Introduction
Attention-Getter
Religion is one of the most important phenomena of human existence that psychiatry faces. It significantly affects the emotional sphere, thinking, and behavior of a person.
Thesis
Although psychiatry was formed as a natural science discipline, yet many years ago, psychiatric care was provided in religious institutions. The mentally ill could find help in monasteries and churches.
Connection with the Audience
In my speech, I want to take a closer look at the impact of religion on people’s mental health and demonstrate how the government uses religion to set public standards.
Credibility
Reliability is represented by five sources of literature and quotations from them.
Preview
The speech has two main parts, which describe the influence of religion on the psyche of people, as well as the use of religion in setting living standards.
Body
Doctors and nurses working with mentally ill people need to be aware of various aspects of different religions. This knowledge can help in the treatment and the recovery of some patients (Koenig 6). This is because religion and faith can be a manifestation of a healthy personality for some patients. As a result, even in the presence of a disease, religious faith helps the patient to resist the painful process, adapt to it, and compensate for the defects introduced by the illness into the patient’s personality.
Negatively, excessive religiosity of mentally ill people can lead to various problems. The observed visual and auditory hallucinations can lead a person to suicide under the guise of God’s decision (DeAngelis and Ellison 342). In addition, some people with mental disabilities are prone to religious delusions when they consider themselves saints, close to God, the son of God, and the Virgin Mary. This deviation can provoke a person to inflict serious bodily harm to themselves, as well as to people around them.
The authorities deliberately and persistently drag religion into politics, most of all because it has a vast spiritual influence on citizens. In addition, religion has confidential information about them and strong levers of psychological impact on their behavior, and it also affects the attitude of citizens to power (Fox 118). The rulers of states always and under all political regimes seek to use the influence of religion on citizens, inclining them to unconditional obedience to the rule. History shows that such an appeal for spiritual support to faith in many countries effectively consolidated state power (Bomhoff and LanSiah 168).
State can use the influence of religion to regulate some important and topical issues. For example, abortion and divorce are prohibited in some religions, and conditions can use this and thereby influence the lives of citizens. The state can use religion as an establishment of ethics, which regulates some areas of people’s lives and exerts a certain pressure on citizens (Freeman 38). The state also uses religion to control some local government bodies, namely, to ensure specific standards of education, medicine, and other institutions of life of the population.
Conclusion
In conclusion, religion impacts each individual and on some states. Religion can significantly positively impact people’s mental health through assistance in communicating with God and citizens turning to him. In addition, religion can hurt people’s mental health, as some people are characterized by causing physical damage to themselves and people nearby due to auditory or visual hallucinations. In addition, religion and the state often actively interact, and governments can apply specific provisions of faith to regulate the lives of citizens.
Works Cited
Bomhoff, Eduard and LanSiah, Audrey. “The Relationship Between Income, Religiosity and Health: Their Effects on Life Satisfaction.” Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 144, no. 1, 2019, pp. 168-173. Web.
DeAngelis, Reed and Ellison, Christopher. “Aspiration Strain and Mental Health: The Education-Contingent Role of Religion.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 57, no. 2, 2018, pp. 341-364. Web.
Fox, Jonathan. An Introduction to Religion and Politics. Theory and practice. Routledge, 2018.
Freeman, Samuel. “Democracy, Religion & Public Reason.” Daedalus, vol. 149, no. 3, 2020, pp. 37–58. Web.
Koenig, Harold. Religion and Mental Health: Research and Clinical Applications. Elsevier, 2018.