Negative Effects of Religiousness-Spirituality on Mental Health: a Literature Review

Authors

  • Rene Gallardo-Vergara Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt
  • Patricio Silva-Maragaño Hospital Félix Bulnes Cerda, Santiago
  • Yasna Castro-Aburto Colegio San Miguel, Calbuco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22544/rcps.v41i01.03

Keywords:

Religiousness, Spirituality, Negative Psychological Effects, Mental Health

Abstract

Although currently there is evidence of the positive effects of religiousness and spirituality on mental health, reports also account for mixed effects, and even adverse effects have been reported on people’s mental health. In this sense, the present paper aimed to review literature about the negative effects that religiousness and/or spirituality can have on mental health and to identify the main facets or dimensions associated with these effects, according to the evidence. For this, the EBSCO, AnnualReview, PubMed, MedLine, PsycINFO, SciELO, LILACS, and PEPSIC databases were researched for the years between 2010 and 2019. As the main conclusion, the present discoveries confirm that certain religious and / or spiritual aspects negatively influence a person’s mental health. Finally, the main results garnered from the review, its limitations, and future research projections are discussed.

Author Biographies

Rene Gallardo-Vergara, Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt

Doctor en Personalidad, Desarrollo y Comportamiento Anormal por la Universitat de Barcelona, España. Labora como académico en el Instituto de Psicología de la Universidad Austral de Chile, sede Puerto Montt. En la actualidad, dirige el Laboratorio de Neurociencias Cognitivas y Psicología Experimental, UACh, Puerto Montt, Chile

Patricio Silva-Maragaño, Hospital Félix Bulnes Cerda, Santiago

Magíster en Psicología. Se tituló como psicólogo por la Universidad Austral de Chile, Magíster en Psicología Clínica de Adultos de la Universidad Austral de Chile, Magíster (c) en Salud Pública por la Universidad de Chile. Actualmente, labora como psicólogo clínico en el Servicio de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental del Hospital Félix Bulnes Cerda, Santiago de Chile

Yasna Castro-Aburto, Colegio San Miguel, Calbuco

Psicóloga por la Universidad Austral de Chile. Cuenta con un Diplomado en psicodiagnóstico infanto juvenil, por la Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile. Se desempeña como psicóloga escolar en Colegio San Miguel, Calbuco, Chile.

References

Abu-Raiya, H., Exline, J., Pargament, K., & Agbaria, Q. (2015a). Prevalence, Predictors, and Implications of Religious/Spiritual Struggles Among Muslims. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 54(4), 631–648. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12230

Abu-Raiya, H., Pargament, K. I., & Krause, N. (2015b). Religion as problem, religion as solution: religious buffers of the links between religious/spiritual struggles and well-being/mental health. Quality of Life Research, 25(5), 1265–1274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1163-8

Allport, G. (1950). The individual and his religión. Collier-MacMillan Limited.

Alvarado-Díaz, E., & Pagán-Torres, O. (2021). Consideraciones sobre la Espiritualidad y la Religión como Recursos de Afrontamiento durante la Pandemia del COVID-19. Revista Caribeña de Psicología, 5(2021), e5963. https://doi.org/10.37226/rcp.v5i1.5007

Aukst-Margetić, B., Jakovljević, M., Margetić, B., Bišćan, M., & Šamija, M. (2005). Religiosity, depression and pain in patients with breast cancer. General Hospital Psychiatry, 27(4), 250–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2005.04.004

Bahamondes, L. (Ed). (2013). Transformaciones y Alternativas religiosas en América Latina. Centro de Estudios Judaicos, Universidad de Chile-CISOC.

Behere, P. B., Das, A., Yadav, R., & Behere, A. P. (2013). Religion and mental health. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(Suppl 2), S187–S194. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.105526

Bonelli, R. M., & Koenig, H. G. (2013). Mental Disorders, Religion and Spirituality 1990 to 2010: A Systematic Evidence-Based Review. Journal of Religion and Health, 52(2), 657–673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-013-9691-4

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. (Vol. 1). Basic Books.

