Hyperreligiosity


Hyperreligiosity is a psychiatric disturbance in which a person experiences intense religious beliefs or experiences that interfere with normal functioning. Hyperreligiosity generally includes abnormal beliefs and a focus on religious content or even atheistic content, which interferes with work and social functioning. Hyperreligiosity may occur in a variety of disorders including epilepsy, psychotic disorders and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Hyperreligiosity is a symptom of Geschwind syndrome, which is associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. Also a generalized behavioral tendency, or thought modality caused or attributed to learned behaviors and thought distortons connected to cultic abuse. Or strong sectarian indoctrination as to influence cognition and or causal to frequent thought distortions, often marked with irrational or ablative reasoning.

Signs and symptoms

Hyperreligiosity is characterized by an increased tendency to report spiritual, religious or mystical experiences, religious delusions, rigid legalistic thoughts, and extravagant expression of religiosity. Hyperreligiosity may also include religious hallucinations. Hyperreligiosity can also be common among individuals who have intense atheistic beliefs.

Pathophysiology and cause

Hyperreligiosity may be associated with epilepsy – in particular temporal lobe epilepsy involving complex partial seizures – mania, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, hallucinogen related psychosis and psychotic disorder. In persons with epilepsy episodic hyperreligosity may occur ictally or postictally, but is usually a chronic personality feature that occurs interictally. Hyperreligiosity was associated in one small study with decreased right hippocampal volume. Increased activity in the left temporal regions has been associated with hyperreligiosity in psychotic disorders. Pharmacological evidence points towards dysfunction in the ventral dopaminergic pathway.

Treatment

Epilepsy related cases may respond to antiepileptics.