Religion Helped Deal with Anxiety and other Disorders

I believe that religion helped deal with anxiety and many other psychological stressors for a lot of people by providing services like prayer, structure, rules, even marriage and social context until recently. The priest even acted like a modern day psychologist or counselor.

Today, this service is being replaced haphazardly by the mental health industry and other secular services. I think that this shift is one that is worth signalling out. I did not entirely realize the specifics of the shift until I read this passage on the BBC.

“One of the things that has happened in the past 100 years or so, is that we in the west have shifted away from being a society where emotional states such as low mood or fearfulness were experienced and responded to through a religious and spiritual idiom – for good and bad, to a much more secular and technocratic society,” he says.

BBC - The Creative Power of Anxiety

For those reading the whole article, here is a YouTube video of the archaic "witch dance" mentioned.



I think that because religion has been used as a grand coping mechanism for what are now termed psychological disorders (of which it seems every single one of us has one or another of nowadays) it is natural that people do not wish it to go away - because it does serve a purpose.

A question to ponder - are the services provided by religion being adequately addressed by the mental health community and the secular community, if so, what are some examples, and which method (the spiritual or the secular) is more effective?

One example: certain types of people need structure, is this being provided in any shape or form by our technology-centered, secular society? How much anxiety is being produced by lack of normal social norms?

Political correctness is an example of a social norm, a moral nonetheless, that does not originate from tradition - does this cause anxiety because it is unknown wherefrom it came and what else might venture from its den?

Very true thread. Religion used to form a bond between people, it created an of a kind link. No man is an island, we are a social race of beings. The trend now is to just look out for yourself. This policy is created because of people out there that want to relieve you of your money or talk you into doing risky things with the money you have. It is so easy to borrow money and jeopardize your future to buy things you really don't need.

You can belong to a church that is not always asking for money. Most times the church needs money to just buy things it really doesn't need, like a bigger and nicer church building. The building is not the church, the members are the church. Materialism is not a good thing, especially in the church.

But you are right OP. Psychologists are taking over what the churches used to do for free. And they are not cheap. People only see their deductible as the cost and do not take the full cost as reality. The cost of insurance is based on what the insurance pays out. This practice of ignorance is why the price of healthcare has gone through the roof. It is not only the cost of mental health, it happens more often in regular medicine.

When you belong to a church, it is a social function. There were a lot of social functions that started off of church groups in the past. This of a kind relationship is good for us, belonging to good organizations is good for us.

The only thing I see majorly wrong in most religions nowadays is that churches get hung up on material things. Donations often get spent in the wrong way. A church does not have to be nice to be a good church. I understand that some will be mad at me for saying this but they should read the bible, Jesus did not even use a building and look at how many lives he influenced.

a reply to: darkbake

I think this has been the principal function of religion since religion (or rather magic) was invented.

As you said humans are social creatures and religion is used to patch the hole in our lives that exists because most of us aren't very connected to society. Work, the nuclear family, TV and other things are used, I believe, to keep us separated so they can offer us religion as a consolation and means of control.

I do not see it this way.

I think religons did a great job of controlling EVERYONE ,of manipulating them all under the leadership of men representing themselves as minions of a greater diety,and that diety was an IDEOLOGY,it was and is not tangible or real.It is a figment of someones imagination.At least we ave pictures and video of UFOs and aliens.

All religons did was murder sick people like they did when they thought mentally unique people were witches and warlocks,furthermore we will never know the exact number of Hundreds of millions of people who were killed by religous ideologys which materialised from verty very sick minds.What better place to be if you are a sick human mind than within an imginary ideological group where you can do ANYTHING you want to other humans and not be held accountable.

It looks to me like religons were a meeting point for the sick minds,not a cure.

I am not really sure where you are coming from but I somehow highly doubt the many men and women tortured and killed in the name if imaginary dietys and hallucinations thought like you did while big stacks of dry wood were being piled around their feet just before they were burned at the stake.


Structure,Marriage,Rules,and Social Conduct have NOTHNG TO DO with someones imaginary friend or the stories they tell about their imaginary friends.

Everything you listed and I replied to so far are human issues ,tangible human realitys,EXCEPT FOR THE LAST ONE THE PRAYERS ARE NOT REAL OR TANGIBLE.

The prayers do not fit in.Which one of those things is ot like the other??? Well to anyone on Earth or elsewhere the prayers to an imaginary diety that does not exist is the only thing that does not fit in.