Buser, J., & Gibson, S. (2016). Attachment to God/Higher Power and Bulimic Symptoms Among College Women. Journal of College Counseling, 19(2), 124–137. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocc.12036

Campos, J., Bredemeier, J., & Trentini, C. (2020). Meaning in Life as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Intrinsic Religiosity and Depression Symptoms. Trends in Psychology, 28(4), 560–568. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43076-020-00036-0

Cook, C. C. H. (2015). Religious psychopathology: The prevalence of religious content of delusions and hallucinations in mental disorder. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 61(4), 404–425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764015573089

Cosgrove, E., Cross, S., & Bhugra, D. (2011). Religious devotion: a risk factor for mental illness? Examining the link between religiosity and obsessive-compulsive disorder. South Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2(2), 1–8.

Cowden, R., Pargament, K., Chen, Z., Davis, E., Lemke, A., Glowiak, K., Rueger, S., & Worthington, E. (2021). Religious/spiritual struggles and psychological distress: A test of three models in a longitudinal study of adults with chronic health conditions. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 78(4), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23232

Currier, J., Foster, J., Witvliet, C., Abernethy, A., Root Luna, L., Schnitker, S., VanHarn, K., & Carter, J. (2019). Spiritual struggles and mental health outcomes in a spiritually integrated inpatient program. Journal of Affective Disorders, 249, 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.02.012

Currier, J., Smith, P., & Kuhlman, S. (2017). Assessing the unique role of religious coping in suicidal behavior among U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 9(1), 118–123. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000055

Damen, A., Exline, J., Pargament, K., Yao, Y., Chochinov, H., Emanuel, L., Handzo, G., Wilkie, D. J., & Fitchett, G. (2021). Prevalence, Predictors and Correlates of Religious and Spiritual Struggles in Palliative Cancer Patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 62(3), e139–e147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.04.024

De-Berardis, D., Olivieri, L., Rapini, G., Serroni, N., Fornaro, M., Valchera, A., Carano, A., Vellante, F., Bustini, M., Serafini, G., Pompili, M., Ventriglio, A., Perna, G., Fraticelli, S., Martinotti, G., & Di Giannantonio, M. (2020). Religious coping, hopelessness, and suicide ideation in subjects with first-episode major depression: An exploratory study in the real world clinical practice. Brain Sciences, 10(12), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10120912

Dein, S. (2018). Against the Stream: religion and mental health – the case for the inclusion of religion and spirituality into psychiatric care. BJPsych Bulletin, 42(3), 127–129. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2017.13

Delgado-Guay, M. O., Hui, D., Parsons, H. A., Govan, K., De La Cruz, M., Thorney, S., & Bruera, E. (2011). Spirituality, religiosity, and spiritual pain in advanced cancer patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 41(6), 986–994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2010.09.017

Dolan, J. G., Hill, D. L., Faerber, J. A., Palmer, L. E., Barakat, L. P., & Feudtner, C. (2021). Association of psychological distress and religious coping tendencies in parents of children recently diagnosed with cancer: A cross-sectional study. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 68(7), e28991. https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.28991

Ellison, C., Fang, Q., Flannelly, K., & Steckler, R. (2013). Spiritual Struggles and Mental Health: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Religious Identity. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 23(3), 214–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2012.759868

Emmons, R. A., & Paloutzian, R. F. (2003). The psychology of Religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 377–402. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145024

Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., Grubbs, J. B., & Yali, A. M. (2014). The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale: Development and initial validation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036465

Faizi, N., & Kazmi, S. (2017). Universal health coverage - There is more to it than meets the eye. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 6(1), 169–170. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_13_17

Frankl, V. (1979). La presencia ignorada de Dios. Herder.

