No one can really be sure that God exists, but even if no external omnipotent force is out there listening, I think that prayer in your own words can form a helpful mental routine. I think the thought process surrounding prayer like trying to be thankful, thinking about and praying for other people, and thinking through what you want to ask for in life, can help people prioritise what they are striving for, be more mindful and feel less lost.

Psychological studies have provided conflicting evidence surrounding this area but several studies that I found have shown that prayer can help people maintain hope and reduce anxiety, such as in patients with coronary heart disease (1).

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6390433/

I agree that the aspects of prayer that you mention, such as gratitude and thoughtfulness, are very healthy and helpful practices. However, I don't think that these practices have to be "prayer" necessarily - one can easily practice gratitude and reflection through journaling and meditation, for example. When it is in this format, I think it is universally beneficial.

However, when it is formatted as "prayer" (talking to a higher being) I think it depends on the person, and can potentially damage people's mental health. Gratitude is probably still a safe bet, but asking for help, especially if it is a dire situation or a last resort, from a being that may or may not exist and potentially getting no response, can leave the person feeling hopeless and abandoned.

This is not to say it has no benefits, and the meaning of "prayer" can vary by person and situation. But, if it is not coupled with personal responsibility and/or other more concrete forms of self help, simply begging something of a vague higher power can do more harm than good.

The mental health benefits of prayer can be accessed through other means making prayer redundant if God does not exist.

Although the primary objectives of prayer may vary depending upon type and level of faith, they are usually focused around God. Generally speaking prayer is for: confession (owning up to sin and asking for God's mercy and forgiveness), thanksgiving (thanking God for his many blessings, e.g. health or children), petition (asking God for something, e.g. healing, courage or wisdom) and intercession (asking God to help others who need it, e.g. the sick, poor, those suffering in war).

The added benefits of prayer may include: a helpful mental routine, improvement of relationships, maintenance of hope and reduction of anxiety, however this mental health can be achieved through other means.

As already noted, gratitude can be practiced through journaling but it can also be shown through acts of giving or speaking. Additionally, mindfulness, meditation and yoga are all means of achieving the same mental health ends of prayer, yet they remove the religious aspect.

And so, if God doesn't exist, praying may still help people's mental health but it seems dispensable.

Personally, I think using prayer as a form of therapy is not the best choice, for religious people or otherwise. I think it can definitely supplement it, if you are religious, but when it comes to mental health, we should focus on researched methods.

Prayer can be comforting, just knowing that there's something bigger than us, listening to our problems. Yet often (every time in my past), there is no reply, no words of wisdom that might help with what we're dealing with. If you were to go to therapy however, you would have a trained professional who specializes in mental health, listening and responding to what you say. This seems more important to me at least.

I think my biggest issue with praying to help with mental health is seeking reassurance and comfort. I have anxiety that displays Pure OCD type thinking (in which compulsions are mental rather than physical), and so praying, if I believed in God, would be a form of reassurance. However in this circumstance, that is the opposite of what I should be doing. By seeking reassurance, I am getting trapped in a loop of having a troubling thought, praying for reassurance, and then getting a troubling thought again, as opposed to confronting the thought itself.

This is obviously all speaking from personal experience. I am not sure what it would do for others, but for me at least, prayer would worsen my mental health, rather than help it.

Balise Pascal makes a similar argument in his theory of Wager of God.

French philosopher and mathematician Blaise makes a similar point with his mathematical model. He does not think humans can know for sure God’s existence. However, he continues to encourage people to engage in praying and religious activities.

He bases this argument on the mathematical model of game theory. Two variables exist in this problem. One can either believe in God or not. God can either exist or not.

If God does not exist, one does not gain or lose anything regardless of their faith. They would die with no afterlife. In these two cases, the case-specific utilities represent a net of zero.

If God does exist and one does not believe in God, they would receive eternal damnation. This punishment represents a severity beyond human understanding. Hence, Pascal assigns it a utility of infinitely negative.

If God does exist and one believes in God, they would receive eternal salvation. This grace represents a benefit beyond human understanding. Hence, Pascal assigns it a utility of infinitely positive.

Of course one cannot discern accurately the chance of God’s existence. However, let’s look at the different options. If one chooses to believe in God, they can either receive zero utility or infinitely positive utilities. If one chooses to not believe in God, they can either receive zero utility or infinitely negative utilities. Hence, choosing to believe in God represents the optimum strategy in the question of faith or no faith.

While there's some debate, I think most studies show there's a direct correlation between religious behaviour and happiness.

I also like the flip idea that happier people who are 'happier' tend to believe in God. There's lovely research by Brugger and Mohr showing that higher levels of dopamine increase your tendency to see patterns in the world - including, divine patterns...