Perspective: Faith is a Factor in Good Mental Health. Why Are so Many People Unable to See This?

Keywords

inattentional blindness, adolescent mental health, Latter-day Saint youth, suicide risk

Abstract

A popular YouTube video created by renowned psychology professor Daniel Simons invites viewers to count the number of times a group passes a basketball. After the video, the correct answer is given, but then the viewers are asked if they saw a gorilla. Typically, half of viewers miss the person in a gorilla suit walking right in the middle of screen, beating its chest and walking out. To a large extent, all of us see what we are looking for — what we are already prepared to see.

This principle applies across virtually every area of human endeavor. In a recent class at Brigham Young University, we showed these statistics from a 2019 Utah Department of Health survey of more than 86,000 Utah teens:

  • 13% of Latter-day Saint heterosexuals had seriously considered suicide in the last year. 
  • 28% of Latter-day Saint LGBQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning; transgender will be discussed later) teens had seriously considered suicide in the last year.

Original Publication Citation

Faith is a factor in good mental health. Why are so many people unable to see this? - https://www.deseret.com/2023/2/16/23589985/faith-mental-health-perception-lgbtq-teens

Document Type

Other

Publication Date

2023

Publisher

Deseret News

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Church History and Doctrine

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

Link to Full Text

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