Faith vs. Belief: A Comparative Analysis
Posted by Improving Lives Counseling Services, Inc. | Counseling
There was a time when man believed the earth was flat, that removing blood from a person could cure any illness, that shock treatments cured impotence, vibrators treated hysteria, doctrine legitimized slavery, and anyone could talk to the dead. Throughout time, mankind’s behavior has been driven by beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and faith. These are important because they control how people perceive the world and respond to others. Beliefs can be dangerous when they are misdirected, influencing, and/or affecting physical and mental well-being. Using cognitive behavioral therapy, the counselors, therapists, and clinicians of Improving Lives Counseling Services treat amoral, delusional, and behavioral disorders.
BELIEFS
Belief is a certainty, with or without proof, that something exists. A conviction at the cerebral level, beliefs are experienced or observed through first-hand, practical, and/or logical reasonings. Many feel compelled to use the same detergent, deodorant, and toothpaste their parents used. Others insist on living in the same neighborhood, driving the same car, and attending the same university and church. Culture, race, environment, community, dogma, and family dynamics play a role in establishing and triggering beliefs. Good beliefs guide actions, shape identities, perceptions, and behaviors.
False Beliefs – Delusions
Delusional disorder is a type of mental illness based on false beliefs involving real-life situations. Researchers have identified structural and functional changes in the brains of delusional patients. Common types of delusional disorders include: Erotomaniac, a belief someone is in love with you; Persecutory, a belief you are being mistreated; Grandiose, a belief you are all knowing, jealousy, and the bizarre. “Somatic delusion, a type of delusion involving the body, makes the individual feel like the body is invaded by illness, outside forces, or foreign organisms like insects.” The exact cause of delusional disorder is unknown; however, factors such as alcohol, drugs, social isolation, loneliness, abuse, stress, low self-esteem, and environment can trigger delusions. Physical effects can include rapid heartbeat, trouble breathing, blurry vision, weight gain or loss, headaches, sweating, lack of energy, periods of rigidity, and chronic pain.
Strongly held delusions, false beliefs, and misconceptions can be found among the most elite, and highly educated. Psychologist Samuel Cartwright penned “Dropetomania” to describe the psychological disorder that caused enslaved Africans to attempt escape. He strongly believed the desire to be free was a mental illness – developing corrective treatments to mitigate the behavior.”
People with delusional disorder usually have no diagnosed mental illness – however people diagnosed with hallucinating, hearing voices, reliving trauma, schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder can experience delusions. Delusions can lead to alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, promiscuity, criminality, suicidality, and harm to others. Improving Lives Counseling Services’ licensed mental health professionals diagnosis and treat delusional and other behavioral disorders.
FAITH
Faith is a strong belief in a person, place, idea, or thing, devoid of coherent proof or empirical evidence. Trust, belief, commitment, reliance, and conviction are just a few words associated with faith. Typically associated with dogma, people have faith in family, believing they will support them; in doctors, believing they will heal them; and in law enforcement, believing they will protect them. Various sects believe that “faith is a channel through which divine healing flows.”
For many, faith is separate from beliefs: “Faith involves reliance and trust, and it endures in the face of doubts, whereas belief is simply something we take to be true.” Others say, “Belief has come to mean a state of mind which is almost the opposite of faith. It’s the difference between an assurance that you know how things are, and a willingness to recognize that you never will.”
The intellectual divide between faith and belief has created racial, religious, societal, and cultural stigmas around mental health and mental well-being. Some sects believe they can only be healed by faith, refusing outside physical and mental health care, while others are comfortable combining faith with licensed mental health intervention.
Years of studies and research have been conducted on the relationship between belief and faith. Some studies show that people who have faith recover more rapidly when ill, while others suggest that faith is strongest when one believes in medical professionals. Belief and its relationship, or non-relationship, to faith spans a wide area of thought. Faith can influence how a person lives, how they dress, where they go, the food they eat, the books they read, the music they listen to, and the news they watch.
Misdirected Faith
“A February 2024 study in the Examination of Religion and Ministry Journal found that 1 in 3 Americans suffer some form of trauma related to religion at some point in their lives. The findings led to debate among psychiatrists as to whether it should be officially classified as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”
Like belief, faith can be misdirected. Many in the psychiatric community believe exposure to theocracies, cults, venerations, and heresies changes the prefrontal cortex of the brain, creating blind or “unthinking” faith. In Jonestown, 909 people died because they had faith (and unquestionable belief) in their religious leader; certain sects instruct followers to avoid medical care, while others sanction hatred, injustice, complacency, and male dominance.
Improving Lives Counseling Services recognizes the importance of healing from such religious trauma. We offer a virtual support group every Wednesday at 5:30 PM to those who have experienced the negative effects of misguided faith. Contact us for more information and start your healing journey today.
SUMMARY
Beliefs, like faith, paint a picture of who we are, how we see the world, and how we treat others. When misdirected, they can lead to chronic stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, dissociative disorders, psychosis, behavioral and emotional disorders, and, at extremes, serious mental illness, criminality, suicidality, and death. Improving Lives Counseling Services has a diverse team of licensed professional counselors, therapists, and clinicians who provide counseling, diagnosis, and treatment of behavioral and mental health disorders.
