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Researchers suggest people who claim to be "spiritual" but not religious are often struggling to cope mentally and suffered problems including abnormal eating conditions, drug abuse, anxiety disorder, phobias and neurosis.
They were also more likely than others to be taking medication for mental health problems, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
"Our main finding is that people who had a spiritual understanding of life had worse mental health than those with an understanding that was neither religious nor spiritual," Professor Michael King, from University College London, and his fellow researchers said.
The study was based on a survey of 7,403 randomly selected men and women in England who were questioned about their spiritual and religious beliefs, and mental state.
Thirty-five per cent described themselves as "religious", meaning they attended a church, mosque, synagogue or temple.
A further 19 per cent claimed to have spiritual beliefs or experiences without following a specific religion, while 46 per cent were neither religious nor spiritual.
Of the different groups, spiritual people were 50 per cent more likely to have a generalised anxiety disorder and 72 per cent more likely to suffer from a phobia.
They also had a 77 per cent higher chance of being dependent on drugs and were 37 per cent more at risk of neurotic disorder.
Researchers said spirituality was also associated with a 40 per cent greater likelihood of receiving treatment with psychotropic drugs.
The study found that individuals of religious faith and those with none experienced equal levels of mental problems. However, there were fewer problems with drugs or alcohol among the faithful.
Unlike previous studies in the US, the new research found no clear relationship between religious belief and happiness.
"We conclude that there is increasing evidence that people who profess spiritual beliefs in the absence of a religious framework are more vulnerable to mental disorder.
"The nature of this association needs greater examination in qualitative and in prospective quantitative research," the researchers said.
Actually spirituality is believing in existence. The persons claiming to be "spiritual" do not have proper knowledge of spirituality.Proper spiritual practices bring end of suffering, joy,happiness & relieves stress, anxiety, addiction.To become absolutely healthy individual total physical, mental, social and spiritual well being are the pre requisit.
Indians who claim to be spiritual are confused souls. Indians have this weird concept of some exclusivity when it comes to being spiritual. They have been brainwashed by the Brahmin thugs that India had such a glorious past with great spiritual past. These morons would give false information and concocted version of history which has no basis. Similar stories about past glories can be heard in Uganda, Chad, Rwanda and other Sub-Saharan countries. So called intellectuals from all these dump countries always talk about the past.
Another generalization by our ill educated media,the research was done in England i.e on Christian people.
Actually there is likely to be a common cause for both phenomena. Both the tendency to seek the spiritual and the tendency to think in more chaotic ways are caused by the same differences in the brain. Perhaps a good research goal would be to ascertain whether intuitive people (in terms of MBTI) are more susceptible to neurological disorders. My bets are on a resounding yes.
This people have done a survey on odd 7000 people from a few billions on the planet and want us to believe their findings! Makes no sense! Apart from that those who say they are spiritual but not religious are unaware of what actually they are. They seem to be just not wanting to align with a particular religion but in any case one cannot avoid being religious when one is spiritual given a true definition of the word religion, i.e. dharmastu sakshat bhagavad pranitam.. meaning religion is that which is given by God. Religion is not what you read in today's dictionaries-- a kind of belief, because religion is't just a belief. It's a code of conduct given by the Supreme Spiritual Being, the Supreme Lord Himself! So how can it be non-spiritual? In other words following a true religion is the beginning of becoming a real spiritualist and once one become a perfect spiritualist, there is no question of mental illness because he goes beyond mental platform. Hare Krishna
Absolutely agree. The more spiritual you become which I mean the more understanding of inner secrets of life you know , more neurotic you become. Human brain is not created to know the secret. If an ordinary person is told the secret , he will immidiately go mad. I am sure on this. The secret can not be shared with people whoc have not devoloped the higher conciousness to digest it. It is like a mother explaining the child a birth process. The child will go mad. Likewise the mother nature does not reveal her secrets to common men. Only enlightened souls can know the secret of life. It is very bitter. Reality is always a shock. Better to live a ordinary common life than to seek for enlightment.
