{"id":9278,"date":"2017-06-02T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T10:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=9278"},"modified":"2017-05-25T21:15:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T01:15:44","slug":"faith-make-difference-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html","title":{"rendered":"A Strength Factor For Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9285\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2017\/05\/worshipping-god-2101347_1920-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"worshipping-god-2101347_1920\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>Carla struggles with anxiety. She sought help from a local community mental health center. When she told the therapist that she recently had a faith experience of being born again, the therapist told her that religion would only make matters worse and probably increase her anxiety. Carla was taken aback and decided to find a different therapist who would now incorporate her new found faith into working with her mental health problem. Already, she noticed relief from anxiety when she spent time in prayer. She was anxious to find a therapist who could work with her on applying the Bible to her life and anxiety.<\/p>\n<p>Freud made it a point to say that religion was no more than a massive neurosis. And even though there are mental health physicians and therapists who still hold this view, religion or spirituality can no longer be considered a neurotic crutch. Research simply does not support this\u00a0idea. Faith, it turns out, is a strength factor for mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Tepper et al., (2001) in a study that assessed 400 chronic patients, found a relationship between a person&#8217;s faith orientation and their symptoms. Psychiatric symptoms were lower in those patients who had integrated spiritual coping mechanisms into their lives. Spiritual coping strategies included prayer, attending religious services, worshipping God, meditation, reading Scripture and meeting with a spiritual leader.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of\u00a0the prevalence of depression, people of faith fare better with less depression than those of no faith. Perhaps one reason is that faith- based communities provide hope and caring. Other studies (e.g., Koenig\u00a0&amp; Larson, 2001)\u00a0\u00a0point to lower suicide rates among those in the faith-based community. Part of the thinking is that a being in a spiritual community enhances self-esteem, improves personal accountability and gives people an increased awareness of God-all positives in helping with\u00a0depression.<\/p>\n<p>So if faith is a crutch, I&#8217;ll take it as it leads to improved mental health. One then has to ask, why\u00a0do people\u00a0want to remove this strengthening factor from the culture? If faith brings positive results to a person&#8217;s mental health, we should desire more of it, not less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carla struggles with anxiety. She sought help from a local community mental health center. When she told the therapist that she recently had a faith experience of being born again, the therapist told her that religion would only make matters worse and probably increase her anxiety. Carla was taken aback and decided to find a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[729,252,3806,540,439,3695],"class_list":["post-9278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-mental-heath","tag-prevention","tag-religion","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Strength Factor For Mental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Strength Factor For Mental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carla struggles with anxiety. She sought help from a local community mental health center. When she told the therapist that she recently had a faith experience of being born again, the therapist told her that religion would only make matters worse and probably increase her anxiety. Carla was taken aback and decided to find a&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-02T10:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-26T01:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/05\/worshipping-god-2101347_1920-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Strength Factor For Mental Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Strength Factor For Mental Health","og_description":"Carla struggles with anxiety. She sought help from a local community mental health center. When she told the therapist that she recently had a faith experience of being born again, the therapist told her that religion would only make matters worse and probably increase her anxiety. Carla was taken aback and decided to find a&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2017-06-02T10:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-26T01:15:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/05\/worshipping-god-2101347_1920-300x200.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html","name":"A Strength Factor For Mental Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/05\/worshipping-god-2101347_1920-300x200.jpg","datePublished":"2017-06-02T10:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-26T01:15:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/05\/worshipping-god-2101347_1920-300x200.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2017\/05\/worshipping-god-2101347_1920-300x200.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2017\/06\/faith-make-difference-mental-health.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Strength Factor For Mental Health"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9286,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9278\/revisions\/9286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}