the god problem

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Modern psychology has a serious God problem. America is a deeply spiritual country. More than half of Americans say religion is “very important” to them, and more than 90 percent profess a belief in a higher power. Yet psychology, as a scientific endeavor, has done almost nothing to understand how spiritual beliefs shape psychological problems, or affect treatment. When a person with deep religious convictions comes in for professional help, they will find, more often than not, a therapist who is not fully prepared to help.--Gareth Cook, Modern Psychology's God Problem.

Relations between psychology and religion have a troubled history. Putting psychology on a scientific footing meant, in part, rejecting the notion that mental illness is a spiritual phenomenon, that madness implied possession by demons or foul spirits. Freud famously diagnosed religion as a psychological problem. To believe, in his view, was to be neurotic.

August 24, 2016