Why is it that when someone says they speak to God or receive direct guidance from a divine being, it’s accepted—even revered—by society, but when someone with a diagnosed mental health condition describes something similar, it’s flagged as pathological?
To be clear, I understand that religion can offer a meaningful framework—community, moral structure, emotional grounding. I’m a practicing rational satanist myself. I use religious archetypes symbolically to work through emotions and inner conflicts. My process is about 90% rational thinking and 10% “magical thinking” as a tool for coping. I don’t reject religion outright; I use it differently.
What I can’t wrap my head around is the double standard I see in places like work or recovery meetings. I’ve heard people say things like “I saw Jesus in my bedroom and he told me what to do,” or “God reached down and showed me his love.” These statements are often met with awe or admiration, not concern. But to me, a lot of what they describe sounds like intrusive thoughts or intense emotional states being projected onto an externalized, socially-approved figure—God—so they don’t have to claim full responsibility for those thoughts or choices.
I have schizoaffective disorder. I’ve never heard God or seen visions, but after a major trauma, I experienced thought externalization—where internal thoughts feel like they’re coming from outside of me. It wasn’t divine. It was a misfiring of my brain’s dopamine system—specifically, dysfunction in D2 receptor pathways and how my brain processes salience. Essentially, emotional or environmental triggers would cause abnormal dopamine transmission, and that dysregulation made ordinary thoughts seem foreign or loaded with undue significance.
Years of therapy, a good psychiatrist, and medication helped me realize: all those voices or guidance I once felt weren’t otherworldly. They were me—distorted, yes, but still my own thoughts. And now when something feels like it’s coming from “outside,” I know it’s just my mind doing what it does under stress.
But if I were to say “God spoke to me,” I know my care team would immediately question my meds and possibly alert my wife. If I said I’m a practicing Christian, though, it would be taken at face value—no red flags. That’s what baffles me: the exact same behavior is seen as spiritual in one context and symptomatic in another.
I’m not trying to invalidate anyone’s experience, but I do question why society rewards people for bypassing accountability through divine narratives—especially when those narratives are used to explain away tough decisions or moral uncertainty. It feels like a convenient—and socially endorsed—form of denial.
Comments
Religion is simply a socially acceptable delusion. That’s pretty much it. There’s an extent to that obviously and the more radical the beliefs, the crazier it becomes. For the most part though, it’s just too engrained into society.
It’s only revered by people in the same state of mind. You might find some churches where the pastor/priest claims they’ve had conversations with a god, and you will find some within the congregation who believe them, but outside of that church, and especially outside of that religion, people think they are just as insane as the person claiming voices talk to them.
>when someone says they speak to God or receive direct guidance from a divine being, it’s accepted—even revered—by society
Is it ?
Metaphorically, maybe but in where I live if someone said they were literally conversing I don’t think it would be widely accepted or revered.
That isn’t too say some people wouldn’t believe it, and it is certainly more accepted from a religious figure to their most devout within their community, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say as widely as my the whole society.
That was so well written and thought out. Thank you
Actually, the whole double standard thing… it’s uh (prevalent) in everyday life. That feeling when you hear the ‘God-talk’ and it’s considered a divine revelation? While when we, ourselves, experience similar stuff, it gets brushed off as a symptom. We’ve all been there when we need to take responsibility for our actions, but invoking god’s will frees us of that shit-we-did burden. It’s just this society loophole we need to fix, ya know?
I consider either mental illness.
I guess we live in different places — I’ve never heard of someone who claimed to speak to god who wasn’t considered off their rocker by the general populace, and I’m including religious folk in that.
this episode of the podcast “Ideas” talks about how evangelical groups often use prayer strategies and religious practices to make their followers more likely to literally believe they are talking to god and that he is answering.
It’s in the context of how people become immersed in conspiracy theories. The podcast is from the CBC, Canada’s national broadcaster.
People who believe God communicates with them are also mentally ill.
“Hell yes.” Being a mom, wife, dog-mama in the nation’s capital is no easy feat. As a 35-year-old gal, I’ve witnessed folks dodge responsibility using deity tales to cope with the tough stuff, it’s, like, a convenient “it-wasn’t-me” tactic. And while religion provides comfort, this double standard is too noticeable (damn!).
Do you live in a heavily religious place?
If someone told me God spoke to them or they literally saw Jesus, I’d tell them to talk to a therapist and get help.
„They are the same picture“
A position of societal power. That’s the difference.
Um … society definitely does not validate God. So I don’t have an answer for that.
If you tell me that God speaks to you, I think you are delusional and probably have an oversized ego. Maybe you are more special than me. Good for you. Bye!
Certainly in most western societies, and many others, if someone was to state openly that they were receiving direct messages from a higher being then it would be assumed that they were having mental health issues.
Because it only matters if God told you the same thing he tells the dominant denomination.
I KNOW RIGHT?? Hypocrites!!!
The Speaker of the House (3rd in line for the presidency of the USA) says god spoke directly to him and told him he was Moses. Moses “Mike” Johnson.
Of all the mental illnesses listed in the DSM 5, it does seem odd that religiosity/believing in invisible sky daddies, would be omitted. It is a popular delusion and can be filed under ‘madness of crowds’.
According to the one true church (catholic) God only talks to the pope. If anybody else is hearing the voice of God they are at risk of being burnt at the stake. Some people maybe canonized after the fact once a commission has determined that God really did talk to them people are really discouraged from going pubic with “God told me …”.
Protestants are a different matter. They pretty much choose who they think has Gods ear and accept it at face value.
It’s only the religious part of society that validates it. The rest of us think anyone who God is talking to probably has a mental health issue or is just plain lying.
And that religious sector of society tends not to take very kindly to people with more obvious mental health issues, so they pick and choose.
What is societally acceptable is always a sliding scale. If you converse with the voices in your head, you’re mentally ill – if that voice is god, you’re “religious”