title: Religiosity and mental health.
abstract: Mental health is not considered only as absence of mental disorders, but rather as the achievement of higher standards of available psychical potentials. True devotion and obedience to The God give the one a huge and incredible strength, constant source of spiritual emotional and moral energy, which is of help in resisting destructive and slavery attacks of the environment and its materialistic-consuming tendencies, as well as social and mental disruption. According to the opinion of numerous worldwide recognized mental health experts, humankind of today is confronted with a number of problems, which are the consequence of spiritual and moral-ethical degradation of human being. Therefore, religiosity became the field of interest of mental health researchers. The results of new studies undoubtedly indicate beneficial effects of religion on life and mental health in humans. Religiosity reduces tendencies for risky behaviour, impulsive reactions and aggression; it corrects tendencies towards psychopathic and paranoid behaviour, reduces converse, depressive and schizoid tendency, and provides successful overcome of emotional conflicts. In comparison to low-religious adolescents, the factors such as inner conflicts, frustration, fear, anxiety, psychological trauma, low self-esteem, unbalance of psychical homeostasis, emotional instability, and negative psychical energy are less present in highly religious adolescents and neutralized in a healthier and more efficient way. Beneficial impact of religion on mental health derives from precise cognitive-behavioural patterns, which provide a clear life orientation, solid basis and safe frames for personality development, assuring human to be continually on the way to achieve its own generic essence and reach its own maturity and self-actualization.
authors.affiliation: University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Trnovac b.b, 75000 Tuzla, Bosna i Hercegovina. zikjri@bih.net.ba
authors.forename: Izet
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pajević
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sinanović
authors.forename: Mevludin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasanović
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D035863:Moral Development; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012945:Social Values; D012951:Socialization; D013140:Spiritualism