Intrinsic religiosity, resilience, quality of life, and suicide risk in depressed inpatients.

BACKGROUND

Religiosity is inversely related to depression and is directly associated with positive psychological outcomes. Nonetheless, there is no consensus on whether or how religiosity could impact and protect against depression. The present study evaluated the association between intrinsic religiosity and resilient psychological characteristics in depressed inpatients.

METHODS

A sample of 143 depressed patients was prospectively evaluated in an inpatient psychiatric treatment in South Brazil. High Intrinsic Religiosity (HIR) and Low Intrinsic Religiosity (LIR) patients were compared across socio-demographic information, clinical measures, religiosity, resilience and quality of life. A linear regression model was used to evaluate the association between intrinsic religiosity and resilience, and the Cohen d test was utilized to assess effect sizes.

RESULTS

At admission, HIR patients showed higher HAM-D (p=0.05), BPRS (p=0.02), GAF (p=0.02), and CGI (p=0.03) scores, lower educational levels (p=0.04), higher social support (p=0.05), and fewer previous suicide attempts (p=0.05). At discharge, HIR patients showed higher quality of life (p=0.001) and higher resilience (p=0.000), with a large effect size difference between groups (1.02). Based on a linear regression model (adjusted r=0.19, p=0.000), intrinsic religiosity was associated with resilience, controlling for covariates.

CONCLUSION

In a sample of depressed inpatients, intrinsic religiosity was found to be associated with resilience, quality of life, and fewer previous suicide attempts. These findings support the relevance of religiosity assessments in mental health practice and support the hypothesis that resilient psychological characteristics may mediate the positive effects of intrinsic religiosity in depression.