Laura Deveau's Essay: The Role Of Religion In Mental Health

Religion and science has always had an interesting relationship. Despite the polarization between the two systems, they have had huge lasting effects on one another throughout history. Organized religion previously dictated the course of science for thousands of years. In today’s society, religion no longer takes priority over scientific pursuits. However, some psychologists have made it their career to scientifically study religion. Specifically, hat role spirituality plays in our mental well being. Author Laura DeVeau reports on these findings in her essay titled ‘The Role of Spirituality and Religion in Mental Health” and her findings argue that despite the negatives that comes with organized religion, the system as a whole strengthens the mental health of many individuals. However, it’s facile to claim religion has done good for some people which makes religion good for mental health overall. Not only does the author takes too strong of a personal stake in her research to effectively evaluate the relationship between religion and mental health, she essentially ignores any research or example showing her claim may not be entirely accurate. To begin, the entire basis for DeVeau’s claim is flawed. The idea that some people benefit from religion so any flaws associated with organized religion can be simply written off is harmful for effectively evaluating the relationship.
The author spends the entire paper defending organized religion instead of going into how religion affects the brain. If a cult commits mass-suicide, showing an example of a church that doesn’t kill themselves doesn’t take away the fact a group of people were all driven to suicide because of religion. There are deeper factors in play involving the human psyche and the author's failure to account for how examples like these play into mental health and religion is what ultimately makes this essay an ineffective