Posted on 02/24/2010 7:00:43 AM PST by Pharmboy
CHICAGO — Research suggests that religious belief can help protect against symptoms of depression, but a study at Rush University Medical Center goes one step further.
In patients diagnosed with clinical depression, belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment, according to a paper in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
A total of 136 adults diagnosed with major depression or bipolar depression at inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care facilities in Chicago participated in the study. The patients were surveyed shortly after admission for treatment and eight weeks later, using the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Religious Well-Being Scale – all standard instruments in the social sciences for assessing intensity, severity and depth of disease and feelings of hopelessness and spiritual satisfaction.
Response to medication, defined as a 50-percent reduction in symptoms, can vary in psychiatric patients. Some may not respond at all. But the study found that those with strong beliefs in a personal and concerned God were more likely to experience an improvement. Specifically, participants who scored in the top third of the Religious Well-Being Scale were 75-percent more likely to get better with medical treatment for clinical depression.
The researchers tested whether the explanation for the improved response was linked instead to the feeling of hope, which is typically a feature of religious belief. But degree of hopefulness, measured by feelings and expectations for the future and degree of motivation, did not predict whether a patient fared better on anti-depressants.
"In our study, the positive response to medication had little to do with the feeling of hope that typically accompanies spiritual belief," said a chaplain at Rush and an assistant professor of religion, health and human values at Rush University. "It was tied specifically to the belief that a Supreme Being cared."
"For people diagnosed with clinical depression, medication certainly plays an important role in reducing symptoms," Murphy said. "But when treating persons diagnosed with depression, clinicians need to be aware of the role of religion in their patients' lives. It is an important resource in planning their care."
### George Fitchett, PhD, also a chaplain at Rush and the director of the religion, health and human values program at Rush University, co-authored the study.
Rush University Medical Center is an academic medical center that encompasses a 600-bed hospital (including Rush Children's Hospital), the Johnston R. Bowman Health Center and Rush University. Rush University, with more than 1,730 students, is home to one of the first medical schools in the Midwest, and one of the nation's top-ranked nursing colleges. Rush University also offers graduate programs in allied health and the basic sciences. Rush is noted for bringing together clinical care and research to address major health problems, including arthritis and orthopedic disorders, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, neurological disorders and diseases associated with aging.
Ping...
File this one under “DUH.”
Well, I thought it was refreshing for scientific investigation to so clearly show a benefit to believers.
How different is this from a placebo effect?
Quite different. They compared the two groups to each other with similar treatments and the believers had a 75% better result. The placebo effect (which, as you imply can be quite potent in depression) was neutralized by design.
I’m guessing that a simple test to verify it would be to check for the phenomenon amongst various believers.
Do Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, etc., fare differently, individually?
If this is not a placebo effect, the findings are indeed phenomenal.
Why would people who believe in God have depression?
Hank
Brain chemistry, genetics, etc.
Exactly, if believing in any religion, even totally contradictory ones, helps it’s obviously a placebo.
Well, they tried to isolate a belief in a personal and concerned God, so Christianity, Islam and Judaism would all seem to share that; Buddhism and Hinduism I’m farly ignorant of, but I do not think that a personal God plays a big role there.
The Bhagavad-Gita.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Chapter VII
KRISHNA:
LEARN now, dear Prince! how, if thy soul be set
Ever on Me—still exercising Yôg,
Still making Me thy Refuge—thou shalt come
Most surely unto perfect hold of Me.
I will declare to thee that utmost lore,
5
Whole and particular, which, when thou knowest
Leaveth no more to know here in this world.
Of many thousand mortals, one, perchance,
Striveth for Truth; and of those few that strive—
Nay, and rise high—one only—here and there—
10
Knoweth Me, as I am, the very Truth.
Earth, water, flame, air, ether, life, and mind,
And individuality—those eight
Make up the showing of Me, Manifest.
These be my lower Nature; learn the higher,
15
Whereby, thou Valiant One! this Universe
Is, by its principle of life, produced;
Whereby the worlds of visible things are born
As from a Yoni. Know! I am that womb:
I make and I unmake this Universe:
20
Than me there is no other Master, Prince!
No other Maker! All these hang on me
As hangs a row of pearls upon its string.
I am the fresh taste of the water; I
The silver of the moon, the gold o’ the sun,
25
The word of worship in the Veds, the thrill
That passeth in the ether, and the strength
Of man’s shed seed. I am the good sweet smell
Of the moistened earth, I am the fire’s red light,
The vital air moving in all which moves,
30
The holiness of hallowed souls, the root
Undying, whence hath sprung whatever is;
The wisdom of the wise, the intellect
Of the informed, the greatness of the great,
The splendor of the splendid. Kunti’s Son!
35
These am I, free from passion and desire;
Yet am I right desire in all who yearn,
Chief of the Bhâratas! for all those moods,
Soothfast, or passionate, or ignorant,
Which Nature frames, deduce from me; but all
40
Are merged in me—not I in them! The world—
Deceived by those three qualities of being—
Wotteth not Me Who am outside them all,
Above them all, Eternal! Hard it is
To pierce that veil divine of various shows
45
Which hideth Me; yet they who worship Me
Pierce it and pass beyond.
