Perception of God and Paranoia among Iranian University Students

Shideh Fasahati, Seyed Mohammad Kalantarkousheh

Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2014.58109                

Abstract

This study examined the correlation between types of perception of God and paranoid thoughts among 312 randomly sampled students—175 female and 137 male—in the Azad Islamic University of Tehran in Iran. Two survey questionnaires were administered to the participants through the University’s website—one assessing their perception of God (Lawrence, 1997), and the other to assess the occurrence of paranoid thoughts among them (Derogatis, Lipman, & Covi, 1973). Data were analyzed using correlation coefficients and regression methods. The results show that only the negative perception of God correlates with paranoia in both males and females, while the perception of God’s blessings in one’s life correlates with paranoid thoughts only among male students. Students with a positive perception of God experience less paranoia than students with negative perception of God—a finding that may actually suggest that positive spirituality/religiosity holds positive and therapeutic benefits for the paranoid.

Keywords

Paranoia, Paranoid Thoughts, Negative Thoughts, Perception of God, Iranian Students

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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