Gallardo, R., Vera, G., Sobarzo, S., & Cisternas, F. (2021). La religión como afrontamiento en pacientes oncológicos: síntomas depresivos y ansiosos. Psychologia, 15(1), 69-81. https://doi: 10.21500/19002386.5110

Gall, T., & Bilodeau, C. (2019). Attachment to God and coping with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer: a longitudinal study. Supportive Care in Cancer, 28(6), 2779–2788. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05149-6

George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1996). Adult Attachment Interview protocol (3rd ed.). Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley.

Ghoncheh, K., Liu, C., Lin, C., Saffari, M., Griffiths, M., & Pakpour, A. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 and religious coping mediate the associations between religiosity and distress among older adults. Health Promotion Perspectives, 11(3), 316–322. https://doi.org/10.34172/hpp.2021.40

Griffith, J. (2010). Religion that heals, religion that harms: a guide for clinical practice. The Guilford Press.

Grover, S., Davuluri, T., & Chakrabarti, S. (2014). Religion, spirituality, and schizophrenia: A review. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 36(2), 119–124. https://doi.org/10.4103/0253-7176.130962

Hill, P. & Pargament, K., Hood, R., & Mccullough, M., & Swyers, J.,& Larson, D., & Zinnbauer, B. (2000). Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality: Points of Commonality, Points of Departure. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 30(1), 51-77. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5914.00119.

How, C. B., Ming, K. E., & Chin, C. Y. (2011). Does religious affiliation influence glycaemic control in primary care patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus? Mental Health in Family Medicine, 8(1), 21–28.

Huguelet, P., Mohr, S., Rieben, I., Hasler, R., Perroud, N., & Brandt, P. Y. (2015). Attachment and coping in psychosis in relation to spiritual figures. BMC Psychiatry, 15(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0617-4

Hulett, J. M., Johnstone, B., Armer, J. M., Deroche, C., Millspaugh, R., & Millspaugh, J. (2021). Associations between religious and spiritual variables and neuroimmune activity in survivors of breast cancer: a feasibility study. Supportive Care in Cancer, 29(11), 6421–6429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06224-7

James, W. (2017). Variedades de la experiencia religiosa. Un estudio de la naturaleza humana. Editorial Trotta.

Jang, S. J. (2016). Existential Spirituality, Religiosity, and Symptoms of Anxiety-Related Disorders: A Study of Belief in Ultimate Truth and Meaning in Life. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 44(3), 213–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164711604400304

Jordan, D., Niehus, L., & Feinstein, M. (2021). Insecure attachment to God and interpersonal conflict. Religions, 12(9), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090739

Jung, C. (1987). Psicología y religión. Editorial Paidós Ibérica S.A.

King, S., Macpherson, F., Pflugeisen, M., & Johnson, H. (2021). Religious/Spiritual Coping in Young Adults with Cancer. Journal of adolescent and young adult oncology, 10(3), 266–271. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2020.0148

King, A., Lyness, J., Duberstein, R., He, H., Tu, M., & Seaburn, B. (2007). Religious involvement and depressive symptoms in primary care elders. Psychological Medicine, 37(12), 1807–1815. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291707000591

Kirkpatrick, L. (2005). Attachment, evolution, and the psychology of religion. Guilford Press.

Kirkpatrick, L. & Shaver, P. (1990). Attachment theory and religion: Childhood attachment, religious beliefs, and conversion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 29(3), 315-334. https://doi.org/10.2307/1386461

Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications. ISRN Psychiatry, 2012, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/278730

Koenig, H. (1998). Handbook of religion and mental health. Academic Press.

Koenig, H. G., Al-Zaben, F., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2020). Religion and psychiatry: recent developments in research. BJPsych Advances, 26(5), 262–272. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2019.81

Kopacz, M., Crean, H., Park, C., & Hoff, R. (2018). Religious Coping and Suicide Risk in a Sample of Recently Returned Veterans. Archives of Suicide Research, 22(4), 615–627. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2017.1390513

Lazarus, R., & Folkman, S. (1986). Estrés y procesos cognitivos. Martínez-Roca.

