Mental Disorder, Meaning-making, and Religious Engagement

Meaning-making plays a central role in how we deal with experiences of suffering, including those due to mental disorder. And for many, religious beliefs, experiences, and practices (hereafter, religious engagement) play a central role in informing this meaning-making. However, a crucial facet of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Finley, Kate (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Presses Universitaires de Louvain, Université Catholique de Louvain 2023
In: TheoLogica
Year: 2023, Volume: 7, Issue: 1, Pages: 56-101
IxTheo Classification:AE Psychology of religion
CB Christian life; spirituality
ZD Psychology
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Summary:Meaning-making plays a central role in how we deal with experiences of suffering, including those due to mental disorder. And for many, religious beliefs, experiences, and practices (hereafter, religious engagement) play a central role in informing this meaning-making. However, a crucial facet of the relationship between experiences of mental disorder and religious engagement remains underexplored—namely the potentially positive effectsof mental disorder on religious engagement (e.g. experiences of bipolar disorder increasing sense of God’s presence). In what follows, I will present empirical findings from two recent studies of mine which shed light on the extent to which participants experienced these positive effects, specific components of these effects, and how they fit into their understanding of their mental disorder and its relationship to their religious identity. In doing so, I will draw on and expand Tasia Scrutton’s Potentially Transformative view (2015a, 2015b, 2020)according to which mental disorders may provide opportunities for spiritual growth. My empirical results align with and help deepenan account according to which mental disorders are potentially spiritually transformative by providing further insight intosuch instances: specifically,which symptoms and internal and external factors are often involved, as well as which religious beliefs, experiences, and/or practices are often affected. After presenting these results and articulating their relevance for a potentially transformative view of mental disorder, I will then address some potential objections to the theoretical account as well as some limitations of the empirical work, before sketching possible promising directions for future research.
ISSN:2593-0265
Contains:Enthalten in: TheoLogica
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.14428/thl.v7i1.64203