowed by a court member from the bus stop to the court, going into the waiting room and then denying they walked there!
I have seen a man leap out of a car and run into the building while I was getting out of my transport, to then enter the court limping heavily and stating he could hardly walk.
I think ATOS poor! But! I'm afraid there are some cheats in this world.

I'm with greatnan on this - the power of knowing that people are out there caring about you is extremely therapeutic - and that is one of the things that usually) religions and their communities do offer. But I can't buy the supernatural bit. As someone said - there are many people for whom the sense of belonging outweighs the religious aspect of their adherence to a religion - I know many people in this boat.

I can believe jeni's anecdotes - I have seen similar myself. One of the problems of our benefits system is that it "rewards" disability - I have seen many people who found it hard to move on in their rehabilitation because they knew they would lose certain benefits that they had come to rely on and that they would be thrown onto the work seeking scenario - they may have been improving, but they still could not compete for jobs in the mainstream. It is a difficult balance to strike - to help the genuinely disabled whilst encouraging progress and rehabilitation.

It's not exactly "a boat" Mishap. That's not it at all.

Like belonging to our virtual community in the way we support each other,feeling you belong and are accepted and not alone has helped many of usxx

Absolutely!
I know it's saved my sanity on occasions! to you all!

Although I am happy to live alone, I have also felt much comfort from being part of the Gransnet 'community'.
I know that many people are living in fear of the dreaded ATOS. I feel the same way about this as I do about capital punishment. I would rather ten people continued to receive benefits they may not need than have one genuinely ill/disabled person driven to suicide by this terrible organisation.

There is lots of research into effect of religion on health and impossible to tease out the effect of religion from belonging to a church etc. Maybe if people think god is watching they are more likely to take their pills. And the effect of social support, also known to be positive, is v difficult to separate. But you cannot do a true experiment - who would the control group be? Sick people who believe in god but are told they must nor pray, go to church or have any contact with the people they have met through church...???
Or the prayed about ones - how do you know that the people in the control group have not got someone praying for them who is not involved in your experiment.

Funny how people started recovering from illnesses more easily with improvements in hygiene and medicine, isn't it? Funny how very prevalent diseases stopped being such an issue when sanitation improved, isn't it? Beats me why the gods were so bloody slow getting such things organised.