1Assistant Professor, Centre for Human Ecology, School of Social Sciences, TISS, Deonar, Mumbai - 400088
2Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, University of Calcutta, 92, A. P. C. Road, Kolkata - 700009
Online published on 27 September, 2013.
The study was conducted to determine the impact of belief inGod on an individual ’s mental health. Mental health was conceived as consisting of – outcome variables: distress and well being, and resource variables: coping repertoire and ego-functions. Participants were divided into three categories of believers, non-believers and the unsure group. The sample consisted of 60 Bengali, Hindu males in the age group of 35–65 years. The General Health Questionnaire, the PGI Well being Scale, The Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale, the Coping Checklist and the Ego-Functions Assessment Scale were used to obtain data. Results indicated that believers showed greater sense of well-being and displayed a larger coping repertoire while the unsure group showed higher levels of distress. The second part of the study aimed to explore the world-view of people differing in their belief in God using different existential themes. The research was carried out in the qualitative tradition using the interview-schedule for data collection. The obtained data was subjected to phenomenological analysis and the results indicated that the believers, non-believers and the unsure group differed in the way they constructed their world-view.
Belief in God, Existentialism, Existential status, Mental Health
