What is the connection between religious belief and mental illness? Please see details before reporting this?

It's an interesting question, but it depends as much on how we define mental illness as spirituality. Sorry for the long answer, but here goes:

First, on bi-polars getting spiritual in their middle years. I think PEOPLE often get religious in their middle years, so I wonder if bi-polars’ getting spiritual is statistically different from the general population's doing so at these ages.

I don't have a study to cite, but being in my middle years myself, I can tell you that things change. When we're younger, we have that sense of being invincible. As we get older, we begin to start thinking about our mortality and the meaning of life in ways that go beyond philosophical curiosity. Add to that something like a toddler with night terrors—concern for an innocent being and a desire to do anything to help—and we're plunged into a land of confusion.

When we're confused, we feel unsafe, and that makes us seek safety. Some people find safety in money. Some in relationships (healthy or unhealthy). Some in drugs and alcohol. Some find comfort in religion.

It's said that there are no atheists in foxholes. The broader meaning is that when we're scared, we turn to a religion. Many Christians take say that we finally see the truth. Outside Christianity, many people would say we'll believe in anything to get through a dark night.

The bottom line is we need something to hold fast to—something that is certain. Many different religions offer that—comfort, the feeling that something greater is out there that’s benevolent. We feel unsafe when we're uncertain or confused and become like little children—when we don't know what to do, we seek the guidance/protection of a parent.

As children, our parents are gods—infallible. As adults, we've come to know they are fallible, but we still sometimes need the knowledge of an infallible force who has the answers we cannot see and can take care of everything when we cannot. Anything that leaves us feeling answer-less and without direction can bring us to this point—and mental illness is just one of many.

As for the def. of mental illness, the DSM says one thing, but there are people who question the rapidly growing list of things that qualify as "illness," "syndrome" or "disorder." While the list of descriptors these things may be accurate, some people—doctors—are now suggesting it's normal to feel uncomfortable feelings sometimes.

I've read several books that address the question, including "Toxic Psychology," "Scripts People Live" and "Games People Play” and "Overdosed America.”

I've also seen a book called "The Death of Sadness," which I haven't yet read. But if you look for it on Amazon, you'll see how many related books pop up (inc "Prozac Backlash" and "Making Us Crazy" which, I believe, challenges the DSM itself.

The point is that it may not be that mental illness is related to becoming religious. Our society has decided that anything but a June Cleaver existence is somehow indicative of illness.

But feeling sad, confused, angry and overwhelmed are all normal parts of the human condition. It's just that in our day, b/c of a societal misperception that we should be happy all the time, anything else is labeled "aberrant." We get no training in how to deal with these feelings, how to sit with them, talk to them. So we fear them, and our first goal is to make them go away.

Turning to religion is one way to do that. For me, that didn't work. Instead, I spent years digging into psychology to understand those feelings in general, and specifically in myself. (Although I still have a general spiritual feeling of a greater force than ourselves, but I don't need it to guide me.)

But my first response, when I approached "the middle years" and fell into a dark pit was to turn to religion. Religion, like the pharmaceutical or mental health industry, offers an instant, easy explanation. It implies a long-term solution, but their long-term solutions (esp Christianity) often demand lifelong commitment to the product/belief system/diagnosis.

In the end, there are some things we’ll never know. There was a time, before science understood the solar system, that people believed a giant monster came and swallowed the sun every night. It was scary. We know better now, but does religion tell us similar fairly tales to explain what we don't understand? Perhaps.

But that would only mean there's a connection between religious belief and confusion, fear—not mental illness. And since there will always be things we can't explain, there will always be that confusion and fear surrounding the unknown. We must deal with it somehow, or we WILL go insane.

First of all, I just graduated a couple years ago with a bachelors degree in psychology...so the ugly history of the treatment of people with (or assumed to have) mental health issues is still fresh in my mind. From cutting out portions of the brain to electric shock treatments....doctors always thought they were doing the right thing and with the 'cutting edge' technology and treatments. Even now, with all these brand new diagnoses, pharmaceuticals, and treatments we MUST be careful before getting into that comfortable, relaxed state of certainty 'just knowing' that they are doing the patient more good than harm. That isn't always the case! Although it is better than before, human awareness of psychological phenomena is sketchy at best.

Be careful of the drugs they give you...do some research and make sure you keep an open dialogue with an engaged and caring doctor. If your doctor doesn't have time for you then move on. Just going off what I know of you on the internet and that you told us you were diagnosed recently (and you are already middle age), but you don't strike me as a person suffering from bipolar disorder. If you truly have bipolar disorder I would think you would have been diagnosed at an earlier age. Have you gotten a second, third opinion? Most likely you will be told very different things from different doctors...that is the problem with/for mental health professionals...there is oftentimes no clear diagnosis and way to determine it.

