ControlFreak wrote:DrW wrote:Neuroscientist Says Religious Fundamentalism Could Be Treated As A Mental Illness
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/3 ... ostpopular
Guess I am not the only one who sees the practice of a fundamentalist religion as a sign or symptom of a mental disorder.
Interesting thread and interesting article.
One thing I would say, is that it seems a little inaccurate to call religious fundamentalism or religious delusions a mental "disorder" or "illness". That makes it sound like it is something uncommon and flawed in the individual that has the disorder.
It seems more like a general vulnerability that we all have the potential to fall victim to. We generally don't call obesity a "disorder" or an "illness", but rather a medical "condition" or "state". Everyone is subject to becoming obese; you just have to eat too much crap. Some people become obese rather easily, while others seem to be able to eat all the crap they want. But in the end, anyone can become obese.
I see religious delusions that same way. Everyone is subject to it, but some people have consumed a lot more crap and/or exercised their logic and free thinking muscles a lot less. Some people can stomache a whole lot of religious crap without becoming obese. Some people only need a little to pack it on.
If we can come up with the mental equivalent of gastric bypass surgery to help those in a deluded condition, that would be awesome. Of course, the whole problem with delusion is that you have a hard time convincing the sick individual that they need medical attention...
We have campaigns to stop parents from feeding their kids crap all the time and getting more exercise. Maybe it's time to campaign for parents to stop indoctrinating their children's minds with religious BS and encourage them to practice reason and free thinking for at least 30min a day?
Great comments. Just the kind of things I have been thinking about a bit lately.
As to your comments on the obligation of parents (or parental figures in this case) to intervene with overweight kids, we have a junior employee who is smart and a good IT worker, and we value his contribution. Unfortunately, the kid is also a gamer and doesn't get much exercise.
Our company physician recently came to me with some concerns about this kid. Turns out that he just turned 21, is overweight, and the doc advised me that he has worse cholesterol, triglyceride and blood glucose numbers than either of us. (We are both a lot older than 21 and the good Doctor has had heart issues of his own and knows whereof he speaks.)
The doc asked me if we should have a sit-down with this kid and tell him the truth, since he is now a legal adult and no longer the responsibility of his parents. I know the kid and replied, "with both barrels".
We sort of double teamed him. Turned out during the interview, as the doc had guessed, that there was also family history of diabetes.
When we finished describing this young man's not to distant future if he did not get his weight and metabolic indicators under control, the he was a bit shaken. His mother emailed me a week or so later to thank me and say that the kid had a gym membership and was now working out for an hour a day, 5-6 days a week. Doc agreed to follow up with him monthly, at no charge, until he got things under control.
Your post made me think about how great it would be if I could do this kind of thing with some of my young TBM relatives. I would describe to them how much better off they would be in retirement if they put that 10% into a good IRA. I would describe the travel and adventures they could enjoy if they were not obliged to spend their Sundays in Church. They would learn about the cardiovascular benefits of a low stress lifestyle, wherein one can relax or better yet get out and exercise on the weekend instead of going to their second job at Church. I would even be willing to follow up with them to see how they were progressing at no charge.