Report: Mental health in the US can be tied to Christian worldview

A Christian way of looking at the world, or having a biblical worldview, is correlated with better mental health outcomes, says a survey from a Christian university in Arizona.

And those who hold non-biblical worldviews are more prone to mental ailments, including depression, anxiety and fear.

Among the worldviews surveyed were Marxism, nihilism, postmodernism, secular humanism, and syncretism, which is a mixing of different religious beliefs or schools of thought.

Researchers at Arizona Christian University looked at several recent studies of adults who struggle with anxiety, depression, and fear and concluded: “addressing those conditions may not require counseling, hospitalization, drugs, or other common remedies.”

While the report’s authors don’t suggest all mental illnesses are caused by a non-biblical worldview, the survey shows “a moderately strong inverse correlation between [such worldviews] and the frequent presence of anxiety, depression, or significant fear,” said researchers at the university’s Cultural Research Center.

Studies by federal government agencies assert nearly one out of every four adults (23%) has some type of mental illness, the report says. ​ Additionally, among millennials and Gen Z, one out of every three people (33%) is estimated to have one or more diagnosable mental disorders. ​ 

“A majority of adults from Gen Z (56%) reported experiencing regular bouts of anxiety, 

depression, or crippling fear in the past year. That same generational segment has the lowest incidence of biblical worldview possession (1%),” the study said.  

Anxiety is the most commonly occurring mental disorder, followed by substance abuse, among all adults, researchers found.  

“The research also identified more than a dozen common beliefs that are prone to producing frequent feelings of anxiety, depression, or fear—all of these beliefs conflict with biblical principles and teaching,” researchers wrote.   

By contrast, those who consciously and intentionally took time to thank, praise, and worship God every day, and those who voted in every general and primary election, were less likely to suffer from mental health problems. 

The research was conducted by Dr. George Barna, the center’s research director, and Dr. Tracy Munsil, its executive director. 

Barna was especially worried about the mental health of young adults, who lack the moral anchor a biblical worldview provides.  

“It is not uncommon to find a young adult who trusts feelings more than facts, sees no inherent value to life, believes in Karma, and rejects the existence of the biblical God and the availability of eternal security through Jesus Christ,” Barna said. 

Syncretism, which attempts to meld diverse religions, cultures and philosophies, is also popular among young adults and pushed by American culture, he said, which can result in an inconsistent, chaotic, hopeless life. 

“If the individual instead embraced the core tenets of the biblical worldview, their life would not be perfect but they would likely avoid many of the pitfalls and frustrations produced by the syncretistic explanation of life,” he said. 

Barna suggested parents and churches take children’s worldview development seriously, because a biblical way of looking at the world leads to a fulfilling life and improved mental health outcomes. 

Since 2020, the center has conducted an annual “American Worldview Inventory” of theism, Marxism, “moralistic therapeutic deism,” nihilism, pantheism (i.e. Eastern mysticism), postmodernism, secular humanism and syncretism. 

This year animism, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Satanism, and Wicca were added to the survey, which included 2,000 adults polled in January with a sampling error 2% based on a 95% confidence interval.