宗敎人의 精神疾患에 관한 見解와 反應 - 佛敎, 圓佛敎, 天主敎를 對象으로 -

The Opinions and Responses of Three Religious Groups to Mental Disorders

Despite of mental illness causing disability and misery, the psychiatric services in Korea have not been efficiently untilized mainly due to the undesirable attitudes toward mentally ill people. The religous leader may be a good opinion maker about the psychiatric problem if proper education and information given. Thus, the attitudes of 355 religious people (the Buddhists, Catholics, and Won-Buddhists) to mental disorders were investigated. They were asked to choose one of the 7 modes of treatment-“Home care”, “Hospital or clinic treatment,” “Drug store medication”, “Oriental medicine” , “Religious healing，，, “Folk therapy”, and “Naturalistic care”, for 5 physical and 5 psychiatric symptoms. 8 case vignettes of Mental retardation, Mania, Seizure, Pyschotic depression, Schizophrenia, Antisocial personality disorder, Neurotic depression and Alcoholism were described and 5 types of questions about the cases (gravity, prognosis, therapeutic response, the possibility of marriage and occupation) were given to the religious people to investigate their reactions. Most subjects preferred Western medicine for physical symptoms whilst significant number of people chose religious healing for psychiatric symproms. The significant differences in the statistical analysis using chi square tests were found in Buddhists5 preferences for home care and religious healing for psychiatric symptoms. The overall rejecting attitudes toward mentally ill people in comparing three groups were not consistently observed. However, the significant differences were found ; (1) The Catholics considered the Seizure less grave and the prognosis of Alcoholism more pessimistic. (2) The Buddhists thought the Schizophrenia less grave, the prognosis of Psychotic depression more optimistic, and the Seizure more pessimistic. The mean responses of 355 subjects on the 8 cases were ; (1) Schizophrenia, Seizure, and Psychotic depression were seriously considered and Schizophrenia, most rejected. (2) Neurotic depression was most favorable and other cases took intemediate positions. We investigated whether some demographic characteristics played the confusing intermediate variables in statistical differences. There were no consistently significant results using the demographic findings as new variables. More negative and rejecting attitudes toward mentally ill people were found in our samples than in community leaders and shamanistic healers in Korea and the community leaders in Sudan, Phillipines and India. However, the religious people’ s perspectives of therapeutic response to the mentally ill people were rather optimistic except to Schizophrenia. It is concluded that the attitudes of three religious groups toward mental illness was not absolutely distorted or harmful, but could be more helpful for psychiatric care if further informations were properly given to them with mutual understandings between religious people and psychiatrists