[Is the influence of religiousness on fearful, depressive and somatic symptoms and psychic traumatization overestimated? A representative cross-sectional study].

Is the influence of religiousness on fearful, depressive and somatic symptoms and psychic traumatization overestimated? A representative cross-sectional study

Objectives

The aim of this study is to prove if religious faith, spirituality and religious praxis are joined with lower depression, anxiety and physical pain-level and if subjects with traumatic experiences report more spirituality.

Methods

In this consecutive study, 2508 adults of a representative sample in Germany were interviewed about religious faith and spirituality in relation to depression, anxiety, physical disorders as well as traumatic experiences.

Results

Unlike our hypotheses people who are charged with mental (PHQ-4; Löwe et al. 2010) or physical disorders (GBB_8; Kliem et al. 2017) report more spirituality and more private religious/spiritual praxis than people without mental or physical problems. As expected people with traumatic experiences in their childhood (CTS; Grabe et al. 2012) describe significantly more spirituality than people without these experiences.

Conclusions

Other than expected people with more mental or physical disorders report more spirituality and more private religious/spiritual praxis. It is to discuss if spirituality is less a protective factor for mental or physical disorders than disorders activate to look for spirituality and private religious/spiritual praxis.