Yes, this makes me think of the parents that lock up their gay children to save them from 'sinning' and other abuses carried out by families in order to 'save' their offspring.
The guilt thing is a humdinger - an expert on mental health I read not so long (can't think who, read such a lot on this) said that low self esteem is at the root of much of the anxiety and depression people have. Well, rrligion's reslly helpful there - feel guilty for wanting things, feel guilty for having things, feel guilty for making mistakes, feel guilty for geing alive. And Jesus loves you but you're so shit his dad had to kill him before you're allowed to join the party.
Not remotely dysfunctional. 
Quote from: wigginhall on May 06, 2016, 04:48:02 PM
Very interesting. Freud wrote about this over a 100 years ago, the connection between 'obsessional neurosis' and religious ritual. The ritual is a kind of defensive measure, to protect one against the feared thing that might happen, often punishment, or loss of control, or I suppose, pleasure.
You also get a link with guilt - I am a miserable sinner - and also repression, I must squish down my instinctual search for pleasure, because that is BAAAD.
It doesn't mean that the whole of religion is neurotic, but the similarities with neuroses are striking.
Yes, this makes me think of the parents that lock up their gay children to save them from 'sinning' and other abuses carried out by families in order to 'save' their offspring.
The guilt thing is a humdinger - an expert on mental health I read not so long (can't think who, read such a lot on this) said that low self esteem is at the root of much of the anxiety and depression people have. Well, rrligion's reslly helpful there - feel guilty for wanting things, feel guilty for having things, feel guilty for making mistakes, feel guilty for geing alive. And Jesus loves you but you're so shit his dad had to kill him before you're allowed to join the party.
Not remotely dysfunctional.
Dorothy Rowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Dorothy Rowe (born December 1930) is an Australian psychologist and author, whose area of interest is depression. Dr. Rowe currently resides in the United Kingdom.
Dorothy Rowe at Humber Mouth 2009
Rowe came to England in her forties, working at Sheffield University and was the head of Lincolnshire Department of Clinical Psychology.[1] In addition to her published works on depression, she is a regular columnist in the UK.[2][3]
She spent her time working with depressed patients and, through listening to their stories, came to reject the medical model of mental illness, instead working within personal construct theory.[4] She believes that depression is a result of beliefs which do not enable a person to live comfortably with themselves or the world. Most notably it is the belief in a "Just World" (that the bad are punished and the good rewarded) that exacerbates feelings of fear and anxiety if disaster strikes. Part of recovering is accepting that the external world is unpredictable and that we control relatively little of it.
The BBC were required to apologise to Dorothy Rowe in 2009 after the production editing of her radio interview misrepresented her views on the impact of religion in providing structure to people's lives.[5]
Rhi I just wondered if you might find Dorothy interesting because you, it seems to me, arrived at a similar conclusion in this post of yours,
I can’t quote her verbatim but she has said that most of her work came from people that have developed various disorders because of their dealings with religion.
I did think you may have misunderstood my previous post to you on this thread, I was meaning that your conclusions were so very similar to Dorothy’s, to your credit, well that’s what I meant.
There’s plenty more about her on Wikki.
ippy