Lee, S., Roberts, L., & Gibbons, J. (2013). When religion makes grief worse: Negative religious coping as associated with maladaptive emotional responding patterns. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 16(3), 291–305.

Lee, S.C., Choi, E.J., & Ryu, H. (2019). Negative, but not positive, religious coping strategies are associated with psychological distress, independent of religiosity, in Korean adults with epilepsy. Epilepsy and Behavior, 90, 57–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2018.11.017

López-Ibor, J., & López-Ibor, M. (2012). Experiencia religiosa y psicopatología. Actas Esp Psiquiatr, 40(2), 104-10.

MacDougall, E. (2021). Predicting depression in dementia caregivers: do religious/spiritual struggles play a role? Aging and Mental Health, 2021(4), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.1961124

Maughan, A. (2020). An Inconsistent God: Attachment to God and Minority Stress among Sexual Minority Christians [Tesis de maestría inédita]. University of Tennessee.

Miller, L., Wickramaratne, P., Gameroff, M. J., Sage, M., Tenke, C. E., & Weissman, M. M. (2012). Religiosity and major depression in adults at high risk: A ten-year prospective study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 169(1), 89–94. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10121823

Mohammadzadeh, A., & Oraki, M. (2018). Attachment to God as a predictor of death distress among Muslims. Current Psychology, 39(6), 2314–2319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9934-3

Mohr, S., Borras, L., Betrisey, C., Pierre-Yves, B., Gilliéron, C., & Huguelet, P. (2010). Delusions with religious content in patients with psychosis: How they interact with spiritual coping. Psychiatry, 73(2), 158–172. https://doi.org/10.1521/psyc.2010.73.2.158

Nelson, J. (2009). Psychology and Religion and Spirituality. Springer Science and Business Media.

Onyishi, N., Ilechukwu, C., Victor-Aigbodion, V., & Eseadi, C. (2021). Impact of spiritual beliefs and faith-based interventions on diabetes management. World Journal of Diabetes, 12(5), 630–641. https://doi.org/10.4239/wjd.v12.i5.630

Pagán-Torres, O., González-Rivera, J., Rosario-Hernández, E., & Martínez-Taboas, A. (2021). The Mediating Role of Religious Coping in Perceived Stress, Psychological Symptoms and Psychological Well-Being in a Sample of Puerto Rican Adults. Spiritual Psychology and Counseling, 6(1), 29–46. https://doi.org/10.37898/spc.2021.6.1.133

Pahlevan, S., Amiri, M., Allen, K. A., Sharif, H., Khoshnavay, F., Hatef-Matbue, Y., Goudarzian, A., Arefi, S., Yaghoobzadeh, A., & Waheed, H. (2021). Attachment: the mediating role of hope, religiosity, and life satisfaction in older adults. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 19(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-021-01695-y

Pargament, K. (1999). The psychology of religion and spirituality? Yes and no. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 9(1), 3-16.

Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. M. (2000). The many methods of religious coping: Development and initial validation of the RCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56(4), 519-543. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4679(200004)56:4<519::AID-JCLP6>3.0.CO;2-1

Pargament, K. I. (2010). Religion and coping: The current state of knowledge. En S. Folkman (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of stress, health, and coping (pp. 269–288). Oxford University Press.

