Religion, Spirituality, and Psychosis

Abstract

This review discusses the relationships between religion, spirituality, and psychosis. Based on the DSM-IV, we comment on the concept of spiritual and religious problems, which, although they may seem to be psychotic episodes, are actually manifestations of nonpathological spiritual and religious experiences. Studies reporting that hallucinations also occur in the nonclinical population and thus are not exclusive to the diagnosed population are presented. Then, other studies pointing to the strong presence of religious content in psychotic patients are also presented. Finally, the criteria that could be used to make a differential diagnosis between healthy spiritual experiences and mental disorders of religious content are discussed. We conclude that the importance of this theme and the lack of quality investigations point to the necessity of further investigation.

Assessment and Treatment of a Person at Risk for Psychosis in a Culturally Complex Case

“…8 For patients from certain cultures, seeing visions and hearing voices are seen as a spiritual gift and not a symptom of mental illness. In some cultures, people might believe that there is a possibility of someone being possessed by demons.…”

Psychosis or Spiritual Emergency: The Potential of Developmental Psychopathology for Differential Diagnosis

“…It also allows the possibility of studying prayer, meditation, and entheogen use as means for facilitating spirituality. This is of pragmatic significance, as over the past few decades there has been a steadily growing body of research establishing a significant relationship between spirituality and various indices of wellbeing (Menezes & Moreira-Almeida, 2010). For example, spirituality is associated with lower rates of depression, suicide, and substance abuse (Ano & Vasconcelles, 2005;George, Larson, Koenig, & McCullough, 2000;Hackney & Sanders, 2003;Sawatzky, Ratner, & Chiu, 2005;Visser, Garssen, & Vingerhoets, 2010;Yonker, Schnabelrauch, & Dehaan, 2012).…”

“…Examples include distressing experiences that involve loss or questioning of faith, problems associated with conversion to a new faith, or questioning of other spiritual values that may not necessarily be related to an organized church or religious institution. (APA, 2013, p. 725) The inclusion of this category in the DSM has opened clinicians to the possibility of assessing religious and spiritual experiences as part of their psychological or psychiatric assessments without prejudging such experiences as inherently pathological (Johnson & Friedman, 2008;Menezes & Moreira-Almeida, 2010). …”

“…This may include neardeath experiences, mystical experiences, and spiritual emergencies. Near-death experiences sometimes occur in individuals very close to death, and may precipitate profound psychological transformations (Menezes & Moreira-Almeida, 2010). Such experiences often involve feelings of being out of one's body or being transported to another reality and, despite their anomalous nature, are not uncommon, with up to one-third of individuals close to death reporting having such an experience .…”

“…Thus, while a mystical experience in and of itself does not indicate pathology, the highly unusual nature of such experiences can cause significant confusion and distress, and in some cases may precipitate a spiritual emergency (Lukoff & Everest, 1985). In such cases, symptomatic overlap makes spiritual emergencies perhaps the most difficult form of religious or spiritual problems to accurately differentiate from acute psychotic experiences indicative of psychotic disorder (Menezes & Moreira-Almeida, 2010).…”