Religion and Depression

A recent study suggests that elderly depressed patients who are religious may improve over time.

From Taoism to Christianity, religion has been used for therapeutic purposes by various cultures and populations for centuries. Some cultures use prayer and others use meditation as methods for spiritual healing; however, clinical evidence regarding the effectiveness of religious and spiritual therapies is unclear for most conditions.

Researchers in Australia sought to understand whether inherent religiousness affects the prognosis of depression in the elderly and whether possible positive outcomes may be related to the social support religion provides.

The researchers evaluated 94 elderly patients admitted to a psychogeriatric unit with major depression throughout 24 months. Several scales, including the geriatric depression rating scale and the Duke University religion index, were used to evaluate each patient's severity of depression and level of religiousness. Social support was also evaluated through a questionnaire.

The researchers found that about one third of the patients were very religious, and after 24 months, these patients had significantly lower depression scores. Social questionnaires showed that the beneficial effects of religiousness were not correlated with social support or other treatments.

The authors concluded that elderly depressed patients who are religious may experience improvements in their depressive symptoms overtime. Additional research in a larger sample size is necessary.

For more information about prayer or spiritual healing, please visit Natural Standard's Health & Wellness database.

References

1. Natural Standard: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. www.naturalstandard.com

2. Payman V, Ryburn B. Religiousness and recovery from inpatient geriatric depression: Findings from the PEJAMA Study. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2010 Jun;44(6):560-7. View Abstract

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