Study: Doctors’ religious beliefs guide depression treatment

Posted by Kendall Harmon

If you go to your family doctor complaining you're depressed, your treatment could be influenced by the religious beliefs of your doctor.

That's the thrust of a paper published today in the journal Psychiatric Services. The paper reports the results of a national survey of physicians taken in 2003.

The doctors were given this question:

"A patient presents to you with continued deep grieving two months after the death of his wife. If you were to refer the patient, to which of the following would you prefer to refer first? A psychiatrist or psychologist, a clergy member or religious counselor, a health care chaplain, or other."

A bit more than half the doctors chose the first option and about a third chose one of the two faith-linked counseling options. But the choices varied significantly depending on the faith and degree of religiosity of the doctor.

Protestants were more likely to choose one of the religious options than any other religious group. The more religiously observant the doctor said he or she was, the more likely that doctor's first inclination would be to choose one of the religious options. And the less religious the doctor, the more likely the choice would be a psychiatrist or psychologist.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Religion & Culture

4 Comments
Posted September 4, 2007 at 3:43 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Sarah1 wrote:

RE: “A patient presents to you with continued deep grieving two months after the death of his wife.”

I have to say—I’m not a physician and thus don’t have the expertise, but goodness!  Surely we can expect a husband to have “deep grieving” a mere two months after the death of his wife.

Unless he is suicidal, I would probably send him to a priest or minister first too, and then do a followup, perhaps, two months later.

It’s as if we must be “fixed” if we experience “deep grieving” over a spouse’s death.  Surely this sort of question would throw off a physician.

September 4, 4:48 pm | [comment link]
2. Sherri wrote:

It’s as if we must be “fixed” if we experience “deep grieving” over a spouse’s death.
It’s weird - but my mother’s doctor wanted to prescribe her anti-depressants when she was grieving over my father’s then very recent death. I think the dichotomy here between psychiatry and religion sort of explains what psychiatry is attempting to do - get everybody “happy.”

September 4, 5:44 pm | [comment link]
3. CharlesB wrote:

I agree with you two.  Firstly, I am not a psychologist, but have read that grieving is a normal part of the healing process over a great loss.  Seems like the greater the loss, the longer this would take.  And that would be purely individual to that person.  I live in the Middle East, and grieving over the death of any family member is expected and goes on for quite a while.  The loudest and most emotional grieving will be over the death of the mother, even more so than for a spouse.  You can also hire professional grievers to wail for you.  How awful is that?

September 5, 4:30 am | [comment link]
4. Sherri wrote:

Professional grievers? That reminds me of the paid mourners that could be hired for Victorian-era funeral processions in England. As for the psychiatrists and doctors, you would think that they would understand that when there is loss there will be grief, when there is great loss, there will be great grief. Everything can’t be made to “feel better” immediately—time really is the only healer for some things. (A slow cure, but cheap….)

September 5, 7:34 am | [comment link]
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