In order to understand members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), it is helpful to be familiar with what might be called a Mormon theory of development, which marks important developmental milestones (Nielsen et al. 2006). This begins with belief in a premortal existence in which all people lived in spirit form before being born on earth. Mortality is a necessary step, a proving ground, in which people gain a physical body and learn self-control and obedience to God’s laws, as well as to human laws. As part of mortal life, individuals go through rites (e.g., baptism) that have important symbolic and cultural value, and which believers tend to consider to be essential. After death, obedient individuals go to spirit paradise while they await the judgment, while disobedient individuals go to spirit prison. Individuals who are not baptized in mortality wait in spirit prison for someone to be baptized vicariously for them, because baptism is a physical act that...
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Nielsen, M. (2020). Mormon Mental Health. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_9338
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