Do Mormons have poor mental health?

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by YOhio

If you have poor mental health it's most likely the result of unresovled sins.

You never miss a chance to take a swipe at Utah.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by myboynoah

You never miss a chance to take a swipe at Utah.

Sorry. I was just imitating exUte.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by exUte

it may answer your inquiry. My guess is that 75% of them are ute grads. They don't know if they are coming or going and that would be very depressing.

Ex, you're just plain not smart enough to engage in this gadfly role you seem to have undertaken lately. Stick to the things you are qualified to do. Peel a potato for example.

[woot]

Originally Posted by YOhio

If you have poor mental health it's most likely the result of unresovled sins.

Said in jest, but it's crazy how often this sort of thing is said seriously. If you haven't received a spiritual witness, it's because you're not trying hard/righteous enough; if you aren't happy it's because you don't have the spirit and/or aren't living the gospel enough. When so much of our missionary efforts involve getting people to try living the gospel so they can see how happy it makes them, there is great pressure on those who are already members to be happy.

I hope those ideas are beginning to change, and most in this forum seem to have gotten past such silliness, but it really can be quite damaging to live in a culture that believes those things.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by KiteRider

How do I fail as a father? By failing to provide? If my kids don't have shoes, my Bishop might ask me some questions. If my kids aren't emotionally well adjusted, that burden traditionally falls to the mother. Shoes vs emotional well being. I'll accept my burden with gratitude.

You honestly only see your role as provider. That last leadership training video (Oaks, Holland and three ladies) went out if its way to stress that men are just not providers (as if I needed to be told that) and needed to help their wives in nurturing.

I kept waiting for them the say that wives needed to help their husbands in providing, but it didn't come. Maybe that comes in part two.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by KiteRider

Most active women will serve in one of the high-stress callings at one point or another, as is the case with most active men. I would also generalize from watching my wife and knowing myself, that most women take their visiting teaching more seriously than most men take their home teaching. One thing that we decided after discussing this for a bit was that it was apples and oranges. The differences between male and female expectations in the church are big enough that I'm not sure we can really understand the stresses we face respectively. One thing I knew for certain though, if I kept on pressing the point, I was going to find myself in the dog house.

But I really did find her argument convincing. One difference between the stress of men and women in the church is that much of the social expectation piled on women has everything to do with the core of who and what they are. They are women, and mothers and wives. What is more important than that? If I fail in my little calling at church, I know I will get called to something else, and I will try again. If my wife fails at being a woman, wife or mother, she has failed to the very core of who she is, and how she thinks God sees her. How do I fail as a father? By failing to provide? If my kids don't have shoes, my Bishop might ask me some questions. If my kids aren't emotionally well adjusted, that burden traditionally falls to the mother. Shoes vs emotional well being. I'll accept my burden with gratitude.

There is a difference between "doing" and "leading". Women by a vast margin are not given the opportunity to lead in the church. Therefore the pressure is much less.

[BYU71]

Originally Posted by YOhio

If you have poor mental health it's most likely the result of unresovled sins.

My poor mental health has to do with a sin I passed up on. I haven't been able to resolve the fact I passed up on it.

[K-dog]

Are there any studies correlating religious populations with mental illness? I would expect there to be higher rates of mental illness in all religious populations.

[BYU71]

Originally Posted by K-dog

Are there any studies correlating religious populations with mental illness? I would expect there to be higher rates of mental illness in all religious populations.

Would you consider suicide bombers as a mental health issue. Would you consider the people at Jonestown, Waco and the folks that were going to meet a Spaceship as religious people.

On the other side I wouldn't consider Ted Bundy, Hitler and Stalin as religious people. It is a good question though as far as tendencies go.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by K-dog

I would expect there to be higher rates of mental illness in all religious populations.

"MEGA DITTOS!!!"

Seattle Ute