Religiosity and health: not always a positive relationship

In this excerpt from his thesis, Dr Ramesh Manocha discusses the link between religiosity and health.

Ryan (1993) conducted a study on Christians of several different denominations and concluded that the way in which religiousness was internalised, rather than religiousness itself, influenced both the magnitude and direction of health benefit. He examined two forms of internalisation: first, “introjection” which involved maintenance of belief and practices through self-approval, guilt and esteem-related anxieties (therefore associated with conflict and pressure) and, second, “identification” in which the individual experienced personal value in the beliefs and practices and considered them to be emanating from him/herself. “Identification” was associated with positive mental health benefits whereas “introjection” was associated with negative effects.