Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
McLean Hospital, Spirituality & Mental Health Program, Belmont, USA.
Psychol Med. 2023 Jul;53(10):4446-4453. doi: 10.1017/S003329172200126X. Epub 2022 May 12.
A growing volume of research suggests that religion protects against late-life suicide, but it remains unclear whether effects are relevant to clinical samples, which facets of religion are most relevant, and variations over the course of mood disorders (e.g. during periods of euthymia, depression, and/or heightened suicidality).
Eighty adults aged 55-85 years with mood disorders completed assessments of religion (affiliation, service attendance, importance of religion, belief and faith in God), depression, and suicidality over time ( = 7.31 measurements over = 727 days). We computed metrics to identify mean and maximum levels of depression and suicidality, and the number of episodes of significant depression and suicidality experienced by each participant.
Religious affiliation and importance of religion, but not service attendance, belief, or faith in God, were associated with lower mean and maximum depression. Conversely, all facets of religion predicted significantly lower mean and maximum levels of suicidality (s ranging from -0.24 to -0.39), and substantially less likelihood of experiencing significant suicidality during the study (s ranging from 0.19 to 0.33). Service attendance, belief, and faith in God predicted less suicidality even among individuals who did not affiliate with a religious group.
Religious factors, particularly faith in God, are associated with substantially less suicidality over time among older adults with mood disorders, irrespective of religious affiliation.
越来越多的研究表明，宗教可以预防老年人自杀，但目前尚不清楚这些影响是否与临床样本有关，宗教的哪些方面最为相关，以及心境障碍（如在心境良好、抑郁和/或自杀意念增强期间）的病程变化。
80 名年龄在 55-85 岁之间的患有心境障碍的成年人随着时间的推移完成了宗教（信仰、参加宗教活动、宗教重要性、对上帝的信仰和信念）、抑郁和自杀意念的评估（=7.31 次测量，=727 天）。我们计算了一些指标来识别每个参与者的抑郁和自杀意念的平均水平和最高水平，以及经历的明显抑郁和自杀意念发作的次数。
宗教信仰和宗教重要性与较低的平均和最高抑郁水平相关，而参加宗教活动、信仰或对上帝的信念则不然。相反，宗教的所有方面都预示着较低的平均和最高自杀意念水平（s 范围从-0.24 到-0.39），并且在研究期间经历显著自杀意念的可能性大大降低（s 范围从 0.19 到 0.33）。即使在没有宗教信仰的个体中，参加宗教活动、信仰和对上帝的信念也预示着较少的自杀意念。
宗教因素，特别是对上帝的信仰，与心境障碍的老年患者随着时间的推移自杀意念显著减少有关，而与宗教信仰无关。
