Abstract

ABSTRACTWe inquired into the religious beliefs and practices of groups of schizophrenic and normal subjects. In addition, we evaluated their parents methods of rearing the subjects. We found that, in the schizophrenics home, the religious emphasis was limited and based on obligation and threat, and that the father had less of a religious commitment than the mother. Concerning personal development, the schizophrenics mother was seen as more domineering than the emotionally and geographically absent father. The schizophrenic saw his religious and developmental upbringing as lacking in nurture and paternal participation. The schizophrenic himself seldom indulged in personal religious practices.