Now...about the spiritual side of this question. There is more to this world than what meets the eye. Also, if you are questioning your sanity than you are more sane than most, lol! You have that healthy dose of skepticism that will take you a long way in your spirituality. You don't openly accept all, yet you don't carelessly dismiss it either.

Don't let any of our perceptions rock you...you know yourself better than anyone. (Including your doctor!)

In my own experience spiritual healing is very possible, and it isn't a temporary solution either...it is permanent in the realest aspect of the term. Much love and light to you! (((((((RedQueen)))))))

There is no good research evidence of a correlation between bipolar disorder and "getting religion" in the middle years. A bipolar disorder is an affective disorder (e.g., significant mood swings) and is not usually associated with a thought disorder or delusions unless one happens to be experiencing a manic state or severe depression (even then not necessarily).

People with schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, and some of you more severe personality disorders (e.g., schizoid, borderline, schizotypal) may have a thought disorder, delusions, and auditory hallucinations. Sometimes (but not all the time), their idiosyncratic beliefs have strong religious associations. The first "psychotic break" typically occurs in the late teens to early twenties.

Interestingly, there is a body of research which suggests a strong association between mental health and a sense of spirituality or religion.

The real DSM IV "acid-test" is about the consequences. Does it inhibit or compromise social/vocational/interpersonal functioning in some meaningful way? If not, it wouldn't be considered pathological.

In other words, there is nothing inherently pathological about the extraordinary belief that you met an angel. The debate as to whether you and millions of theistic "others" are deluding yourselves or not, will probably never be completely settled.

It would be much better to focus on your level of functioning and not be too caught up in labels like "bipolar" which is often over diagnosed and lets not go overboard with the idea of "magical thinking". A belief in a vist from an angel is not sufficient to qualify. (this is comming from an atheistic-leaning agnostic). Plus, we all have some degree of magical thinking.

Good luck!

Ok, I am coming from a Christians perspective, just warning you !! Though I know that mental illness is a real sickness and it is a part of some people lives, I have a real problem with the * take a pill it will get better* part of it all.. Yes, I understand that SOME need these medications, but there are WAY to many , that with a life style change, not necessarily *religion*, that would do MORE good than that little white pill..... Now, having said all that, I say this : I too have had *things* happen in my life, seen, touched, heard, etc... and I know they are NOT of the normal earth bound things... I may see what happened to me in a different light than you do, but they are just as real... I think what your *doctor* said is bull about people turning to *religion* when mentally ill !! I am NOT sure I can find the words with out sounding condescending though, and that is the LAST thing I want to do or sound like.... *sigh*...... I can get deeper with this, but NOT on here...... go in peace.... God bless

Many people, not only those who've been assigned a 'mental illness' label, tend to become reflective about spirituality in their middle years (and I'd definitely say that this is about spirituality rather than religion). Sometimes that means abandoning the organised religion they've been part of for something less prescriptive, less fixed, often with a far less concrete concept of the divine; sometimes it means moving from a purely rationalist agnosticism/atheism to accepting some sense of the wonder of life that isn't so concrete and rational.

Everyone tries to make sense of their experience, and for some people it's about being as reductive and rationalist as possible, while others talk about angels or spirits or whatever. I suspect, personally, that neither version is "The Truth" but just different ways of describing stuff we don't quite know how to understand.

I think when a person is faced with a mental illness that cannot be cured they must look at other options for a cure. I know that I have struggled with my mental illness all my life, and basically I got to the point that I gave up on myself.

I turned to God and I found that I began to improve and enjoy life for the first time. I am not recently diagnosed and I have had the diagnosis since I was about 4. The first time I felt relief and hope is when I looked to something more superior then myself or a doctor.

(((((Red)))))

"So, what I'm wondering is -- since many bipolars and others with mental illness tend to "get religion" in their middle years -- Why is this? What is the connection between mental illness and religious belief or experience?"

The connection between the two, from my understanding, is simply looking for answers, something to give a sense of stability and hope. When things don't make sense, people look for ways to make them make sense, or at the very least give them hope, even if they don't completely understand the solution (religion, psychotherapy, prescription drugs, etc.) that they've found. They just want something to work, and people are known for their sunny disposition towards the not-so-provable when they believe they're getting the results that they desired. Hence, some people who keep a lucky penny, horseshoe, 4-leaf clover, or go through a specific ritual before doing something, even if that ritual is completely unrelated to the task they wish to perform (think athletes, like Micheal Jordan with his NC shorts under his Bulls shorts). That's the only connection that I can see. You're looking for answers and help that you believe is beyond your own ability to provide, and I understand that you need to believe there's help. There is, and you're getting it. Keep seeing your psychiatrist, and don't be afraid to get a second opinion every now and then. I wish you the best, take care.

