Religiosity and personal beliefs in ocd and anxiety disorders

Abstract

Background

In the last decades the relationship between religiosity/spirituality (R/S), personal beliefs and mental health has been extensively studied, indicating a significant correlation of these variables. However, the specific relation of R/S to anxiety disorders has been less investigated.

Objective

The objective of this prospective study is the investigation of the relation of R/S, magical ideation (MI) and paranormal beliefs (PB) to anxiety disorders in general and OCD in particular, in order to specifically determine a possible impact of these variables on psychopathology scores. In addition, the relation between R/S, PB and MI can be systematically investigated.

Design & method

Unselected samples with OCD and other anxiety disorders have been equally assessed within the first week after admission with a face-to-face interview including the following instruments: MINI, HAMD, HAMA and Y-BOCS, OCI-R, STAI, Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity/Spirituality, Magical Ideation Scale and Revised Paranormal Beliefs Scale. Forty healthy participants with no psychiatric history served as controls.

Results

Groups did not differ in any aspect of R/S, MI, or PB. Almost all scales referring to R/S, PB and MI were positively correlated to each other. The results showed a strong positive correlation between high scores of negative religious coping and high psychopathology scores in depression and anxiety. On the other hand, there was a significant positive correlation between MI scores and initial OCD and anxiety scores.

Conclusion

This study verifies a significant correlation between personal beliefs and psychopathology in OCD and anxiety disorders. Implications for further research are discussed.