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 Canadian
Medical Association Journal
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Does religion speed recovery in mental illness?
Psychiatric patients who regularly attend church and pray recover more quickly than their nonreligious counterparts, a University of Saskatchewan study indicates. Results from the cross-sectional survey, which involved 88 clinically depressed inpatients from 2 Saskatoon hospitals, was presented during the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association. It found that frequent church-goers had lower severity of depressive symptoms, shorter lengths of stay and higher satisfaction with life, and abused alcohol less than patients who didn't pray or attend church. "I think the message is that perhaps we're not being as diligent as we should be in considering this need in our patients and the role that religion can help play in treating patients as a whole," said Dr. Marilyn Baetz, lead researcher and an assistant professor in the university's Department of Psychiatry. "In psychiatry, we've seen so many good new drugs introduced lately. Perhaps there is a tendency just to focus on that." Baetz acknowledged that this type of research elicits scepticism among physicians, but added: "I've had doctors tell me that this confirms what they've believed all along, but that it's good to have the data." — Greg Basky, Saskatoon
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