Lesson 4 of 6 · The whisper has a name
One caution about religiosity
It is worth saying what the research does and does not find here, because it is easy to misread.
Being religious has not been shown to cause this. Where scrupulosity does turn up alongside strong religiosity, one line of research points at two specific things as what connects them. A belief that you must control what appears in your mind, and guilt at having failed to. That work is all cross sectional, so it shows a road and not a direction of travel.
That is a belief about thoughts. It is not a teaching of the religion. The religion, as you saw two lessons ago, says close to the opposite.
What the research says
The evidence that being religious raises your risk of developing this is scarce. What differs between communities is only which content the illness latches onto, which means your religion did not cause this.
These authors state it plainly: the evidence that religion increases the risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder is scarce. What varies between communities is which content the illness attaches itself to.
Greenberg D, Huppert JD (2010). Scrupulosity: a unique subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12(4), 282 to 289 doi
Where more religious people did report more obsessional symptoms, the link ran through beliefs about needing to control your thoughts and through guilt, not through religiosity itself. The belief about thoughts is the part that can change.
In Muslim and Christian samples alike, where higher religiosity went with more obsessional symptoms, the link ran through beliefs about needing to control one's thoughts and through guilt, rather than through religiosity itself.
Inozu M, Karanci AN, Clark DA (2012). Why are religious individuals more obsessional? The role of mental control beliefs and guilt in Muslims and Christians. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43(3), 959 to 966 doi
The same pattern in a different community, running through the belief that a thought is as good as an act and that thoughts must be controlled. It is printed here because these associations are real in some samples and you deserve the counterweight as well as the reassurance.
The same shape in a different community. The association ran through thought-action fusion and through beliefs about the importance of controlling thoughts. Printed here because the associations are real in some samples and this course is not going to pretend otherwise.
Abramowitz JS, Deacon BJ, Woods CM, Tolin DF (2004). Association between Protestant religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and cognitions. Depression and Anxiety, 20(2), 70 to 76 doi