Psychology Archives - BYU Studies

13 Apr 2020

Grace, Legalism, and Mental Health among the Latter-day Saints

by Savannah Ostler | | 0

The theological principle of the grace of God is found in the teachings of most world religions and is integral to the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The doctrine of God’s grace has been given greater institutional and personal attention among Latter-day Saints during the last several decades than previously. We recently published an empirical analysis on the relationship between God’s grace and the mental heatlh of Latter-day Saints in an APA (American Psychological Association) journal, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. What follows is an overview and summary in and observers of the Latter-day Saint community. The reporter here examined the relationship between grace, legalism, and mental health (related to depression, anxiety, perfectionism, and shame) in 635 students at Brigham Young University students. Although causality cannot be determined, the results of this study are consistent with the postulate that experiencing the grace of God is related to better mental health and that legalistic beliefs negatively affect the same experience.

6 Aug 2019

Unarmed Descent

by Trey Wallis | | 0

The response to R. D. Laing’s innovative psychiatry has been varied. One American colleague of Laing sees him as a “brilliant and sensitive paranoid schizophrenic.” Another psychoanalyst who is close to Laing, and familiar with his theoretical and clinical work, believes him to be “perhaps the most original and creative psychiatric thinker since Freud.” The intention of this essay is, with special reference to Laing’s first book, The Divided Self, to shed light on what is original and creative in his work. In particular, I would like to explore the importance of his achievement for three related concerns—psychiatric theory and practice, intellectual history, and literary criticism.

6 Aug 2019

Shrinking History

by Trey Wallis | | 0

A sure sign that a book is making some kind of impression is the number of reviews it receives. Shrinking History has received more than its share, and not without reason. Few books in recent years have made a more convincing case (if you accept it) for the abandonment of a major, though relatively new, historical methodology. Because so much time has passed since this book’s publication, it seems that a review of the most useful reviews is in order.

Publication notices found inside and on the back cover of the paperback edition would lead one to believe that all reviewers are agreed on the unqualified virtues of Shrinking History. But as usual, these selections are misleading. Reviewers do, however, agree on one major point, that Shrinking History is a “cogent critique of the present state of the newly developed field of psychohistory.” What cogent implies is another matter. To those critics who had rejected psychohistory before reading this book, it is the death knell for a floundering field. To those who believe that psychohistory is a worthy new means of discerning the past, Shrinking History is little more than a clever polemic. Few reviewers, however, have been able to discount its contents and arguments without careful consideration of Stannard’s major points.

6 Aug 2019

Confronting Abuse

by Trey Wallis | | 0

Abuse—it’s the psychological buzzword of the 1990s. We encounter an avalanche of information about abuse on television talk shows and sitcoms, in movies, magazines, children’s books, and at the office (sexual harassment). So many celebrities, neighbors, and family members are “coming out” about their abuse, that a national organization has been formed to fight this trend—the False Memory Syndrome Association, dedicated to disproving accusations of abuse. Thus the 1993 release of a book on abuse just for LDS audiences is no surprise. What may be a surprise, however, is that the book is very good. Typically, difficult or sensitive material in books for LDS readers is watered down or even misleading. While religious topics are thoroughly addressed, psychological topics (other than those in a few good marriage enrichment books) are generally done very poorly. Thus, finding a book that addresses both scholarly and sensitive material and that is written specifically for the LDS population is a rare treat.

6 Aug 2019

Joseph Smith

by Trey Wallis | | 0

Following up on his five-volume Early Mormon Documents series, Dan Vogel recently completed a psychobiography on Joseph Smith. Vogel adopts a similar thesis to Robert D. Anderson’s earlier work Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith: Psychobiography and the Book of Mormon. The author highlights major portions of Anderson’s earlier interpretations, and adheres to Anderson’s conclusions about Smith. Vogel, like Anderson, views the Book of Mormon as a fabricated history that was written by Smith as a medium for dealing with his dysfunctional family background and satisfying his own personal ambition. Having reviewed Anderson’s psychobiography, as well as that of Thomas Morain’s The Sword of Laban: Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Dissociated Mind, I found elements of both books heavily integrated into Vogel’s work. Consequently Vogel’s work suffers from many of the same weaknesses as these previous psychobiographies of Smith.