I totally agree with Veera. Mostly, the people with disturbed mind, longing for peace comes to Spirituality. There are so many testimonials on web, where people were seeing psychiatrist for years, and finally they felt better after experiencing mediations. Either the sample of the research is fallacious or the premise of their research itsels has some gaps. The spiritual people are not the non-believer of religions, rather spiritual practices takes them beyond the smaller horizon of religions. Infact, the spirituality improves the mental, physical, emotional and social being. Millions of people benefitted from spirituality can't be wrong..!!
The study doesn't suggest that being spiritual 'makes' one mentally ill. It only says, spiritual people are more likely to have mental illness. Correlation and causality are two very different things. This study only says that there is correlation. The causality could be the other way around - people with mental illness are more likely to turn to spirituality.
Another BS article. How did they screen who was spiritual and who was not. It is more likely the mentally imbalanced people told they were spiritual to start with.
They have conducted the survey in England and hence not applicable to India, If you survey in India, the results would have been totally different.
One more idiotic research from idiots , Now people put anything after "new study claimed" ... lol
35% are ignorant human beings. 19% humans do not fake their existence and 46% are still animals.
in today's modern times when everybody chasing material dreams only spirituality can give you a real peace.
The study is not completely generalized. Out of 7403 participants 1407 are spiritual but not religious. This could be their age and socioeconomic factor. The study is one sided to religious belief. There should be the world without religion.
People from the UK created an oral disease called English which they marketted well by force, even I am infected hence writing in it. They were defeated and were made to feel their uselessness from the most spiritual place and still did not understand what is it being spiritual. Why do they waste pounds on such a crapy research . . .simple the money is the looted one, from India. Other religions do not have any basis and have destabilised their people with such a great extent that, they have translated their expansionism into professional expansionsim called as marketing. Hence West markets well into the East. But West just fails to follow East in spiritualism because it tries to mimick on the basis of competitive religions, developed after the eternal religion of love peace and sustainibility. Guess which one.
Actually there are two dimensions to religion and spirituality.There is false religion and false spirituality, most people(sheeple)practice false religion looking for God outside the dimension which they haven`t found as yet and then there are the one`s who have lost their souls and they go about searching for the same only to merge with others the lost one`s like them.That`s just 1% of neurosis by the way.
I hope the SPIRITUAL containing "Spirit" will make "u" al"l" mental illness while attaining it completely.
The article is misleading. It can be the case that people in UK under survey who think they are spiritual are actually not even close to it. People who suffer from disorders as stated in this article "abnormal eating conditions, drug abuse, anxiety disorder, phobias and neurosis." turn naturally towards yoga practices, etc and they assume themselves to be spiritual. These researchers should dig deep into mental health history of the peoples before arriving at any conclusions. Spirituality can improve the quality of life in various dimensions of any individual's life.
what is the standard or format used by researchers to measure spiritual people are prone to mental illness? lets take an example : Do you pray ? -yes Do you talk alone with God when no one is around? -Yes Do you experience peace while praying and reading scriptures without taking any medicine?-yes Do you lift your hands while praying and speak spiritual words?-yes conclusion- High risk of mental illness. NONSENSE
To be spiritual really means to go inwards. Jesus also said Kingdom of God within us.We should watch our emotions carefully.Happiness inside us.
What is mental illness ? First Define it. I am sure if you start defining that you will show yourself as mentally sick.
Another grant, another "analysis" to justify the grant! What does being spiritual have to do with being religious? One can be spiritual without being religious - spiritualism goes way beyond religion and its mechanised rituals. It is recognition of life as being sanctimonious - not just human life but all life including all plants and animals. Till "religious" people claim human life important above all else, they are not being spiritual - merely hiding behind their "books" so that they can kill and eat other "lesser" lives!
Actually, what happens is reverse.. Mentally disturbed people go for religion and spiritualism in search of peace. And generally high IQ people have more tendency to get in to mental imbalance/unrest.
ha ha ha....u proved ur point buddy..without any study or references...Best of duck
It may be true or opposite in result but the point is that brain has the capability to think imagine and delve into depth of human thought process. The instincts with which some people predict do get attached to objects people or thoughts and thats a phobia's or anxiety of beig into that thought or being attached to that thought. I have been seen my self in many phases and i feel in long run , the attachements in life are the one that causes the nemesis of our mind to rise. And to learn control its a process dependent on each other, how we want to treat our selves. Life is short this everyone orates, live it to the fullest that what she(nature) orates.
