The Role of Psychotic Disorders in Religious History
15 Sep 2014, 7:16 pm
Some relevant paragraph from an interesting study published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, September 2012.
The authors have analyzed the religious figures Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and St. Paul from a behavioral, neurologic, and neuropsychiatric perspective to determine whether new insights can be achieved about the nature of their revelations. Analysis reveals that these individuals had experiences that resemble those now defined as psychotic symptoms, suggesting that their experiences may have been manifestations of primary or mood disorder-associated psychotic disorders. The rationale for this proposal is discussed in each case with a differential diagnosis. Limitations inherent to a retrospective diagnostic examination are assessed. Social models of psychopathology and group dynamics are proposed as explanations for how followers were attracted and new belief systems emerged and were perpetuated. The authors suggest a new DSM diagnostic subcategory as a way to distinguish this type of psychiatric presentation. These findings support the possibility that persons with primary and mood disorder-associated psychotic symptoms have had a monumental influence on the shaping of Western civilization. It is hoped that these findings will translate into increased compassion and understanding for persons living with mental illness.
Jesus is the foundation figure of Christianity, who is thought to have lived between 7?2 BCE and 26?36 CE. The New Testament (NT) recalls Jesus as having experienced and shown behavior closely resembling the DSM-IV-TR?defined phenomena of AHs, VHs, delusions, referential thinking (see Figure 3), paranoid-type (PS subtype) thought content, and hyperreligiosity (see Table 1). He also did not appear to have signs or symptoms of disorganization, negative psychiatric symptoms, cognitive impairment, or debilitating mood disorder symptoms. NT accounts about Jesus mention no infirmity. In terms of potential causes of perceptual and behavioral changes, it might be asked whether starvation and metabolic derangements were present. The hallucinatory-like experiences that Jesus had in the desert while he fasted for 40 days (Luke 4:1?13) may have been induced by starvation and metabolic derangements. Arguing against these as explanations for all of his experiences would be that he had mystical or revelation experiences preceding his fasting in the desert and then during the period afterward. During these periods, there is no suggestion of starvation or metabolic derangement. If anything, the stories about Jesus and his followers suggest that they ate relatively well, as compared with the followers of his contemporary, John the Baptist (Luke 7:33?34). Epilepsy-associated psychotic symptoms are possible, but Jesus is not recounted as having any of the previously-mentioned common hallmarks of epilepsy. A decline in his occupational and social functioning cannot be established because of a lack of sufficient information. His experiences appear to have occurred over the course of at least the year before his death. The absence of physical maladies or apparent epilepsy leaves primary psychiatric etiologies as more plausible. As seen with the previous cases, Jesus? experiences can be potentially conceptualized within the framework of PS or psychosis NOS. Other reasonable possibilities might include bipolar and schizoaffective disorders.
We suggest that some of civilization?s most significant religious figures may have had psychotic symptoms that contributed inspiration for their revelations. It is hoped that this analysis will engender scholarly dialogue about the rational limits of human experience and serve to educate the general public, persons living with mental illness, and healthcare providers about the possibility that persons with primary and mood disorder-associated psychotic-spectrum disorders have had a monumental influence on civilization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_delusion
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23224447
http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/artic ... id=1476850
15 Sep 2014, 8:23 pm
It's possible that people with some psychiatric disorders might be "wired differently" like autistics are, and that this different wiring may give rise to religious experiences. Also, temporal lobe epilepsy is linked to a greater incidence of religious delusions. When temporal lobe epilepsy is induced in test subjects, the subjects claim to have had life-altering revelations, seeing angels, etc, and continue to believe in the reality of their visions despite all evidence to the contrary. The Prophet Muhammad may have had a late-onset schizotypal disorder, as he is said to have frequently HEARD the Angel Gabriel and other figures but never SAW them. It's worth noting that in the first century or so after his death, there was a vast body of contradictory sayings attributed to him, and scholars attempted to deduce which ones were "true". The contradictory revelations may have been a sign of a schizoid brain. And then there's Buddha, who may have had HFA, since he was able to renounce all material aspects of life and wander as a homeless teacher.
