Ecclesiogenic neurosis

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In the 1950s, individual medical practitioners described mental disorders caused by religion or church as ecclesiogenic neuroses . Today the term is often used metaphorically and not in the narrow medical sense.

The term was coined in 1955 by the gynecologist and psychoanalyst Eberhard Schaetzing in an article for the magazine "Ways to people". He claimed that the anti-instinctual upbringing common in "certain pietistic circles" resulted in frigidity and impotence . The term quickly became independent and provided a universal pattern of interpretation for sexual disorders.

The Berlin doctor, psychoanalyst and theologian Klaus Thomas extended his claim to explanation: Ecclesiogenic (literally: church-induced) influences are also often based on sadistic and masochistic perversions as well as obsessive-compulsive disorders and a fear of conscience, especially in people who had a guilty conscience when masturbating for religious reasons . He also called the suffering of pastors from the tightness of church regulations and superiors as "ecclesiogenic neuroses". This so broad definition led him to claim that "ecclesiogenic neuroses" prevailed in 75 percent of the rectories he visited.

The Swiss psychotherapist Theodor Bovet also found that three quarters of young people who have been brought up in Christian youth circles for a long time become internally incapable of marriage and become frigid, which, according to Thomas' interpretation, corresponds to an ecclesiogenic neurosis.

Explanation of terms

“This term encompasses all those mental difficulties and psychoneurotic illnesses that arise from malformations of piety and religion. Since the church (ekklesia) as a community of believers has a decisive influence on piety and religion, this designation was chosen as a collective term for this special neurosis. This is not to say that the Church and religion make you sick. While a holistic relationship between the life of faith and the life of the soul has positive effects on both sides, an overly restrictive ecclesiastical bond and fanatical religiosity can impair the spiritual experience to such an extent that it leads to disorders and illnesses. A too prudish and sex-hostile upbringing as well as a neurotic image of God often contribute to eN. "

- Helmut Hark : Religious Neuroses. Causes and Healing, Stuttgart 1984, p. 286f., P. 290

literature

  • Eugen Drewermann: clerics - psychogram of an ideal . Walter-Verlag 1989, Verlag Melzer 2010, 911 pp. ISBN 3-942472-03-1
  • Tilmann Moser: God poisoning . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1976 & 2006, ISBN 3-518-37033-2
  • Eberhard Schaetzing: The ecclesiogenic neuroses. In: Weg zum Menschen, 7 , 1955, pp. 97-108.
  • Helmut Hark: Religious Neuroses. Causes and Cure. Kreuz Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-7831-0735-0
  • Hartmut Spring, Helfried Moosbrugger, Christian Zwingmann, Dirk Frank: Church dogmatism and ecclesiogenic neuroses. In: Journal for Clinical Psychology, Psychopathology and Psychotherapy, 41 , 1993, pp. 31–42.
  • Elke Endraß, Siegfried Kratzer: When faith makes you sick. Ways out of the crisis , Kreuz Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7831-2528-6
  • Bernhard Grom SJ: Ekklesiogene Neurosen ?, Voices of Time, 5/2005, pp. 289–290.
  • Uwe Simon: Ecclesiogenic Neuroses: Review of the concept and comparison between theology students of different Christian denominations. Publishing house for medicine and theology, Tübingen 1995, ISBN 3-926630-57-4
  • Christian Zwingmann, Constantin Klein, Florian Jeserich: "Ecclesiogenic Neurosis": Development of the Concept, Findings and Evaluation. In: Christian Zwingmann, Constantin Klein, Florian Jeserich (eds.), Religiosity: The dark side. Contributions to empirical research on religion . Münster: Waxmann Verlag 2017, pp. 41–62, ISBN 978-3-8309-3623-7

swell

  1. ^ Richard Bergmann: Psychology for Faith ?! , Last updated: December 8, 2002
  2. ↑ PRIOR: Sick in faith . In: Spiegel Online . tape May 21 , 1964 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 12, 2019]).