Human beings are typically religious oriented. As such, religion influences most of their actions as they tend to cling to the beliefs, values and practices that religion instil in them. The question of belief and values extend further to individuals’ health as the element of religion takes a central role in the person’s response to their health and therapy. Mental health has come to be primarily associated with some beliefs which in many cases turn out to be false although due to faith, one sticks to it that their mental condition is as a result of what the beliefs and value systems that he or she subscribes to implicates.
Once I dealt with a person with a mental health condition who was a strong believer and knew that there are charms and sorcery especially with the Old Testament biblical teachings that condemn those who practice charms and witchcraft (“Religion and mental health”, 2019). The mental conditioned for this patient was depression as he was withdrawn, isolated and full of suicidal language. This mental condition was caused by the numerous challenges that he had to handle such as stubborn kids, pressure from the workplace and huge bills to cater for (Kahle & Robbins, 2014). However, the patient had to be forcing his way into the hospital because he believed that his mental condition was caused by someone who was playing magic on him. He had therefore resolved to pray for whichever person who was playing magic on him until his mental condition deteriorated and he was forced into the hospital.
His belief was challenged when the diagnosis provided that he was depressed with intense thoughts about the situation of his life. However much my faith has in it an element of spirits in which magically falls, it’s not provided that the spirits must influence every human situation, and therefore one should be responsive to therapy without dismissing it for faith alone. The two, faith and therapy can be compatible and yield excellent results.
References
Religion and mental health. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705681/
Kahle, P. A., & Robbins, J. M. (2014). The power of spirituality in therapy: Integrating spiritual and religious beliefs in mental health practice. Routledge.