Psychiatric News (1/17) reports investigators sought to find out what US religious “leaders believe about the cause and treatment of depression,” focusing “specifically on the data obtained from the 890 primary leaders of religious congregations who predominantly completed the survey online between February 2019 and June 2020.” The study revealed that “most of the religious leaders indicated that they would be moderately or very likely to encourage a congregant with depression to seek help from a mental health professional (90%) and take prescribed medications (87%).” The study authors concluded, “These results suggest that medical professionals should view the vast majority of religious leaders as allies in identifying and properly treating depression.” The findings were published online Jan. 11 in a brief report in JAMA Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Most U.S. Religious Leaders Endorse Medical Understanding of Depression, Survey Finds, Psychiatric News, January 17, 2023