This volume interweaves concepts and methods from psychology and other social sciences with Jewish ideas and practices in order to address contemporary social issues. This volume brings together pioneering research from scholars in such fields as psychology, education, and religious studies. The authors integrate insights from Jewish texts and practices with the methods and concepts of the social sciences to create interventions that promote the well-being of children, adults, families, communities, and society. Divided into three sections - Education, Psychological Well-Being, Society and Beyond- this book shows how this integrationist approach can deepen our understanding and generate new insights around pressing social challenges to impact positive change in the lives of people and communities.

Are religious practices involving seeing visions and speaking in tongues beneficial or detrimental to mental health? Do some cultures express distress in bodily form because they lack the linguistic categories to express distress psychologically? Do some religions encourage clinical levels of obsessional behaviour? And are religious people happier than others? By merging the growing information on religion and mental health with that on culture and mental health, Kate Loewenthal enables fresh perspectives on these questions. This book deals with different psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, manic disorders, depression, anxiety, somatisation and dissociation as well as positive states of mind, and analyses the religious and cultural influences on each.

This volume interweaves concepts and methods from psychology and other social sciences with Jewish ideas and practices in order to address contemporary social issues. This volume brings together pioneering research from scholars in such fields as psychology, education, and religious studies. The authors integrate insights from Jewish texts and practices with the methods and concepts of the social sciences to create interventions that promote the well-being of children, adults, families, communities, and society. Divided into three sections - Education, Psychological Well-Being, Society and Beyond- this book shows how this integrationist approach can deepen our understanding and generate new insights around pressing social challenges to impact positive change in the lives of people and communities.

Are religious practices involving seeing visions and speaking in tongues beneficial or detrimental to mental health? Do some cultures express distress in bodily form because they lack the linguistic categories to express distress psychologically? Do some religions encourage clinical levels of obsessional behaviour? And are religious people happier than others? By merging the growing information on religion and mental health with that on culture and mental health, Kate Loewenthal enables fresh perspectives on these questions. This book deals with different psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, manic disorders, depression, anxiety, somatisation and dissociation as well as positive states of mind, and analyses the religious and cultural influences on each.