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There has been a lot of debate over the relationship between religion and mental health.
One common misconception that the non-religious face, is that without religion, the non-religious individual will not have sufficient psychological and emotional support in life, leading to increased risk of mental health issues.
The 2021 IMH Study
In 2021, a local study done by a team from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, set out to build upon research on the mental health benefits of religion, especially in the context of multicultural Asian populations like Singapore’s. Their findings were reported in the Straits Times – “Religion linked to better mental health, says study done in Singapore”, published on Aug 03, 2021.
Published in the International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health in March, the study assessed the positive mental health (PMH) of 2,270 adults in Singapore and identified trends relating to their religious affiliations. The data was collected from August 2016 to April 2018 as part of the larger Singapore Mental Health Study 2016, which aimed to find out the state of mental health in Singapore’s adult population.
In this study, PMH was measured using six markers: General coping, emotional support, spirituality, interpersonal skills, personal growth and autonomy, and global affect, which is the experience of being calm, happy, peaceful, relaxed or enthusiastic. In an interview with The Straits Times, lead researcher Janhavi Vaingankar described PMH as “a person’s attitudes towards themselves, ability to handle life’s surprises and ability to reach their true potential and resist stress”.
Zeroing in on predominant religions in Singapore, the study evaluated respondents affiliated to Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Sikhism, which made up about 78% of those surveyed. Participants with these religions scored significantly higher in total PMH compared to those without a religion, the study found. The total PMH score did not vary much between people of different religions.
The picture is more nuanced
The Humanist Society argues that the picture is more nuanced, and there are other papers with a different conclusion.
For example, there is a paper titled “Is religion beneficial for mental health? A 9-year longitudinal study” published in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (Volume 24, Issue 3, July–September 2024)
The abstract from the paper:
| “Using a large sample of adults residing in Germany from the GESIS Panel study (N = 8146), the random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used. Data on six dimensions of religion (i.e., membership in a religious community; attendance at a place of worship; frequency of prayers; importance of religion in life; and participation in a religious organization) and three indicators of mental health (i.e., depression symptoms, happiness, and life satisfaction) were collected. The findings revealed that there is almost no evidence of lagged effects of religion on mental health and limited evidence regarding the role of mental health in influencing the dimensions of religion. Moreover, at the between-person level, there was some evidence of significant covariance between the trait-like components, indicating stable, trait-like differences between persons on religion and mental health. The beneficial effect of religion on mental health may have been exaggerated in previous research.” |
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There is also another study published in 2025, and it studies the relationship between religious service attendance (not just having a religion) and mental health.
Using modeling techniques that tracked relationships over time within individuals in the joint relationships between religious attendance and mental health outcome measures, the Italian researcher came to one surprising conclusion. In contrast to the prior literature suggesting mental health would benefit from religious attendance, the effects simply weren’t there.
The actual study can be found here.
Photo above: The Humanist Society organises events every month. The picture above is a hike along the southern coast of Singapore.
We need to exercise caution
Mental health issues can be very complex and have multiple root causes.
Some mental health issues are genetic and clinical, and simply cannot be attributed to having a religion or not. Some mental health issues are caused by circumstances in life, which also cannot be attributed neatly to religiosity or non-religiousity.
There is no doubt that supporting communities can be helpful in providing support to people who have poor mental health. And it is widely acknowledged that religious communities are often the most organised and consistently available in many countries.
Nonetheless, attributing better mental health to simply having a religion causes the following risks:
- If widely believed, this attribution contributes to stigma for non-religious individuals, especially faith-leavers pressured by their family and community to return to religious communities they were born into.
- If a person’s mental health is affected by religious trauma, then more religious exposure might actually worsen the situation, rather than help. (Note: Religious trauma can be defined as a psychological condition that occurs when religious teachings and practices become sources of emotional distress.)
- A non-religious person facing mental health issues might be pressured — even by those who are well-meaning — to join a religious community because they feel that non-religiosity is the root cause of their mental health issues.
- A person facing mental health issues could see religion as a solution, bypassing professional diagnosis and help. While religious communities can provide a supporting community, they are ultimately not the best place to get evidence-based diagnosis and treatment.
Photo above: The Humanist Society organises the Humanist Cafe which provides peer support to people at different stages of life.
Our experience on the ground
Over the years, the Humanist Society (Singapore) has organised events for many non-religious participants, and met people from all walks of life. Like any community, we have also engaged individuals with underlying mental health conditions.
We do have small numbers of participants who come from conservative religious family backgrounds and had a challenging experience growing up. They can come with religious trauma and take many years to recover.
The Humanist Society strives to build communities to support these people, although it can be challenging given that we are an all-volunteer organisation. But from our experience, attributing better mental health to simply having a religion is most harmful to those with religious trauma.
Future studies on the relationship between religion and mental health should take into account this group, to provide a fuller picture.
