Interpreter: The link between apostasy and Mental Ilness

[_tapirrider]

How did this get past "peer review"?

It didn't, that is why it was not published in a credible journal, which the Interpreter isn't.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Well, here I thought that the feelings of unworthiness, and inability to live up to perfection exacerbated my depression. Now it turns out that it was actually relieving it… somehow.

Interesting; feeling like complete garbage after reading The Miracle of Forgiveness was actually helping me. All along it was making me more emotionally stable, and mentally healthy.


#themoreyouknow

Often, people become involved in apologetics because they want to help convince their friends or family members who have left the Church to come back. Or they want to understand why the friend or family member left. Or they want to help prevent others from leaving.

Or to try to convince themselves.

[_Maksutov]

So when people apostasize from other faiths to join the LDS, is that also a sign of mental illness?

[_DarkHelmet]

only in Mormonism would a trained therapist recommend psychiatric treatment for subjects who don't hear voices in their heads.

[_Lemmie]

Did the authors consider the link between non-apostasy and mental illness?

After studying and surveying samples of members, Tim Heaton concluded in Statistical Profile of Mormons – Health, Wealth, and Social Life, “LDS women are significantly higher in depression than non-LDS women.”

About a fifth of Mormons say they have taken or are currently taking medication for depression, according to a study by Jana Riess published earlier this year for Religion News.

Utah, where 62.8 percent of the population is Mormon, ranks poorly for several categories of mental illness.

According to a 2017 survey by Mental Health America, Utah ranks dead last in the nation when it comes to adults with serious thoughts of suicide* and prevalence of mental illness and access to health care**.

*[from caption explaining statistic] The national percentage of adults reporting serious thoughts of suicide is 3.94%. The state prevalence of adult with serious thoughts of suicide range from Connecticut at 3.34% to Utah at 4.85%.

**[from caption showing the statistic]Lower rankings indicate that adults have higher prevalence of mental illness and lower rates of access to care. Utah scored dead last in the country.

Utah also ranks 40th for adults with any mental illness reporting unmet needs.

https://universe.byu.edu/2018/02/05/mental-illness-1/

[ source given in article for statistics:
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issu ... lence-data ]

In the Interpreter article, the authors give this quote:

the overall body of research from the early part of the twentieth century to the present supports the conclusion that Latter day Saints who live their lives consistent with the teachings of their faith experience greater well being, increased marital and family stability, less delinquency, less depression, less anxiety, less suicide, and less substance abuse than those who do not.*

*Daniel K Judd, “Religiosity, Mental Health, and the Latter-day Saints: A Preliminary Review of Literature [1923–1995],” in Latter-day Saint Social Life: Social Research on the LDS Church and Its Members, ed. James T. Duke (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1997), 473–97.

Note that the data I gave at the beginning of this post is from 2017; Judd's conclusion, quoted by the authors as apparently defining the mental state of Mormons who do not apostatize, was originally published in 1997 and is based on a cumulative literature survey of articles, published from 1923 to 1995.

Putting aside the obnoxious implication that apostatizing is equivalent to no longer living by a moral code, if mental illness is correlated with both staying in and leaving the lds church, then this article's conclusions are, at best, meaningless.

Peer review at the Interpreter seems to lack a statistical analysis component.

[_Dr Exiled]

This is a great point Lemmie. The church could actually be causing the high rates of mental illness among those living in Utah. Steve Young's mental issues could be because he stays in an organization that demands too much conformity? That person in the foyer could be there because that person cannot find the strength to leave given the possible repercussions to marriage, family and job?

[_Gadianton]

Did he just argue that people are more likely to stay in the church if they have the mental ability to practice avoidance, or to use "just stop thinking about it" as a way to deal with negative, difficult, or threatening issues?

I believe so, yes.

[_Lemmie]

Did he just argue that people are more likely to stay in the church if they have the mental ability to practice avoidance, or to use "just stop thinking about it" as a way to deal with negative, difficult, or threatening issues?

I believe so, yes.

Unreal. Last week, I saw the Book of Mormon on Broadway. It's hard to take this "peer-reviewed" article seriously when the musical numbers written by the creators of South Park do a better job explaining the Mormon psychology.



And this part hit hard....




(If you don't mind an aside re the musical. It was the first time I'd seen it live, and I laughed my ass off the whole night, except when a couple of the Turn it Off verses got a little too real. It was heartbreaking. My husband said he didn't expect the show to be so ....blasphemous. He appreciated having me explain all the jokes afterward, though. )

[_moksha]

I've known people with mental illnesses. Of these people, many have stayed within their faith tradition and some have even interwoven their tendency for delusions with their faith and become stronger devotees to that faith. I wonder how Mr. Densley would classify those people in his theory?

[_Stem]

Our point, of course, is that it may help those who experience mental health issues to stay if they received proper treatment, if they were to consider new perspectives on history, practice, and doctrine, or if they received appropriate kinds of support from Church leaders, friends and family. So it is our hope in introducing this topic that we can encourage people to be more aware of mental illness issues and seek help for themselves and others.

My god so our family is supposed to treat us like we're suffering from mental illness? Great. I think that's going to work smoothly.

A significant amount of research demonstrates that religion has a positive effect on mental health. Daniel K. Judd found that “the overall body of research from the early part of the twentieth century to the present supports the conclusion that Latter day Saints who live their lives consistent with the teachings of their faith experience greater well being, increased marital and family stability, less delinquency, less depression, less anxiety, less suicide, and less substance abuse than those who do not.”29

Here's this Judd's work:

Daniel K Judd, “Religiosity, Mental Health, and the Latter-day Saints: A Preliminary Review of Literature [1923–1995],” in Latter-day Saint Social Life: Social Research on the LDS Church and Its Members, ed. James T. Duke (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1997), 473–97

Based on literature up to 1995? How did that conclusion ever get stated based on that? I'm feeling skeptical.

Similarly, if a person is distressed because of church activity, the answer would not be to stop going to church. Some may feel that it is
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church that is causing their depression and anxiety, but upon leaving, the mental illness does not go away. They have simply abandoned something that could have helped them. So the proper thing to do would be to seek treatment so those persons are able to gain all of the social, intellectual, spiritual, and mental health benefits that come from church activity.

What about those of us who stop going to church and do not have a mental illness? Is it also better for us to keep going? Why does this all come off as garbage to me?

Anybody have any familiarity with: Medeiros, “Intrusive Worries, Related Behaviors, and Religious Beliefs Among Mormons.”

I'm concerned this Densley guy has used it's findings a bit irresponsibly. The title specifies beliefs among Mormons but he seems to be using it as some sort of explanation for why those who leave suffer anxiety.