Conceptions about psychic suffering in the neo-Pentecostal religious context: A documentary analysis of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

Abstract

Taking into account the neopentecostal universe's connection with their actions and stance on the psychic questions, this article exposes how the psychology view explains this group of religious mental suffering conception, how the religious discourse affects their mental health and also provides treatments. We select the UCKG - Universal Church of the Kingdom of God as our locus of research due to the quite an amount of their churchgoer in Brazil’s neopentecostal scenario. Our study made a documental survey, based on a quantitative approach, explanatory kind, and descriptive content, analyzing the discourse from public domain videos in the church’s platform on YouTube. This community conceptualizes mental suffering as a spiritual problem, as a consequence of the followers' lack of faith, walking away from God, having its origin the demons' actions. Church leaders don’t recommend psychological treatment, judging the results as inefficient, making the goers invoke them like the suffering main source solution.