religious faith

belief and trust in a deity or other spiritual force seen as setting standards of conduct, responding to prayer, and (typically) assuring the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Religious faith may be intensely private in some of its aspects but usually involves the believer’s adherence to a particular religious body and an organized system of ceremonies and doctrines. Most theologians in monotheistic traditions insist that faith involves an orientation of the entire personality toward God rather than merely intellectual acceptance of certain teachings. See mysticism; religion; spirituality. See also psychology of religion.

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Psychology term of the day

December 21st 2024

neurosis

n. any one of a variety of mental disorders characterized by significant anxiety or other distressing emotional symptoms, such as persistent and irrational fears, obsessive thoughts, compulsive acts, dissociative states, and somatic and depressive reactions. The symptoms do not involve gross personality disorganization, total lack of insight, or loss of contact with reality (compare psychosis). In psychoanalysis, neuroses are generally viewed as exaggerated, unconscious methods of coping with internal conflicts and the anxiety they produce. Most of the disorders that used to be called neuroses are now classified as anxiety disorders. Also called psychoneurosis. —neurotic adj., n.