I am not known
To evil-doers, nor to foolish ones,
Nor to the base and churlish; nor to those
50
Whose mind is cheated by the show of things,
Nor those that take the way of Asuras.
Four sorts of mortals know me: he who weeps,
Arjuna! and the man who yearns to know;
And he who toils to help; and he who sits
55
Certain of me, enlightened.
Of these four,
O Prince of India! highest, nearest, best
That last is, the devout soul, wise, intent
Upon The One. Dear, above all, am I
60
To him; and he is dearest unto me!
All four are good, and seek me; but mine own,
The true of heart, the faithful—stayed on me,
Taking me as their utmost blessedness,
They are not “mine,” but I—even I myself!
65
At end of many births to Me they come!
Yet hard the wise Mahatma is to find,
That man who sayeth, “All is Vâsudev!”
There be those, too, whose knowledge, turned aside
By this desire or that, gives them to serve
70
Some lower gods, with various rites, constrained
By that which mouldeth them. Unto all such—
Worship what shrine they will, what shapes, in faith—
’Tis I who give them faith! I am content!
The heart thus asking favor from its God,
75
Darkened but ardent, hath the end it craves,
The lesser blessing—but ’tis I who give!
Yet soon is withered what small fruit they reap
Those men of little minds, who worship so,
Go where they worship, passing with their gods.
80
But Mine come unto me! Blind are the eyes
Which deem th’ Unmanifested manifest,
Not comprehending Me in my true Self!
Imperishable, viewless, undeclared,
Hidden behind my magic veil of shows,
85
I am not seen by all; I am not known—
Unborn and changeless—to the idle world.
But I, Arjuna! know all things which were,
And all which are, and all which are to be,
Albeit not one among them knoweth Me!
90
By passion for the pairs of opposites,
By those twain snares of Like and Dislike, Prince!
All creatures live bewildered, save some few
Who, quit of sins, holy in act, informed,
Freed from the “opposites,” and fixed in faith,
95
Cleave unto Me.
Who cleave, who seek in Me
Refuge from birth and death,
those have the Truth!
Those know Me BRAHMA; know Me Soul of Souls,
The ADHYATMAN; know KARMA, my work;
100
Know I am ADHIBHUTA, Lord of Life,
And ADHIDAIVA, Lord of all the Gods,
And ADHIYAJNA, Lord of Sacrifice;
Worship Me well, with hearts of love and faith,
And find and hold Me in the hour of death.
105
Here endeth Chapter VII. of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ,
entitled Vijnânayôg, or The Book
of Religion by Discernment.
Seems pretty personal to me.
If this theory demonstrates similar effects amongst Hindus, then I would conclude it to be a placebo effect.
The NY Times publishes lots of health related stuff - studies about medications, etc.
I wonder if they will hold their nose and publish this one.
Yes...I would agree. Thanks for your follow up and my edification.
By the way, my husband was severely bipolar. I can tell you everything good that did happen for him came through his faith.
Absolutely, his faith helped. When he was really severe he had problems even thinking, but when he could rationally think, prayer was a lifeline for him.
You’re welcome, and thank you for publishing this article!
I’d love to see more research into these areas.
Earlier, was a report on specific regions of the brain devoted to spirituality. Fascinating stuff!
It's very different because the belief is quite real (regardless of whether the things believed in are real). The belief changes thoughts, which in turn change brain chemistry.
One of the chief drawbacks to the religion-free medicalization of mental illness is that it instills a demonstrably false belief in the mind of the patient, namely that "you can't help it" because it's all chemical/biological. Most religions have a strong personal responsibility component, resulting in the belief that one CAN do the right thing, and that the creator/controller of the universe wants and expects you to do the right thing. Even Calvinists, though they imagine it to be some divine personage who's in control rather than themselves, they still see themselves as expected by the creator/controller of the universe to constantly strive to do the right thing.
As any psychology researcher can tell you, it's easy to experimentally instill a belief into animals (or people, but there are ethical barriers to doing that nowadays) that they are helpless to avoid bad things, and once that belief has been instilled, depressive behavior quickly follows. What medical psychiatry and modern therapeutic psychology do is instill a similar sense of helplessness, often accompanied by the message "but these pills will probably help". Then when the pills fail to deliver quick and amazing results, the sense of helplessness and depression is simply reinforced (which probably accounts for many of the observed cases of suicide occurring soon after starting medication).
There's already been plenty of research on the effects of religious belief and practice on psychological well-being. The general finding is that religions that demand a lot of their adherents have a stronger positive effect -- i.e. it doesn't matter whether you're a Baptist or a Mormon or an observant Jew or Muslim (so it doesn't matter if what is believed in is true), but you're not likely to get nearly as much positive effect from being a Unitarian or Reform Jew or just believing in God and praying but not being part of a religious community that has clear and susbtantial expectations for your behavior.
Glad I pinged you...very informative and interesting post.
Thanks!
Thanks for the ping.
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