Could belief in an afterlife, etc. lead to psychosis?

[Valjean]

a false belief or judgment about external reality, held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, occurring especially in mental conditions.
"he began to experience hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, and agitation along with dizziness and nausea"

I would say delusion qualifies as a psychosis, according to the definition.

No. Any belief unfounded by good evidence is irrational, and when it persists in the face of contradictory evidence it becomes delusional. Delusions don't usually involve the inability to perceive physical reality, or false sensory input or analysis, ie: hallucination.

 

[Valjean]

I don’t think that, that’s why I’m here asking the question. My question was: Could belief in an afterlife lead to psychosis?

Is a psychotic diagnosis statistically more frequent in afterlife believers?

 

[Jimmy]

Is a psychotic diagnosis statistically more frequent in afterlife believers?

Sarcasm? If not, who knows

 

[Jimmy]

No. Any belief unfounded by good evidence is irrational, and when it persists in the face of contradictory evidence it becomes delusional. Delusions don't usually involve the inability to perceive physical reality, or false sensory input or analysis, ie: hallucination.

Well, in that case, believing in an afterlife life wouldn’t be delusional because there’s no evidence to support it or deny it

 

[Valjean]

No way am I suggesting that religious or spiritual belief is a mental illness. I was asking if such things could lead to a mental illness.

Rewarding acceptance of popular mythology and discouraging questions or skepticism can retard the development of critical thinking skills.

 

[Valjean]

I don’t know that’s why I’m here asking the question. According to the definition a delusion is a false belief about external real. Hearing voices would be a false belief would it not?

It would be a false apprehension of reality, and a symptom of psychosis.
You posted:
"he began to experience hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, and agitation along with dizziness and nausea"
This is not a mere delusion. It sounds like a serious neurological malfunction.

Being wrong and rejecting unpopular evidence isn't a physical, neurological disease.

 

[Valjean]

Well, in that case, believing in an afterlife life wouldn’t be delusional because there’s no evidence to support it or deny it

A belief held without evidence is irrational. Only if it persists, in the face of good, contradictory evidence, is it a delusion.

 

[Jimmy]

It would be a false apprehension of reality, and a symptom of psychosis.
You posted:
"he began to experience hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, and agitation along with dizziness and nausea"
This is not a mere delusion. It sounds like a serious neurological malfunction.

Being wrong and rejecting unpopular evidence isn't a physical, neurological disease.

There’s different degrees of psychosis and I think just simply hearing voices would be considered a delusion as well as a psychosis. according to that definition. Although just simply hearing voices is pretty serious too though

 

[Valjean]

Sarcasm? If not, who knows

Not sarcasm. Ordinary diagnostic criteria. Causes are recognized by their tendency to increase the effect in question.

 

[Jimmy]

Not sarcasm. Ordinary diagnostic criteria. Causes are recognized by their tendency to increase the effect in question.

I didn’t know

Not sarcasm. Ordinary diagnostic criteria. Causes are recognized by their tendency to increase the effect in question.

so Is a psychotic diagnosis statistically more frequent in afterlife believers?

 

[Jimmy]

It would be a false apprehension of reality, and a symptom of psychosis.
You posted:
"he began to experience hallucinations, delusions, anxiety, and agitation along with dizziness and nausea"
This is not a mere delusion. It sounds like a serious neurological malfunction.

Being wrong and rejecting unpopular evidence isn't a physical, neurological disease.

Let’s just agree to disagree move on. This isn’t even what this threads about anyway.

 

[Valjean]

There’s different degrees of psychosis and I think just simply hearing voices would be considered a delusion as well as a psychosis. according to that definition. Although just simply hearing voices is pretty serious too though

Hallucinations are much more common, in ordinary, well adjusted people, than is generally believed.

Hallucinations Are Far More Common Than Most People Think

Is it normal for a mentally healthy person to hallucinate? A new study provides a surprising answer.

www.psychologytoday.com

Is half of humanity psychotic?
Hearing voices is a symptom. It may or may not be related to psychosis. It is not a persistent belief held in the face of contradictory evidence -- a delusion.
It's rarely a neurologically disease visible on brain scans -- a psychosis.

 

[1213]

...Also, could believing in Christ, his resurrection and second coming have the potential to lead to mental illness?

How could it do that? If it can, anything can. And then I think the the problem is more likely in the head of the person than in the stories person reads or believes.

 

[Quintessence]

Good point.
Through most of human history, critical thinking and rational analysis were of little use. Immediate effect and jumping to conclusions were what got us through the ice age. Evolution didn't wire our brains for analysis or evidence-based conclusions.
Rational analysis is a new thing.

That's... not at all what I meant - there is little reason to believe that critical thinking and rational analysis were absent from or of little use to our ancestors. For one, humans simply have not been a species that long and we are really not evolutionarily different from our ice age ancestors and it has wired our brains for analysis and evidence-based conclusions (all living organisms do this, honestly, since it's a basic requisite of being able to survive). For two, there is no direct evidence at all about the intellectual life of our ancestors that far back given these were pre-literate cultures. We can make indirect best guesses from the limited material culture artifacts available and from contemporary pre-literate cultures, which as far as I'm aware do not paint the sort of picture you are trying to sell us here.

 

[Jimmy]

Hallucinations are much more common, in ordinary, well adjusted people, than is generally believed.

Hallucinations Are Far More Common Than Most People Think

Is it normal for a mentally healthy person to hallucinate? A new study provides a surprising answer.

www.psychologytoday.com

Is half of humanity psychotic?
Hearing voices is a symptom. It may or may not be related to psychosis. It is not a persistent belief held in the face of contradictory evidence -- a delusion.
It's rarely a neurologically disease visible on brain scans -- a psychosis.

Ok. You’re getting off the subject of the thread. If you’d like to start a new thread to debate the intricacate differences between delusion and psychosis by all means do so.

 

[Valjean]

I didn’t know

so Is a psychotic diagnosis statistically more frequent in afterlife believers?

Not that I'm aware of.
If you did fMRI scans on a thousand afterlife believers and a thousand who did not believe, I doubt there would be much physical difference. I also doubt psych exams would discover much difference in the ability to perceive physical reality.

 

[Valjean]

Ok. You’re getting off the subject of the thread. If you’d like to start a new thread to debate the intricacate differences between delusion and psychosis by all means do so.

OK -- but I thought the differences were crucial to the OP's question.

 

[Jimmy]

OK -- but I thought the differences were crucial to the OP's question.

I hear ya but let’s take a break

 

[Jimmy]

How could it do that? If it can, anything can. And then I think the the problem is more likely in the head of the person than in the stories person reads or believes.

I don’t know. That’s why I’m here asking the question.

 

[Jimmy]

OK -- but I thought the differences were crucial to the OP's question.

lol now that I think of it, I edited my thread and got rid of the word delusion because other people were getting confused as well long before you came around questioning it haha