Hyperreligiosity (also known as extreme religiosity) is a psychiatric disturbance in which a person experiences intense religious beliefs or episodes 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 Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

psychotic disorders In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or incoh ...

and

frontotemporal lobar degeneration Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a pathological process that occurs in frontotemporal dementia. It is characterized by atrophy in the frontal lobe and temporal lobe of the brain, with sparing of the parietal and occipital lobes. Com ...

. Hyperreligiosity is a symptom of

Geschwind syndrome Geschwind syndrome, also known as Gastaut–Geschwind syndrome, is a group of behavioral phenomena evident in some people with temporal lobe epilepsy. It is named for one of the first individuals to categorize the symptoms, Norman Geschwind, who ...

, which is associated with

temporal lobe epilepsy In the field of neurology, temporal lobe epilepsy is an enduring brain disorder that causes unprovoked seizures from the temporal lobe. Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common type of focal onset epilepsy among adults. Seizure symptoms and b ...

Signs and symptoms

Hyperreligiosity is characterized by an increased tendency to report supernatural or mystical experiences, spiritual delusions, rigid legalistic thoughts, and extravagant expression of piety. Hyperreligiosity may also include religious

hallucinations A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the compelling sense of reality. They are distinguishable from several related phenomena, such as dreaming ( REM sleep), which does not involve wakefulness; pse ...

. Hyperreligiosity can also be expressed as intense atheistic beliefs.

Pathophysiology and cause

Hyperreligiosity may be associated with epilepsy (in particular,

involving complex partial seizures),

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, substance-induced psychosis, and psychotic disorders more broadly. In those with seizure disorders, episodic hyperreligosity may occur during seizures or postictally but is usually a stable personality feature occurring interictally. In a small study, hyperreligiosity was associated with decreased right hippocampal volume relative to normo-religiosity. 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 Dopaminergic pathways (dopamine pathways, dopaminergic projections) in the human brain are involved in both physiological and behavioral processes including motion, movement, cognition, executive functions, Reward system, reward, motivation, and N ...

as explanatory of hyperreligiosity.

Treatment

Epilepsy related cases may respond to antiepileptics.

References

External links

{{Medical resources , ICD10 = , ICD9 = , ICDO = , OMIM = , DiseasesDB = , MedlinePlus = , eMedicineSubj = , eMedicineTopic = , MeSH = , GeneReviewsNBK = , GeneReviewsName = , Orphanet = Psychosis Religion and mental health Religious fanaticism

Signs and symptoms

Pathophysiology and cause

Treatment

See also

References

External links