Religion and Mental Health

​The Mental Health Benefits of Religion & Spirituality

NAMI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness

https://www.nami.org/blog/the-mental-health-benefits-of-religion-spirituality/

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Mental Health Benefits of Religion

Religion can have a large positive impact on mental health, reducing suicide rates, alcoholism and drug use. Religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically offers a group of people to connect with over similar beliefs. These facets can have a large positive impact on mental health. Here are some of religion’s main mental health benefits.

Community

• Initiates social connections with other members

• Creates a sense of belonging to a group

• Offers trustworthy and safe social engagement

Ritual

• Helps people to cope with difficult life situations (i.e. a ceremony for the loss of a loved one)

• Provides structure, regularity and predictability

• Allows for time to rest as well as holidays and other special times of the year

Teachings

• Provides guidelines to live by (i.e. the importance of doing the right thing)

• Teaches compassion, forgiveness and gratitude

• Identifies life lessons, even from challenging situations

 

Mental Health Benefits of Spirituality

Spirituality is a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves—it helps a person look within and understand themselves while also figuring out the greater answer of how they fit in to the rest of the world. In other words: It helps people understand their interpretation of the meaning of life.

Spirituality also incorporates healthy practices for the mind and body, which positively influences mental health and emotional wellbeing. Here are some of those benefits:

Individuality

• Enhances a person’s sense of self and empowerment through the choice to decide what their practice looks like

• Focuses on an individual’s connection to what they believe in and their own personal growth

• Accepts any person, whether they are part of a religion or not

Mindfulness

• Encourages meditation and self-reflection

• Leads to a meaningful life philosophy (i.e. feeling connected to others, nature or art)

• Prompts expression in any form such as art, poetry, myth or religious practice

Unity with Surroundings

• Renews a sense of belonging in the world

• Inspires appreciation and awareness of a person’s interaction with the physical environment

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Scientific Evidence

​Spirituality, religiousness, and mental health: A review of the current scientific evidence

World Journal of Clinical Cases, 2021. Lucchetti G, Koenig HG, Lucchetti ALG.

Spirituality/religiousness (S/R) are consistently related to both physical and mental health. There is a large body of solid evidence across numerous psychiatric disorders, including depression, suicidality, substance use, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, and anxiety that attest to its importance to mental health.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8462234/
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Institutional Support

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World Psychiatric Association Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry, 2015

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4780301/

 

​NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness

https://www.nami.org/community-and-culture/nami-faithnet/

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APA Foundation - Faith and Mental Health

https://www.apaf.org/our-programs/faith/

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Programs

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2025 Institute on Spirituality, Religion, and Mental Health Practice - UNC School of Social Work 
https://cls.unc.edu/10-9-25-institute-on-spirituality-religion-and-mental-health-practice/

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Enhancing training in spiritual and religious competencies in mental health graduate education: Evaluation of an integrated curricular approach

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11419373/
 

Spirituality and Religion in Canadian Psychiatric Residency Training - grabovac-ganesan-2003-spirituality-and-religion-in-canadian-psychiatric-residency-training.pdf

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674370304800305

 

Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry and Mental Health: Clinical Considerations | Psychiatric Times

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/religion-and-spirituality-in-psychiatry-and-mental-health-clinical-considerations

Enhancing training in spiritual and religious competencies in mental health graduate education: Evaluation of an integrated curricular approach

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306114

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Coming Soon

Remigion is Back PowerPoint - Pdf work in progress 2/19/26​

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