Now prayer or worship is the real key to the brainwashing here because as soon as you do this you engage your free-will and you abbrogate it,you PASS that power on to a con-job representative of an ideology or a made up fantasy.


This has got to be the most interesting post I have ever read on ATS,it is so twiseted as to be cool.

Just exactly where do you think the sickest of the sick human minds gravitates to ??MMMmm???

Thats right ,religon,the only place where their disconnected sick minds can comfortably behave as they want to,by mistreating others and by actually embracing their illnesses and finding ways to make the symtomologys have purpose.

No normal healthy human mind will give its reality up to be replaced by one made of fantasy and lies.

You have to be mentally ill to begin with if you are able to willingly and easily give your tangible reality up wilingly to another human being.

I have never been involved in organised religons and I am watching them disappear rapidly,it feels right to see them all dwindeling to nearly nothing these days.

As more and more of us are finding ways to connect to each other globally and are finding ways to break ourselves away from the Big Pharma laboratory tests being done on us as a Species and from the gradeschool level popcorn psycotic manipulation of religous leaaders and structures ,Humanity is seeing a future without religons influencing its path for the first time in 1000s of years.

It is the imaginary diety aspect of religon which is its downfall,no one was ever going to buy that weak kneed BS forever ,not in the face of accelerating technological progress.

Religons are todays twisted representations of what was once ONE Global Human Belief system that DID NOT have any IMAGINARY diety or god fantasies incorporated into it to enable mass manipulation,this belief system encapsulated all of the positives you listed in your posts,BUT IT DID NOT INCLUDE IMAGINARY FANTASY IDEOLOGYS.This One True History of Humanity was accepted willingly by everyone of their own free-will,it was later taken and changed by leaders of splinter groups of Humanity who put geographical distance between themselves and the rest of Humanitys core group and as time and distance grew the content of this Agreed upon history or ONE GLOBAL BELIEF SYSTEM began to change and religons were born,one by one,for the same manipulative reasons based upon control.

Religons are with no exceptions con-jobs,in fact it is exceedingly easy to show how every doctrine on the planet comes from this One True History of Humanity which has been splintered and bastardised over time and distance,we can reverse-extrapolate the doctrines bact to the original story,they are all based on this one story it is the fabric they were created upon.

Humanitys one True History is NOT a con-job,there are no false ideologys or diety lies or god lies,it is 100% based upon tangible reality.

Religons are all "grown" the same way,you need corruption,manipulation,graft,lies ,isdirection, and more of this type of stuff on a massive epic scale.Because we can break religons down and forensiclly show how they are created EXACTLY step by step,we can easily see thye ingredients needed to put the religon recipie together,as stated these ingredients are the worst things we can imagine.

All of the good things you are trying to attribute to your own personal imaginary religon were ALREADY HERE BEFORE YOUR RELIGON WAS EVEN CONCIEVED OF IN A SICK HUMANS MIND.

It was sick humans who took a healthy Humanitys history and bastardised it into tools of manipulation for their own self-serving interests.

We can show how and why they did it,we can even show how and where along the path each group was influenced by the same dynamics,we can follow the ENTIRE BIRTH AND EVOLUTION of every religon ever concieved of on Earth,because all religons are bastardised in exactly the same ways.

Religons are imaginary concepts invented by manipulative sick human minds bent on self-service at the cost to other humans,ALL of these Gypsy con-jobs originate from Humanitys One True History,and this is why today we can see a road that brings all religons together by proxy.

This means that ALL religons have the same ORIGIN,and this is written in stone within the very fabric of every single religon in existance.

This proof CANNOT BE REMOVED.

This means that by PROXY all religons are not really religons at all,merely methods of preserving Humanitys One true History in a place where it was sure to be brought forward,within greed and vice and manipulation which is the aggressive and negative side of Humanity.

Because all religons originate from one source and this fact cannot be hidden,the end of the Global manipulations and graft is clear and in sight.

As technology rises so does the ability for Humans to communicate in real-time Globally,and this means that they canot be lied to or mass manipulated easily anymore,this means that as technology rises Humanitys One True History also rises to the top of humanitys reality curve.

The hidden One True History of Humanity has always been the only direction Humanity has ever needed,it has always been with us watching over us waiting for its chance to come forward and self-correct Humanity.Nature has a way of winning against all odds,and religons are not natural,they were and are all un-natural ideologys.

