Religious attributions pertaining to the causes and cures of mental illness

Abstract

In this Australian study, 126 Protestant Christian participants, 52 females and 74 males, were assessed for their beliefs about the importance of 26 causal variables and 25 treatment variables for two mental disorders: Major Depression and Schizophrenia. Factor analysis revealed four causal factors, common to both conditions, labelled as religious factors, physical factors, coping style and social/environmental stressors. Furthermore, four treatment factors emerged: religious means, professional help, help from others (non-professional) and self-initiated means. Explanatory variables for these beliefs were assessed using: a Religious Beliefs Inventory (RBI) to measure religious beliefs; a Values Survey (VS) including a measure of Christian religious values; and a Religion and Mental Health Inventory (RMHI) to measure cognitive dissonance (cf. Festinger, 1957) between religious faith and perceptions of mental-health principles. The results revealed that religious beliefs, religious values and cognitive dissonance function as predictors of the attribution of the causes and treatments, for Major Depression and Schizophrenia, to religious factors. An additional finding of this study was that 38.2% of the participants endorsed a demonic aetiology of Major Depression, and 37.4% of the participants endorsed a demonic aetiology of Schizophrenia.