title: Religious Dissociation and Economic Appraisal in Brazil.
abstract: Research on the association between religion and health often neglects to provide an explicit theoretical mechanism of influence between faith and well-being. This research posits that dissociative behaviors, such as glossolalia, may provide a biological pathway that influences both physiological and psychological health. This paper argues that religious dissociation acts as a moderator between economic stressors and psychobiological appraisal. Brazil, with its economic inequality and preponderance of religious dissociative rituals, provides an ideal context to examine religious dissociation as a moderator of stress. Utilizing data from a cross section of Brazilian faiths, this paper examines: (1) Whether individuals with low socioeconomic status preferentially participate and experience religious dissociative states and (2) whether dissociative states are correlated with greater psychological appraisal of status.
authors: Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322-0730, USA. francois.dengah@usu.edu.
authors: H J
authors: HJ
authors: François Dengah
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Brazil; Dissociation; Glossolalia; Health; Pentecostal; Protestant; Religion; Stress