The author indicates in the introduction that he interprets “any claim of the paranormal . . . as delusion or fraud.” Discounting the supernatural, Vogel then asserts that he will use an approach in interpreting Smith’s personality that has “the fewest assumptions and inconsistencies, and requiring the least elaboration.” However, in borrowing from Anderson and Morain, who utilized an approach termed “applied psychoanalysis,” Vogel adheres to a modality that requires a significant amount of elaboration and assumptions. Although psychoanalysis is grounded in scientific and academic history, it is only loosely based on the body of knowledge about social and psychological phenomena, and when utilized in evaluating limited historical information it requires extensive speculation. Vogel’s applied psychoanalysis is rooted more in a system of beliefs and constructs than it is in a body of scientific knowledge. In turn, he speculates extensively that Joseph Smith’s childhood led to impairment in his adult personality. This may be at least part of the reason why Vogel limits his biography of Smith to the years 1805–1831, because psychoanalysts believe that most adult dysfunction stems from childhood.

6 Aug 2019

No Man Knows My Psychology

by Trey Wallis | | 0

Anyone (like me) approaching the study of Mormon history wet behind the ears soon confronts Fawn McKay Brodie’s famous (or, in certain LDS circles, infamous) biography of Joseph Smith. Quickly fulfilling Herbert Brayer’s prophecy that it “will probably be one of the most highly praised as well as highly condemned historical works of 1945,” No Man Knows My History elicited both wholesale acclaim (“the best book about the Mormons so far published,” Bernard De Voto enthused; a “definitive treatment,” seconded her friend Dale Morgan) and wholehearted condemnation (“the statement made by Joseph Smith that ‘no man knows my history,'” Milton Hunter concluded, “is still true as far as Fawn M. Brodie is concerned”). Unsurprisingly, non-Mormons typically favored the book, while Mormons fulminated against it. The biography further strained Brodie’s already ambivalent relationship with her father, an assistant to the LDS Church’s Council of the Twelve, and hastened her excommunication.

6 Aug 2019

Hedonism, Suffering, and Redemption

by Trey Wallis | | 0

Few questions have so animated the discourse of the philosopher and the priest, the physician and the poet, as why it is we suffer and what our suffering might possibly mean. Of course, the question has never been solely the province of the scholar or the professional, as can be attested by any parent who has had to look on helplessly as a young child wastes away in a hospital bed. The implications of how this most pressing question of life is answered and profound. As Truman Madsen has noted, for some “the most staggering objection to belief in a personal God is the ugly, tragic, overwhelming fact of human inequality and suffering.” Paradoxically, others have found in suffering not only the most divine assurances of God’s enduring love but also the overpowering call to brotherhood and full humanity. Mother Teresa, for example, taught that “in the slums, in the broken body, in the children, we see Christ and we touch him.” Clearly, in addressing the question of suffering, we are not just playing with some “academic toy” but are dealing with an issue of immense and potentially soul-rending human significance.

6 Aug 2019

Religion, Mental Health, and the Latter-day Saints

by Trey Wallis | | 0

The role of religion in psychology and mental health has been a subject of much debate. Some studies assert that high religiosity can lead to good mental health, and others assert that it may be a cause of emotional disturbance. Daniel Judd has analyzed fifty-eight studies and found an overwhelming relationship between an individual religiosity and mental health. In Religion, Mental Health and the Latter-day Saints, Judd selects twelve of those studies that evaluate Latter-day Saints, their religiosity, and their mental health. All but two of the studies have been previously published.

The articles in this impressive collection provide a careful review of the literature, and the authors employ sound research methods and data analysis. Not only were Latter-day Saints studied, but also individuals from other religions as well as those without religious affiliation or inclination. Importantly, sample populations were often drawn from geographical areas outside Utah.

Psychology

Grace, Legalism, and Mental Health among the Latter-day Saints

Unarmed Descent

Shrinking History

Confronting Abuse

Joseph Smith

No Man Knows My Psychology

Hedonism, Suffering, and Redemption

Religion, Mental Health, and the Latter-day Saints

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