[Religion and brain functioning (part 2): does religion have a positive impact on mental health?]

Religion's impact on mental health has been largely studied, but results are often difficult to interpret due to methodological concerns: definition of religion and of spirituality ; measuring issues ; identification of specific components such as social dimension, cognitive schemas influencing world perception and meditating behaviors such as prayers. Furthermore, correlations between religious dimensions and mental health variables are too often considered as evidence of causality. Despite all those methodological problems, it appears that religiosity, defined as a global concept encompassing all aspects of religious life, might be a protective factor against several mental health problems, namely substance abuse, depression, suicide and anxiety disorders. This protective property isn't likely due to religions per se, but to associated components: risky behaviors' prevention due to shared moral standards, social support, sense of meaning, purposefulness and control, and meditation habits, exercising an inhibiting influence on chronic stress.