Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Belief In God Correlates With Better Mental Health Treatment Outcomes

Posted by Soulskill on from the take-two-communion-wafers-and-call-me-in-the-morning dept.

Hatta writes "According to researchers from Harvard Medical School, belief in god is correlated with improved outcomes of treatment for depression. Quoting: 'In the study, published in the current issue of Journal of Affective Disorders, researchers comment that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without. "Belief was associated with not only improved psychological well-being, but decreases in depression and intention to self-harm," says David H. Rosmarin, Ph.D., an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.' This raises interesting questions. Does this support the concept of depressive realism? If the association is found to be causal, would it be ethical for a psychiatrist to prescribe religion?"

7 of 931 comments (clear)

  1. Does screaming OH GOD during sex by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Correlate to better outcomes during sex?

    1. Re:Does screaming OH GOD during sex by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2, Funny

      If it's Jesus getting it on with his dad, it's perfectly legit. If it's Jesus getting it on with his mother, Jesus might get jealous when she screams, "Oh, God!"

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  2. If you can belive in a god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then you can be tricked into believing you can be helped by the doctor. A weak mind is easily manipulated. Both for good and evil.

  3. Re:God gives cover to any excuse by RussR42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Homer: Dear Lord, The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done.

  4. Re:This is here, because? by The+Mighty+Buzzard · · Score: 3, Funny

    Says you. I've seen the source. It's not really even all that complicated. Most of the cycles are taken up by annoy method calls with my object as the target.

    --
    Violence is like duct tape. If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.
  5. Re:Belief system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    AC due to modding you up. :) Clearly, though, you have forgotten that 97% of all climate scientists know everything possible concerning the world's climate and can accurately predict exact what will occur for the next 50,000 years on a day-by-day basis.

  6. Re:This is here, because? by ynp7 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you feel inferior when talking to people who are less delusional than you? How is that their fault?