system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are people who "talk" with Jesus or God considered schizophrenic?

Why are people who "talk" to Thor or Zeus or Satan considered differently? Is it just because Jesus is more popular today?
gpt
The DSM consistently and specifically exempts religious beliefs. For example, from DSM-IV's definition of delusion:

>The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person’s culture or subculture (e.g. it is not an article of religious faith). (765)

And a specific note on diagnosing schizophrenia:

>Clinicians assessing the symptoms of Schizophrenia in socioeconomic or cultural situations that are different from their own must take cultural differences into account. Ideas that may appear to be delusional in one culture (e.g., sorcery and witchcraft) may be commonly held in another. In some cultures, visual or auditory hallucinations with a religious content may be a normal part of religious experience (e.g., seeing the Virgin Mary or hearing God's voice). (281)

As for why this is the case, it basically comes down to the fact that a lot of people are religious and it doesn't make practical or political sense to diagnose them with psychiatric disorders. Exactly how to make sense of the distinction between psychotic experience and similar religious experiences is an open question in the philosophy of psychiatry.