Religion and Mental Health

This book presents a comprehensive and scientific review of the research during the past fifty years on the relationship between religion and health in later life. It will help professionals gain awareness of the importance of religious and spiritual variables among older people. The widespread interest in religion among today's elderly suggests its value as a coping strategy and personal resource. Unlike any other in the field, this volume synthesizes both past research and new findings, including recent unpublished data, into a model of how religion might interact with other variables to help determine adaptation to stress in laterlife.

The papers in this book have been written over a period of fifteen years, and focus in the similarity between psychoanalysis and religion. Symington argues that psychoanalysis can be seen as a scientiic religion with Freud as the leader of the movement.

Religion and Psychology is a thorough and incisive survey of the current relationship between religion and psychology from the leading scholars in the field. This is an essential resource for students and researchers in the area of psychology of religion. Issues addressed are:* The Psychology-Theology Dialogue* The Psychology-Comparativist Dialogue* Psychology, Religion and Gender Studies* Psychology "as" Religion* Social Scientific Approaches to the Psychology of Religion* The Empirical Approach* International Perspectives