The reason we see so many seperate religons is because Humanitys One True History was preserved through in-fighting amongst different self-serving groups,each one of these groups proceeded as if they were the ONLY single truth on Earth and fought to the death to preserve their own story.

Humanity once fought together as one cumulative Global group to preserve and protect Humanitys One True History,and will once again in the near future.

I have never endorsed the removal or destruction of any religous ideology,people have a right to their own free-will realitys,HOWEVER when lies and manipulation are used to keep an ideology alive and growing to the detriment of Humanitys One True History,then I endorse the release of the true and correct historical data every human is born with a right to know and posses.

We dont need religons to have all of the best experiences Humanity has to offer,not a single one of them,imaginary ideologys were not what current Humanity was built on,they are what Humanitys One true History was bastardised into.

Nature dictates tht truth will always grow stronger,higher and faster than lies will,all is simply a matter of time and nature taking its course.

a reply to: one4all

No thoroughly rational human being

1. presumes to think order spontaneously jumped up out of chaos.

2. presumes to tell THE BOSS to . . . off.

a reply to: darkbake

I'm with you on this. I think religion has it's place in the world, as a tool for us to use in life when needed.
Those that don't need it tend to forget others might.

a reply to: Bluesma

The notion that anyone can

--survive apart from God is an illusion or delusion.
--do well apart from God is an illusion or delusion.
--be loving, kind, patient, . . . in virtually all situations apart from God . . . is a delusion.

God allows such illusions and delusions for a time. They crash and burn eventually.

a reply to: BO XIAN


Order most certainly jumped out of chaos,it had to.

Order is the organising catalyst of the Universe,it sprouts like seeds everywhere the environment is right.

Life is created by movement ,by motion, and this can happen anywhere,and where this happens Universes catalyse and in that environment life can and does catalyse.



There are Universal level perspectives which include creation concepts , but none that are quantified the way religons are defined.

There is only one Boss and that is the one we reside upon,the Earth.

The diety or god concept is an objectified ideology,it is a baseless idea which humans who are manipulative have found methods of objectifying and defending.

I do not have all of the answers, but I have enough to know how misguided religous people are today,and I know why and exactly how it was done to them.

Keep all the good things about religon and lose the imaginary friends who tell you it is ok to kill other people who dont think like you and your imaginary friend do and Humanity will be fine.

You as an individual are the "Boss",,for you are a part of Humanitys cumulative reality which we all create together in real-time,every second is our cumulative cretion,catalysed by the bringing together of free-will individual influences.

WE together are the BOSS,there is no diety or god who controls our fate,our fate is defined by our cumulative group actions upon this planet we live on and also by the actions of others who do not live on this planet,because we share this Universe.

If we cannot abandon this diety or god illusion,we will fail to properly learn to survive upon the earth,under the misguided delusionary belief that some power greater than us has defined that we are predetermined to live or die by their choice,as opposed to all of us believing that WE define our future and we do it by working WITH our planet,and NOT by ignoring the planet and how we interact with it and the universe because some imaginary god tells us not to worry about it because he has it all under control for us.

We as a species will exist upon the Earth and in this Universe and others for as long as we can work within the parameters of what Nature provides for us,if we fail to do this we shall perish here on Earth,to our fortune Humanity as a greater influence is spread throughout this Universe and others.

No holy book inspired by an imaginary diety tells us these things,THEY ALL tell us these things,all of the answers to our questions are inside the religous texts we posses in the form of practical data.

Humanitys One True History is the origin of all of these doctrines,and it is a practical history with NO diety or god ideologys whatsoever,none.The diety and god concepts were added to enable large scale manipulation and control.

WE are the BOSS and all religons tell the exact same story,and the sooner we can understand this story the sooner we can expand our particular flavor of Humanity beyond Earths parameters.

We do not have to stay confined to Earth,nothing can stop us,WE ARE THE BOSS.

The notion that anyone can

--survive apart from "other Humans" is an illusion or delusion.
--do well apart from "other Humans" is an illusion or delusion.
--be loving, kind, patient, . . . in virtually all situations apart from "other Humans" . . . is a delusion.

Humans seperated from their One True History suffer fromt such illusions and delusions for a time. They crash and burn eventually


Homan life is the single most important thing to Humanity that exists in any Universe,no objectified ideology expressed as a diety or god concept is more important than a SINGLE HUMAN LIFE.

Now you know where the problem really is.