For many of us, faith in a higher power becomes a source of spiritual comfort and consolation. Do anxious people find the long-awaited peace in religion, and why are they more likely than others to turn to the supernatural?
Anxiety and interest in the supernatural
Scientists believe that anxious people remember religious stories better and therefore become believers more often.
Historians of religion and psychologists conducted an experiment in which more than 900 Internet users took part. The study participants were given a story to read in which some of the characters had incredible abilities: the gift of immortality, the ability to read minds or see the future. Immediately after this, the subjects were asked to recall the details of the story. This test was then repeated three weeks later.
To test whether people in a state of worry and anxiety really remember stories about the supernatural better, half of the participants were shown frightening pictures before the story or before the test and were given threatening text to read. It turned out that anxious people remembered characters with incredible abilities better than ordinary heroes.
Fear and awe
Perhaps anxious people are more religious because faith gives them a sense of comfort and solace? But this theory does not take into account the fact that in almost all religions, higher powers can get angry, sending various disasters and punishments on sinners.
“Our research shows that anxious people are drawn to the supernatural precisely because it frightens them. Perhaps in the future, faith will be able to give them peace and comfort, but initially it also causes them fear and discomfort, ”says lead author Thomas Swan.
“Each of us has experienced losses, everyone knows such feelings as longing, anxiety, dissatisfaction. We want to believe that higher powers treat us with kindness and love.
Therefore, when some major troubles or tragedies occur, we do not understand why it happened. We have an internal contradiction that needs to be resolved somehow. And many people come to the conclusion that life’s tragedies are punishments that a formidable, punishing god sends on us, ”says psychologist Jacqueline Bauer.
Does faith bring peace?
“When everything around you turns into chaos, faith can help maintain a sense of control over life. It gives us a system of principles that allow us to understand and comprehend this vast, chaotic and unpredictable world.
Religion gives us a kind of “emotional boost” that allows us to cope with the awareness of our own mortality and the seeming meaninglessness of life. Faith helps to satisfy our desire to understand the world around us and learn how to manage it,” explains psychotherapist Anna-Lisa Oatman.