An investigation into the significance and employment of religious beliefs in schizophrenia

The study investigated the use of religious beliefs by schizophrenic subjects. It is suggested that the primary function of religious belief is sote-riological. Amongst schizophrenic subjects this was related to defending against the existential experience of entropy. Religious beliefs functioned to provide security from the perceived chaos and threatened collapse of the individual's assumptive world. Schizophrenia is understood as a functional disorder. Medical, social and psychological models were considered. Contributions from cognitive psychology were examined and particularly from personal construct theory. A personal construct theory approach was adopted and a methodology designed for the study. Results from a pilot trial led to the employment of a fuzzy logic for data collection in the main study. A fuzzy scored repertory grid was applied with other instruments developed for the investigation. Schizophrenic subjects were contrasted and compared with subjects from psychiatric hospital, general hospital and non-hospital control groups. The principal hypothesis that schizophrenic subjects employ religious beliefs as a defence against entropy was elaborated through four sub-hypotheses. The results were generally consistent with the hypothesis. Schizophrenic subjects demonstrated a greater intensity of belief compared to non-hospital subjects, which was not as marked when contrasted with other controls. Irrespective of mood changes following treatment as hospital in-patients, schizophrenic subjects remained consistent in their construing of the religious domain. The study provides a foundation for incorporating fuzzy logic in future methodological developments of the repertory grid. The application of fuzzy scored repertory grids to religion and religious beliefs in schizophrenia, opens new areas of therapeutic potential in the care of people diagnosed as schizophrenic.