David Crary, MDT/AP
Worldwide, the landscape of religion is anything but serene. Many denominations are riven by divisions. In some regions, believers face violence. Countless faith leaders have betrayed their flocks through corruption or sexual abuse.
Against this backdrop, a long-running debate persists: what role can religion play in enhancing personal well-being and reducing mental health risks?
Several prominent U.S. mental health organizations take a broadly positive view. The National Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health America both point to religion’s potential benefits. “Religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically offers a group of people to connect with,” NAMI says, adding that research links religiosity with lower rates of suicide, alcoholism and drug use.
Yet the picture is far from straightforward. The American Psychological Association adopts a more nuanced stance, emphasizing that religion can do both good and harm. Its Handbook of Psychology, Religion and Spirituality highlights the wide variety of beliefs and practices, and their complex psychological effects.
That duality is evident in practice. Timothy Powers, a visiting psychology instructor at St. John Fisher University, says faith communities can offer real, well-documented protective benefits. But they can also be sources of shame, trauma and barriers to seeking help.
“Clinically, both realities show up in the counseling room, sometimes in the same person,” Powers noted. The task for therapists, he said, is to avoid assumptions – treating religion neither as inherently healing nor inherently harmful.
Charles Camosy, a professor at The Catholic University of America, offers a similar caution. Faith, he says, is often expected to bring benefits in this life. But reality is less tidy.
“Living out the Gospel doesn’t lead to healthy, flourishing lives for everyone,” Camosy said. “People still get sick, including mentally ill.” Faithfulness, he added, does not come with a guarantee of psychological well-being.
Still, new research continues to highlight correlations between religious engagement and improved mental health outcomes. A recent report from the Wheatley Institute analyzed hundreds of studies and found that regular participation in worship – typically at least weekly – was linked to lower suicide risk, better stress management, reduced substance misuse and higher levels of hope.
The report acknowledged that harmful or coercive forms of religion exist. Yet it concluded that, overall, religious belief and practice are overwhelmingly associated with better mental and emotional well-being.
Not everyone sees religion as uniquely positioned to deliver these benefits. Fish Stark, executive director of the American Humanist Association, argues that nonreligious people can achieve the same outcomes through other forms of identity and community.
“If you have a strong secular, atheist identity, and actively participate in a nonreligious community, you get the same benefits,” Stark said. The key, he suggested, is not belief itself but having core convictions and social connections.
Sociologist Ellen Idler of Emory University adds another layer of complexity. Measuring religion’s impact solely among regular worshippers may skew the results. Those who feel harmed by religion – including survivors of clergy abuse or people stigmatized for being LGBTQ+ – often leave religious spaces altogether.
That leaves congregations populated by those for whom religion works, while those for whom it doesn’t quietly exit the dataset.
Religion can provide meaning, structure and community – all powerful ingredients for mental well-being. But it can also wound, exclude and silence.
Like most human institutions, it is neither cure-all nor curse. It depends – on the community, the individual and the experience.
[Abridged]
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