Religiousness in First-Episode Psychosis

The aim of the present study is to explore the significance of religiousness for patients suffering from first-episode psychosis. Our study is a thematic analysis. The study illustrates how the patients understood their hallucinations as mystical experiences. Even so, many of the patients describe t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archive for the psychology of religion
Authors: Hanevik, Hilde (Author) ; Hestad, Knut A. (Author) ; Lien, Lars (Author)
Contributors: Danbolt, Lars Johan 1955- (Other) ; Joa, Inge (Other) ; Larsen, Tor Ketil (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: SAGE Publishing 2017
In: Archive for the psychology of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Religiosity / Psychosis
IxTheo Classification:AE Psychology of religion
Further subjects:B Psychosis religiousness religious coping mystical experiences
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:The aim of the present study is to explore the significance of religiousness for patients suffering from first-episode psychosis. Our study is a thematic analysis. The study illustrates how the patients understood their hallucinations as mystical experiences. Even so, many of the patients describe their religiousness to be helpful in coping with their disorder, giving meaning to life as well as a relationship to a sacred figure. However, their religiousness often contained religious omnipotent delusions, and built on hallucinations, displayed an unsecure relationship to the sacred figure. From a psychiatric point of view, the misinterpretation of hallucinations as mystical experiences may reinforce their delusional system and cause an obstacle to recovery. This misinterpretation may also cause problems for patients’ religious coping. Our findings underline the importance of taking patients’ religiousness into account in psychotherapy.
ISSN:1573-6121
Contains:In: Archive for the psychology of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15736121-12341336