PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT - A CONTROLLED-STUDY

The relationship between psychopathology and religious commitment was explored in a group of psychiatric patients (n = 44) with depression, anxiety disorders and personality disorders, compared with a control g roup of healthy subjects (n = 45). Neuroticism and the degree of relig ious involvement were measured in all probands. The findings did not s how any correlation between neuroticism and religiosity. While life sa tisfaction was negatively correlated with neuroticism, there was a sig nificantly positive correlation with religious commitment. Anxiety con cerning sexuality, superego conflicts and childhood fears of God was p rimarily associated with neuroticism and not with religious commitment . The findings support the clinical observations that the primary fact or in explaining neurotic functioning in religious patients is not the ir personal religious commitment but their underlying psychopathology.