Religion Vs. Delusions With Religious Content

Atheist Delusions gives an analysis of history with the revolutionary power of Jesus Christ at the forefront. David Bentley Hart tells the story of how the early church was formed after late antiquity. He argues that radicalness of the Gospels was the key to liberation and how secular society has formed around that liberation. The development of Christianity, was the largest political, social, spiritual, and material revolution of Western civilization. It has played such a crucial role in the way our society operations, and in which our ethics are built.

Delusional disorder may account for 1–2% of admissions to inpatient psychiatric hospitals, it is rare in child and almost with the adult age,0.03% this percent that consider highest in prevalence

The false belief is not accounted for by the persons cultural or religious background or his/her intelligence. The client experiencing this will hold on firmly to the belief regardless of the evidence to the contrary, the client is absolutely convinced that the delusion is real. Delusion are symptoms of either medical, neurological or mental disorder.

According to Freeman (2008, pp. 24–26) delusions are multidimensional. In addition to mentioning the main characteristics of delusions such as being unfounded, firmly held, and resistant to change but also preoccupying and distressing, he also mention that they interfere with the social dimension of a person’s life. The author described the types of delusions as Functional versus organic,( ‘organic’ if it was the result of brain damage and ‘functional’ if it had no known organic cause and was explained primarily via psychodynamic or motivational factors.) ,Monothematic versus polythematic, (polythematic in that they extend to more than one theme, where the themes can be interrelated and ,monothematic where apart from the content of delusion itself, no other (unrelated) bizarre belief needs to be reported by the same person.), Circumscribed versus elaborated, (A delusion is circumscribed if it does not lead to the formation of other

It was believed that patients who suffered symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and behaviour, and other symptoms that cause social or occupational dysfunction; characterised as Schizophrenia in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), were said to be suffering from demonic possession, mental retardation, or from exposure to poisonous materials. During this time there was no social support systems such as community based treatment like we have today. In addition, treatments that where available where barbaric and ineffective in helping the

The most serious forms of mental illness are psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar (manic-depression), which affect the mind and alter a person’s ability to understand reality, think clearly, respond emotionally, communicate effectively, and behave appropriately. People with psychotic disorders may hear nonexistent voices, hallucinate, and make inappropriate behavioral responses. Others exhibit illogical and incoherent thought processes and a lack of insight into their own behavior. They may see themselves as agents of the devil, avenging angels, or the recipients of messages from animals and plants (Siegel, 2011).

Schizophrenia is a debilitating disorder, which can affect a person's life on a daily basis because it impairs their cognitive functions. The onset of schizophrenia starts between the ages of "10 and 25 years for men and between 25 and 35 for women" (Rajji et al, 2009, p.286). The symptoms associated with the disorder are confused thinking, delusions, language, and hallucinations. These main symptoms branch off into other areas. For example, hallucinations can branch off into, smells, tastes, what they see, how they feel and auditory. This essay will look at the effects of auditory hallucinations, with the focus on command hallucination (CH). How the command hallucinations can lead the subject to commit violent crimes or even lead

She then suggests that instead of focusing on the past, we should look at Buddhist works themselves to see how the feminine voice can be included, even embraced (Watson, 2003, p. 27). In this effort, both the androcentric and the androgynous aspects of Buddhist works are examined. On the one hand, parts of original scripture propose that both men and women can achieve nirvana, while on the other hand, monastic writings warn against women as a possible evil hindrance to men, specifically monks (Watson, 2003, p. 28). There is the juxtaposition of the multitude of female deities along with the idea that females cannot become Buddhas (Watson, 2003, p.29), because human males are considered the most heightened form of reincarnation before attaining

Delusion of persecution may occur in the following conditions: Schizophrenia, depression, and psychosis. Persecutory overvalued ideas are a prominent facet of the litigious type of paranoid personality disorder (Content of Delusions). Currently, there is solution that involves psycho-therapy and medications for patients with delusion of persecution in which most cases are successful with only a standard treatment although others “elaborate and develop their belief into a comprehensive system which may remain unaltered even with regular medication,” (Resolution of Delusion). Ultimately people suffering with any type of delusion holds his or her belief with the same conviction and intensity as they hold other non-delusional beliefs about

Compatibility between psychology and religion has been an issue argued for many years. However, men like Dr. William Backus developed a counseling system that utilizes the secular aspects of this treatment. By redefining the aspects,

The clinician begins by asking peripheral questions about the person’s belief system, with the goal of understanding how the patient arrived at his or her convictions. It is linked with graded reality testing, which in turn can lead to the introduction of doubt and the generation of alternative hypotheses. Education about real-world issues can help patients understand the factual assumptions made to support their belief systems. Such ideas can be explored with appropriate homework exercises. For more systemized delusions, the clinician can use a technique called “inference chaining”. This technique involves a process of looking for the key personalized meaning underlying a delusion. Hallucinations can also be better understood by discussing the details of the experience. The “voice hearing” experience may be better understood by using a “voice diary” to look for variation among different points in the day or among different activities. Situations that trigger an increase in voice intensity can be identified, with the generation of improved coping strategies. Affective responses to hearing voices (usually anger and anxiety) are often linked to unhelpful behaviors that maintain and exacerbate the voices. Once this pattern is identified, patients can gradually learn to engage more constructively with their voices. Patients can be trained to take a mindfulness approach to their voices, leading to

Buddhism is a unique religious tradition in its involvement of women in monastic positions. Buddhist texts mention the importance of utilizing the skills of its female adherents, encouraging women in aspirations of enlightenment as men have been wont to do since the religion’s founding. This monastic path, however, has proven more challenging, is subjected to segregative stricture, and has afforded less egalitarianism for nuns than monks, further confounded by contradictory teachings and attitudes toward female monastics.

The delusional disorder has progressed in the last decade and just brought to light in the late 70’s. Although it has a very short history it has had many cases and reports over the last hundred years before it was diagnosable. “The term of delusional disorder was only coined in 1977 (Bourgeois, 2013).” The lifetime prevalence of Delusional Disorder is 0.2%, and the most frequent subtype is persecutory. The male to female ratio is 1:1. This disorder is more prevalent in older individuals, but it can occur in younger age groups (Internet Mental Health). The most frequent subtype of this disorder is persecutory. The onset of DD may range from age 18 to late elderly years. It usually comes into factor at age 35-45. Psychologists support the clinical impression that delusional disorders are less common than mood disorders or schizophrenia. Once established, it is often a chronic and life long problem or affliction (O’Connor, 2007). The current understanding of the disorder is limited by scarce scientific data that mostly consist of individual case descriptions and small-uncontrolled case studies, which are therefore difficult or impossible to duplicate. In my paper I will be discussing the symptoms, diagnostics, treatments and effectiveness of treatments based on the delusional disorder.

Delusions are beliefs that have no basis in reality. The character refuses to abandon such beliefs even in the face of evidence to the contrary or at best comes up with rationalizations to explain away any contradictions.

Modern psychology attempts to scientifically explain many aspects of our lives. Yet it seems that when psychology meets religion the result is rarely a fair compromise. As an example, if faced with a person claiming to have no sense of self a psychologist may suspect some form of dissociative disorder. An excellent modern example of spiritualism clashing with psychological diagnoses is that of the much-maligned Aleister Crowley; after years of searching for his own samyaksambodhi he entered into a period of silence and claimed enlightenment – the psychological description of Crowley is that of a paranoid schizophrenic who declined into catatonia. I simply wonder where the line is that divides the religious experience from the psychopathological.