ARE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHIER?
Claire Opila Religion, an encompassing and controversial topic by its very nature, plays various roles in many aspects of our lives. It serves as a source of reasoning behind politics, society, our beliefs and values and our actions. People may turn to their deity in times of hardship, or as a justification for performing good deeds. Missing from all of these different facets and uses though, is the possibility that religion serves a beneficial purpose for our health, specifically our mental health. Recent research in the health sciences has begun to focus on correlations between mental health wellness and religiosity. Mental health, though it has no official definition, is defined by the World Health Organization as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Many studies have examined the role of various form
