The controversy of religion and psychosis

The relationship between religion and psychosis is one of the most important and unanswered questions in pastoral psychology, theology, and psychiatry. Several studies suggested that psychotic states, such as schizophrenia,are associated with enhanced religiousness and spirituality. In a dominantly Christian, Eastern-European population, however, this is not the case. The data clearly show enhanced spiritual experiences in schizophrenia, but, in a remitted state, these experiences can be discriminated from Christian beliefs, values, and practices.Even radical religious conversions with mystical features are distinct from clinical psychosis. These findings necessitate the distinction between unstructured, individual spirituality and historically embedded doctrinal religiosity.

Keywords: schizophrenia, religion, spirituality, psychotic experiences.