Does religion influence your mental health?
Introduction
Some may ask, what does religion and religious education have to do with mental health?
The answer? It does play a role in mental health.
This article will be explaining how religion plays a role in mental health and will also explore coping mechanisms in relation to religion.
Religious Education
Religion can play a significant role in the development of students as early as 14 years old.
Once theses teenagers reach a certain age, they develop a need to show their own unique traits. They crave to build their own individual identity.
This leads them to search for role models, that have characteristics that they want in themselves.
Traits like: confidence, ease in communication and/or dependable.
Religion or religious studies can help these students in communicating with others more effectively. Having knowledge of the different religions and faiths can widen your view of the world. Showing your understanding to their ways and accepting the differences between cultures can build friendly relations.
You might even decide that some of their values are acceptable to yourself and include them into your own morals and values.
You do not have to be religious yourself to understand the positives of their beliefs.
Understanding the diversity of religions and respecting everyone’s way of life, can bridge the gap between peers of different faiths.
Through religious studies, you can see similarities in most faiths, one of which is the need to treat your body with respect.
A healthy diet, hygiene, avoidance of alcohol and drugs and even things like an appropriate amount of sleep and emotional management are all things that are highlighted in the different faiths and their teachings.
Another benefit that religion brings, is the feeling of unity and community – a sense of belonging.
Being taught of the values and morals of religious faiths and blending it into your own beliefs, makes it so the chances of lawless behaviour is reduced.
Religious Coping
Coping is another factor in maintaining mental health.
Coping is our way of managing our emotions in sensitive situations, so that our mental health stays stable.
Religious Coping is one section of a bigger whole.
Religious coping uses faith as its scale to keep the mind secure and assured.
This can be broken down into ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ coping.
In positive religious coping, people use their trust in their faith to stabilise their mind and emotions, to reduce the stress of the situation.
‘There is meaning to what has happened’ (positive)
Negative religious coping, is the broken trust and faith in their religion and seeing it as the cause for their situation; feeling that your faith has abandoned you.
‘Faith has abandoned me’ (negative)
These coping mechanisms are used to give purpose to their current situation, regardless of whether it is good or bad. Giving purpose makes it easier to manage their emotions
Negative and positive coping methods have various levels of success.
Negative coping shows immediate effect, but is only a short-term solution.
Positive coping shows slow progress, but is a long-term solution, which also builds mental toughness in the case of similar situations arising.