My "spiritual" experiences, have been extraordinary synchronicities or coincidences, call them what you will, with other people, all following a certain tread, which has being going on for many years and still continues to unfold. It goes way beyond mere coincidence at this stage. Does that make me mentally ill to say this? Hardly. As it is something which happens outside of myself.

I would now be an atheist were it not for these many experiences.

I am happy to share them with you, if you wish, if you think it may help, and I know you are of pure heart, given everything you have ever said here.

I saw this question last night and tried to answer you then...but I was distracted by another issue and felt I was being too trite...because I very much want you to know that I am not scoffing at you.

Mental illness may be seen as a reaction to the circumstances of your life. Bipolar disorder it would seem has real physiological causes...differences in brain structure which altar your perceptions of the world and your emotional reactions to them. So your brain is indeed different from the brains of so called "normal" people.

And this having been said, I see a correlation between your visions and your perceptions of a spiritual world and the disease. But I in no way mean this pejoratively.No do I mean to tell you that you're deluded.

There is a large school of thought in the Philosophy of mental illness which says that the so called "insane" people simply have a much more highly developed sense of perception than the sane. So they see things in the world that the normal people miss. And this elevated level of perception is in the modern world, diagnosed as mental illness.And treated with drugs and therapy.RD Laing is possibly the best known of such theorists....but there are many in the school.

Now if you are having thoughts of self harm or if your condition is leading you to risk taking behaviours then some treatments either drug or therapy or both may be appropriate...and needed.

However, if your "illness" is doing naught but making you more spiritually aware and causing middle of the road friends and family to think you a bit odd....then why change your consciousness to suit the comfort levels of others? Why should your inner life meet the expectations of those around you? Satisfy them and not yourself?

I have suffered from depression for a long time...cycles of it...not constant but terrible when it occurs. I am plunged into despair at times....Usually motivated by some tragic public event. I see misery and pain everywhere in the world, feeling powerless to help people, being frustrated and terrified by he failures of world leaders to prevent what appears to be imminent catastrophe.

And I have come to the conclusion that when I feel like this what is happening is that I am no longer blocking a natural and logical emotional reaction to a tragedy.I am grieving.

That the tragedy is occurring in far flung corners of the earth to people I have never met seems irrelevant to me now. I suffered dreadfully from depression at the outbreak of the Iraq war...I was awake for the first 4 days of bombing...I watched 24 hour news coverage. I wept and raged.I could neither eat nor drink. I did become seriously physically ill from it.

My husband and my doctor wanted to drug me...and I refused to be drugged. They wanted to take the electronic media away and I refused to have it taken from me. Because what was unfolding was a massive human tragedy. And my government and my fellow citizens (I'm Australian) were taking an active role in perpetrating it.

As far as I could see, I had no right to opt out of the pain that the war was causing. For the mothers of Iraq could not opt out. And I decided that if more of us here felt their terror, wept for their losses, raged at the injustice of it.....we would be less keen to continue inflicting it.As far as I am concerned, I was a lot more sane about it all than those who went about their daily tasks whilst saying "Oh isn't that war awful?"

And maybe you are just a lot more open to the spiritual side of things because of your "illness". Maybe you are just seeing what the rest of us miss. And if this is the case, then being medicated into a stupor would mean you were having something stolen from you...something very special.

And I would hate to think of that happening to anyone. For though I cannot achieve it...I have always thought that faith must be a beautiful thing to possess.And I have never and will never try to take it from someone who has it.

ooh that is such a tricky one. my aunt and quite a few others i know of turned away fro rather than towards religious beliefs whilst others did not change at all, i do however tend towards a belief that thought and deed can boost beneficial power and in a power for love from which comes a healing force and that some people can channel these to help in healing and comforting. the link between religion and mental illness is tenuous so do not let that worry you, and if 'finding' religion is helping you through the bad patches that can't be a bad thing can it?

I was very "religious" when I was suffering too babe.

I thought I was possessed by demons and everything

It was a chemical imbalance as well as bipolar disorder

The diagnosis took away so many of my fears.

I thought I was Atheist for a while but my true spiritual path called & I listened.

Some say Im delusional but I am happy for the first time ever

*edit* I must add that I grew up in a household where you were forced to believe a certain way..losing the fear was great.