This book provides a new perspective on the association between religious beliefs and mental health. The book is divided into five parts, the first of which traces the development of theories of organic evolution in the cultural and religious context before Charles Darwin. Part II describes the major evolutionary theories that Darwin proposed in his three books on evolution, and the religious, sociological, and scientific reactions to his theories. Part III introduces the reader to the concept of evolutionary psychiatry. It discusses how different regions of the brain evolved over time, and explains that certain brain regions evolved to protect us from danger by assessing threats of harm in the environment, including other humans. Specifically, this part describes: how psychiatric symptoms that are commonly experienced by normal individuals during their everyday lives are the product of brain mechanisms that evolved to protect us from harm; the prevalence rate of psychiatric symptoms in the U.S. general population; how religious and other beliefs influence the brain mechanisms that underlie psychiatric symptoms; and the brain regions that are involved in different psychiatric disorders. Part IV presents the findings of U.S. studies demonstrating that positive beliefs about God and life-after-death, and belief in meaning-in-life and divine forgiveness have salutary associations with mental health, whereas negative beliefs about God and life-after-death, belief in the Devil and human evil, and doubts about one's religious beliefs have pernicious associations with mental health. The last part of the book summarizes each section and recommends research on the brain mechanism underlying psychiatric symptoms, and the relationships among these brain mechanisms, religious beliefs, and mental health in the context of ETAS Theory.

This book takes readers from very basic research concepts, such as 'causality' and 'variables', to the application of different types of statistical analyses. The first two chapters introduce the scientific method and causality, and assess the degree to which the major types of research designs used in health care studies allow researchers to make causal inferences. The book concludes with a detailed description of the seven critical factors that must be controlled to draw causal inferences from experimental studies. The rest of the book covers levels of measurement, i.e. nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales; operational definitions; risk factors, independent and dependent variables, and other kinds of variables; how to calculate and interpret measures of central tendency and variability; the normal curve; commonly used measures of association and what they mean; criteria that have been suggested for inferring causality from nonexperimental research; and different types of t-tests. This book provides fundamental and practical knowledge about research methodology that is essential for health care chaplains, and students and professionals in other health care fields and the social sciences. The chapters in this book were originally published as articles in the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy.

This book provides a new perspective on the association between religious beliefs and mental health. The book is divided into five parts, the first of which traces the development of theories of organic evolution in the cultural and religious context before Charles Darwin. Part II describes the major evolutionary theories that Darwin proposed in his three books on evolution, and the religious, sociological, and scientific reactions to his theories. Part III introduces the reader to the concept of evolutionary psychiatry. It discusses how different regions of the brain evolved over time, and explains that certain brain regions evolved to protect us from danger by assessing threats of harm in the environment, including other humans. Specifically, this part describes: how psychiatric symptoms that are commonly experienced by normal individuals during their everyday lives are the product of brain mechanisms that evolved to protect us from harm; the prevalence rate of psychiatric symptoms in the U.S. general population; how religious and other beliefs influence the brain mechanisms that underlie psychiatric symptoms; and the brain regions that are involved in different psychiatric disorders. Part IV presents the findings of U.S. studies demonstrating that positive beliefs about God and life-after-death, and belief in meaning-in-life and divine forgiveness have salutary associations with mental health, whereas negative beliefs about God and life-after-death, belief in the Devil and human evil, and doubts about one's religious beliefs have pernicious associations with mental health. The last part of the book summarizes each section and recommends research on the brain mechanism underlying psychiatric symptoms, and the relationships among these brain mechanisms, religious beliefs, and mental health in the context of ETAS Theory.

This book takes readers from very basic research concepts, such as 'causality' and 'variables', to the application of different types of statistical analyses. The first two chapters introduce the scientific method and causality, and assess the degree to which the major types of research designs used in health care studies allow researchers to make causal inferences. The book concludes with a detailed description of the seven critical factors that must be controlled to draw causal inferences from experimental studies. The rest of the book covers levels of measurement, i.e. nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio scales; operational definitions; risk factors, independent and dependent variables, and other kinds of variables; how to calculate and interpret measures of central tendency and variability; the normal curve; commonly used measures of association and what they mean; criteria that have been suggested for inferring causality from nonexperimental research; and different types of t-tests. This book provides fundamental and practical knowledge about research methodology that is essential for health care chaplains, and students and professionals in other health care fields and the social sciences. The chapters in this book were originally published as articles in the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy.