[JohnDeHope]

I'm in RCIA classes to convert to Catholicism. I'm skipping this Easter's big confirmation event to give it some more time. I'm chiming in to reply to this comment. Catholicism is a practical way to deal with the guilt you (should?) already feel.

[wilg]

I definitely would recommend trying therapy before religion.

[za3faran]

Not mutually exclusive. Also, would you include most, if not all present day ideologies as "religion"? Including the one in this very post.

[wilg]

I would not.

[za3faran]

It was a rhetorical statement.

[wilg]

How bizarre.

[prottog]

Religion has had that role of support and counsel for millennia. Therapy is a newcomer on the scene, with generally little evidence for its efficacy above and beyond what talking to a religious leader would provide; so much so that there is a growing movement for "evidence-based therapy", whose existence might imply that the other kind is evidence-free.

[wilg]

I think you're misrepresenting the efficacy of psychotherapy, and I don't think you'll have a lot of success pitching religion as an evidence-based alternative.

[rayiner]

The scientific evidence strongly supports the conclusion that religious people are happier and healthier than non-religious people: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/389510/relig...

[tptacek]

This makes sense, but none of it supports an argument that religious observance is a reasonable alternative to acute mental health care. Religious people are healthier than non-religious people, but when their appendices burst, they still need a doctor, not a deacon.

[rayiner]

I didn’t say it was an alternative to acute mental health care. But like physical health, mental health has a large component that’s just about supporting people in their daily lives. My parents are aging secular humanists. They’re now dealing with friends and siblings dying off. They’re handling it normally, and they don’t need acute medical intervention. But they’d probably be happier if they had set foot in a mosque every once in awhile and had a faith community to lean on through these completely normal live events that happen to everyone.

[joemazerino]

How is thousand of years not evidence?

Therapy is important but don't discount the power of prayer and community.