President’s Colleagues to discuss religion’s effect on mental health

President’s Colleagues to discuss religion’s effect on mental health

Dr.AllenBerginDiscussing religious influences on mental functioning and moral conduct, Dr. Allen E. Bergin will present at the next President’s Colleagues of Dixie State University meeting. In his presentation, “How Religion May Help or Hurt Mental Health,” Bergin will examine positive and negative aspects of both individual spirituality and denominational religiousness. The lecture is set to take place at noon on Monday, Dec. 5, in Lecture Hall 156 of Dixie State’s Russell C. Taylor Health Science Center, located on Dixie Regional Medical Center’s River Road campus, 1526 East Medical Center Drive. The meeting is free and open to the public. Raised by a Lutheran mother and Catholic father, Bergin was an agnostic student of physical science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology before moving on to social science. He went on to explore spiritual interests for many years and eventually became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He continues to have deep interest in and respect for the diverse array of religious and spiritual traditions. Bergin’s wife, Marian, a retired clinical social worker who reintroduced him to organized religion, will participate in the presentation and discussion. Bergin earned a doctorate in psychology from Stanford and was a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and then Brigham Young University before retiring in St. George. He has received national and international awards in psychology, psychiatry and religion for his analyses of religious influences on mental functioning and wrote and edited many books and articles on the topic. Additionally, he has delivered hundreds of lectures on the subject around the world. The President’s Colleagues of Dixie State University, established more than 20 years ago by former DSU President Dr. Douglas Alder, is a group of retired professors and other professionals who live mostly in the Washington County area.