Mental health professionals are examining the complex relationship between religious participation and psychological well-being, with new research suggesting regular worship attendance may offer significant benefits while acknowledging potential drawbacks.
The global religious environment faces numerous challenges today, from internal denominational conflicts to violence against believers in various regions, plus widespread scandals involving corrupt or abusive religious leaders.
Despite these issues, several major U.S. mental health organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health America, recognize positive connections between faith and psychological wellness.
According to NAMI, “Religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically offers a group of people to connect with” those with similar beliefs. The organization notes that “Research suggests that religiosity reduces suicide rates, alcoholism and drug use.”
The American Psychological Association maintains a more complex perspective, which aligns with expert opinions shared recently. The APA states its Handbook of Psychology, Religion and Spirituality “sheds light on the many purposes religion serves, the rich variety of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, and the capacity of religion and spirituality to do both good and harm.”
Timothy Powers, a visiting psychology instructor at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, observes this complexity firsthand in his counseling work.
“While faith community participation can confer real and well documented protective benefits, those same communities can also be sources of shame, spiritual bypass, trauma, and significant barriers to seeking help,” Powers explained in an email. “Clinically, both realities show up in the counseling room, sometimes in the same person.”
Powers emphasized the importance of therapeutic neutrality: “The task for therapists is to approach the subject without assuming that religion/spirituality is a resource or that it is a wound, to be open to ambiguity, and to ask rather than presume.”
Charles Camosy, who teaches moral theology and bioethics at The Catholic University of America, also offered balanced insights.
“We expect on the one hand that being faithful will bring with it good things in this life,” Camosy wrote in an email.
However, he cautioned that “living out the Gospel doesn’t lead to healthy, flourishing lives for everyone. People still get sick, including mentally ill. Christians, and especially faithful Christians who are salt and light in a world full of violence and injustice, are not promised mental health as a reward for faithfulness in this life.”
A new study released Monday by researchers at Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute adds fresh data to this ongoing conversation. The institute focuses on “Research-supported work that fortifies the core institutions of the family, religion, and constitutional government.”
After analyzing hundreds of previous studies, the research team found that dedicated religious participation — defined as attending worship services at least weekly — correlated with decreased suicide risk, improved stress coping mechanisms, less substance abuse, and greater feelings of hope.
“Although harmful or coercive forms of religion do exist, the overall pattern across the best available studies is clear: religious belief and practice are overwhelmingly associated with better mental and emotional well-being,” the study concluded.
Fish Stark, executive director of the American Humanist Association, acknowledged that religious involvement may provide psychological advantages but emphasized that secular alternatives can be equally effective.
“If you have a strong secular, atheist identity, and actively participate in a nonreligious community, you get the same benefits,” Stark stated.
He identified the crucial factors: “The key is whether you have core convictions and participate in social groups. Those with strong religious identities and strong secular identities are equally happy.”
Ellen Idler, a sociology professor who directs Emory University’s Religion and Public Health Collaborative, warned against drawing conclusions based solely on regular churchgoers.
“Those who have been, or perceived that they have been, harmed by religion will stay away, leaving those less troubled in the pews,” she observed, pointing to individuals who experienced childhood sexual abuse by clergy or faced discrimination from their congregations due to LGBTQ+ identity.