Pastwa-Wojciechowska, B., Grzegorzewska, I., & Wojciechowska, M. (2021). The role of religious values and beliefs in shaping mental health and disorders. Religions, 12(10), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12100840

Pinho, C. M., Gomes, E. T., Trajano, M., Cavalcanti, A., Andrade, M. S., & Valença, M. P. (2017). Religiosidade prejudicada e sofrimento espiritual em pessoas vivendo com HIV/aids. Revista Gaucha de Enfermagem, 38(2), e67712. https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-1447.2017.02.67712

Prazeres, F., Passos, L., Simões, J., Simões, P., Martins, C., & Teixeira, A. (2020). Covid-19-related fear and anxiety: Spiritual-religious coping in healthcare workers in portugal. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(220), 1–11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7794895/pdf/ijerph-18-00220.pdf

Rashid, M., Hashim, N., Nikmat, A., & Mohamad, M. (2021). Religiosity, religious coping and psychological distress among muslim university students in Malaysia. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 10(1), 150–160. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v10i1.20870

Reuder, M. E. (1999). A history of Division 36 (Psychology of Religion). En D. A. Dewsbury (Ed.), Unification through division: Histories of the divisions of the American Psychological Association (Vol. 4, pp. 91–108). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10340-004

Rider, K., Terrell, A., Sisemore, T., & Hecht, J. (2014). Religious Coping Style as a Predictor of the Severity of Anorectic Symptomatology. Eating Disorders, 22(2), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266.2013.864890

Ronneberg, C. R., Miller, E. A., Dugan, E., & Porell, F. (2016). The protective effects of religiosity on depression: A 2-year prospective study. Gerontologist, 56(3), 421–431. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnu073

Rosmarin, D., Malloy, M., & Forester, B. (2014). Spiritual struggle and affective symptoms among geriatric mood disordered patients. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 29(6), 653–660. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.4052

Rosmarin, D., Bigda-Peyton, S., Öngur, D., Pargament, I., & Björgvinsson, T. (2013). Religious coping among psychotic patients: Relevance to suicidality and treatment outcomes. Psychiatry Research, 210(1), 182–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.03.023

Rowatt, W., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2002). Two Dimensions of Attachment to God and Their Relation to Affect, Religiosity, and Personality Constructs. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(4), 637–651. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5906.00143

Schaap-Jonker, H., Sizoo, B., van Schothorst-van Roekel, J., & Corveleyn, J. (2013). Autism Spectrum Disorders and the Image of God as a Core Aspect of Religiousness. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 23(2), 145–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2012.688005

Stauner, N., Exline, J., Kusina, J., & Pargament, K. (2019). Religious and spiritual struggles, religiousness, and alcohol problems among undergraduates. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 47(3), 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2019.1603678

Stroppa, A., Colugnati, F. A., Koenig, H. G., & Moreira-Almeida, A. (2018). Religiosity, depression, and quality of life in bipolar disorder: A two-year prospective study. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 40(3), 238–243. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2017-2365

Stroppa, A., & Moreira-Almeida, A. (2013). Religiosity, mood symptoms, and quality of life in bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders, 15(4), 385–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.12069

Trevino, K., Balboni, M., Zollfrank, A., Balboni, T., & Prigerson, H. (2014). Negative religious coping as a correlate of suicidal ideation in patients with advanced cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 23(8), 936–945. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3505

Triveni, D., Grover, S., & Chakrabarti, S. (2021). Does religiosity in persons with schizophrenia influence medication adherence. Indian journal of psychiatry, 63(3), 228–232. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_413_20

Van Ness, P. H. (1999). Religion and Public Health. Journal of Religion and Health, 38(1), 15–26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27511317

Weber, S. R., & Pargament, K. I. (2014). The role of religion and spirituality in mental health. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 27(5), 358–363. https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0000000000000080

Williams, T. (2021). The Relationship among Guilt and Shame, and Religion for Women Victims of Domestic Violence [Tesis de doctorado inédita]. Lyberty University.

Published

2022-06-28

How to Cite

Gallardo-Vergara, R. ., Silva-Maragaño, P., & Castro-Aburto, Y. (2022). Negative Effects of Religiousness-Spirituality on Mental Health: a Literature Review. Costa Rican Journal of Psychology, 41(1), 43–66. https://doi.org/10.22544/rcps.v41i01.03