Wainipitapong Sorawit, Hataiyusuk Somboon, Khanthavudh Chonmanan, Phetsayanavin Vitchayut, Wiwattarangkul Teeravut, Aniwattanapong Daruj
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand.
Center of Excellence in Transgender Health (CETH), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2025 Aug;71(5):923-931. doi: 10.1177/00207640241311841. Epub 2025 Jan 11.
Patients with serious mental illness (SMI) often engage in religious and superstitious activities. The implications of such engagements remain unclear, with no established guidelines for mental health professionals.
This study aimed to survey perspectives and gather suggestions from various disciplines within mental healthcare regarding the engagement in religious/superstitious activities of SMI patients: schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder.
This cross-sectional study was conducted between November and December 2023 among Thai mental health professionals. Participants used 10-point Likert scales to rate their agreement levels for engaging each activity. Additional suggestions were obtained through textual responses, which were subsequently summarised and synthesised.
Of the 403 professionals participated, the majority were female (73.2%), Buddhist (87.6%) and psychiatrists (42.2%), with a median age of 34.0 years. Among patients with active symptoms, patients with major depressive disorder tended to receive the highest mean agreement scores for engagement, while patients with schizophrenia consistently scored the lowest across most activities. Similar trends were observed among patients in remission. From textual responses, two key themes were synthesised: (1) environmental factors and (2) impacts on natural courses.
Patients with active schizophrenia received the lowest levels of agreement while patients with major depressive disorder tended to receive the highest mean agreement scores on engaging religious/superstitious activities.
严重精神疾病（SMI）患者经常参与宗教和迷信活动。此类活动的影响尚不清楚，心理健康专业人员也没有既定的指导方针。
本研究旨在调查精神卫生保健各学科对于SMI患者（精神分裂症谱系障碍、双相情感障碍、重度抑郁症）参与宗教/迷信活动的观点并收集建议。
这项横断面研究于2023年11月至12月在泰国心理健康专业人员中进行。参与者使用10分制李克特量表对参与每项活动的同意程度进行评分。通过文本回复获得了其他建议，随后对这些回复进行了总结和综合。
在参与研究的403名专业人员中，大多数为女性（73.2%）、佛教徒（87.6%）和精神科医生（42.2%），中位年龄为34.0岁。在有活动症状的患者中，重度抑郁症患者参与活动获得的平均同意得分往往最高，而精神分裂症患者在大多数活动中的得分始终最低。在缓解期患者中也观察到了类似趋势。从文本回复中，综合出了两个关键主题：（1）环境因素和（2）对自然病程的影响。
活动期精神分裂症患者在参与宗教/迷信活动方面获得的同意程度最低，而重度抑郁症患者获得的平均同意得分往往最高。
