WARNING: THIS EMAIL ACTUALLY CONTAINS PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTENT AND WAS
WRITTEN TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION. PLEASE
READ IT AT YOUR OWN CAUTION.
> Too frequently, suicides and murder/suicides are for
> the purpose of releasing someone from the devil or
> taking them to a "better place." Would these tragedies
> occur if the victims/perpetrators had not been indoctrinated
> with fairy tales?
Let us not forget that many great advances in our society have been made
by people who were not only "indoctrinated with fairy tales," but who
passionately committed their lives to their "fairy tales." Arguments
such as the one made by the previous poster do nothing to further
discussion but only breed contention and polarization. We can all think
of examples of theists who were constructive and theists who were
destructive. And we can all think of examples of atheists who were
constructive and atheists who were destructive.
So, leaving the antagonistic comments and personal agendas behind us,
what can we as psychologists contribute to the discussion of religion
and human behavior. I have some potential questions for us to address:
Are there specific variables that would predict prosocial versus
antisocial behaviors among theists and atheists? Are there certain
variables that would predict prososical behavior among theists but not
atheists (or among atheists but not theists)? Are there certain
variables that would predict antisocial behavior among theists but not
atheists (or among atheists but not theists)? Are differences between
theists and atheists in how they cope with stress?
Pargement has developed an interesting line of research on religious
coping. His research has identified subgroups of religious coping,
including, among others, collaborative coping ("When it comes to
deciding how to solve a problem, God and I work together as partners"),
self-directed coping ("When faced with trouble, I deal with my feelings
without God's help"), and deferring coping ("When a troublesome issue
arises, I leave it up to God to decide what it means for me"). Research
has found that collaborative coping styles are consistently related to
positive outcomes in psychosocial adjustment to negative events, whereas
mixed results are found for the other styles of religious coping.
Granted, religious coping is much more complex than what I just
presented. There are other variables that interact with religious
coping style (such as perceived control over a stressor) to affect
psychosocial adjustment to negative events, but this research offers
compelling support for the idea that not all beliefs in "fairy tales"
are detrimental. These results also suggest that, for
religiously-oriented clients, it might be clinically relevent to
evaluate their religious coping style and to help them develop a more
collaborative style of religious coping for dealing with stressors. It
would be great to see some randomized clinical trials that evaluate the
efficacy of psychotherapy interventions which are designed, at least in
part, to facilitate the development of collaborative coping styles among
religious clients.
I enjoy working with clients who have a religious orientation and
routinely address religious and/or spiritual issues if it is clinically
relevant and in the best interests of my clients. I wonder how my
atheistic or non-religious colleagues would address religious issues in
the context of psychotherapy. Would you see it as your role to
encourage a collaborative religious coping style among your religious
clients if the literature suggested that such an approach was associated
with positive health outcomes?
Some non-flaming (?) food for thought...
Rod
______________________________________________
Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
LeTourneau University
President-Elect of Division 51
American Psychological Association
Department of Psychology
LeTourneau University
Post Office Box 7001
2100 South Mobberly Avenue
Longview, Texas 75607-7001
Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115
Phone: 903-233-3312
Fax: 903-233-3246
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel
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