Religion and Depression: College Research Paper

Arguably, the most underrepresented minority group in America are atheists. Indeed, not only are they among us they are growing in population. According to a Pew survey, during the previous six years the amount of atheists in the United States has increased twenty-five percent. All the while the proportion of Christians in America is decreasing. America’s exceptionalism in religiosity is on the wane. (Merica).  But, does this mean America’s happiness is also on the wane? Conventional wisdom claims atheists are not as happy as the religious. Specifically, conventional wisdom assumes that atheists are more vulnerable to depression and their depression is worse in degree and duration because they lack faith in a god or gods. Holders of this view purport that studies show the religious are less vulnerable to depression than the non-religious. However, closer analysis of these studies does not show that atheists are more depressed than the religious. They do show, however, that there is evidence that the secular aspects of religion prevent or alleviate depression. In fact, there is no evidence that atheists are more depressed than the religious. Indeed, it is primarily through secular aspects of religion such as the provision of a positive worldview, self-esteem, and social-support systems that religion could potentially alleviate or prevent depression. Additionally,  theological beliefs of religion can be proximate causes for depression due to their promotion of negative worldviews, low self-esteem and loss of community. 

Before proceeding into a discussion of the relationship between religion and depression a few clarifying remarks and definitions must be provided in regards to depression, religion, and atheism. This paper will be using a working definition of depression that asserts depression is a mental disorder with neurological factors. So it is not just ones neurochemistry that causes depression, but rather there are psychological factors that influence one to become depressed or more effectively cope with their depression. (Graham, 48). This is important to note because if it was solely ones neurochemistry that caused depression, as some do believe, then depression is predetermined and no belief system, whether religious or not, could have an effect on the onset or prevention of depression. (Graham, 48). Depression as a mental disorder enables a discussion of the topic while depression as a neurochemical disorder does not.  Of equal importance is that there is no specific final path or pathogenesis for depression. There are, however, propensity explanations, or how-likely explanations, for why someone becomes depressed. As in proximate causes such as the death of a loved one, financial calamity, the loss of effective persona purposive agency, or poor health after contracting a disease that increase ones vulnerability to depression. (Graham, 52).  As such, it would be egregious to conclude that atheism or religion is the single cause of one’s depression. Second, this paper is reliant on the definitions of religion provided by the specific studies cited, so, there is no single definition of religion used in this paper. Moreover, many of the studies did not define religion and merely defined religiosity in terms of how often one attended church. This is a weakness of these studies that shall be discussed later in the paper. Third, most of these studies compared the religious to the non-religious and not necessarily atheists. This and other weakness of the studies will be discussed further and analyzed later in this paper.

While it is argued that theological answers of meaning and purpose help prevent or alleviate depression it can also be argued that theological beliefs are potentially part of the proximate causes that lead to depression. In a study published in Psychological Science, researchers, through the lens of Terror Management Theory, found that theological beliefs that resulted in religious struggle led to depression in the terminally ill. Terror Management Theory claims the adoption of cultural worldviews buffers the individual from fears of death through the provision of meaning and self-esteem. Religious struggle is when individuals believe that they are going to be punished or abandoned by a god or gods and their thoughts of death make them vulnerable to depression. (Edmonson, 758). In other words, thoughts of divine sin, guilt, and damnation lowers one's self-esteem and thereby contributes to an individual’s depression.  Interestingly, when a worldview is intact thoughts of death actually increase comfort. Thus certain theological beliefs contribute to a breakdown of an agent’s worldview, terror management, self-esteem and thereby lead to depression.

There are some cases, though, in which people feel appropriate amounts of regret for their sins that help them but of greater importance to the health of the person are the secular aspects of religion. Nancy Andreason argues that the sadness stimulated by a sense of sin can lead into what she refers to as “Schizoid or existential depression.” Otherwise known as clinical depression. If a patient uses religion as a source of meaning and does not dwell on it inordinately using it as a means of avoiding more significant tensions, Andreason suggests that the psychiatrist should permit religious feelings of guilt. However, although a sense of religious guilt can enable the patient to regret things deserving of regret and improve themselves, the patient is better off thinking of love and forgiveness and not of sin and damnation. (Andreason, 153-160). David Belgum, Professor Emeritus of the School of Religion at the University of Iowa, addresses the problem of guilt in his article Guilt and/or Self-Esteem as Consequences of Religion. Belgum argues that there is functional religion, which promotes self-esteem and promotes involvement in social activities and there is non-functional religion that promotes fear, shame, guilt, exclusion and judgmentalism. (Belgum, 73-80). Again, it appears that religion is helpful when it provides confidence and a social-support system but not when theological beliefs of damnation and sin are internalized.

Because religion that focuses on visions of sin and damnation contributes to depression members of authoritarian, fundamentalist groups have a greater likelihood of experiencing depression than non-authoritarian religious groups. It must first be noted that because authoritarian fundamentalist groups seek to control their members and promote homogeneity, information regarding their depression is available only upon their leaving of their church. . With that in mind, the most prominent symptoms reported by ex-fundamentalists are of anxiety and depression. These are coupled with problems of guilt, low self-esteem, sexual inhibitions and fears of divine punishment. Although the ex-fundamentalists depression is multi-faceted it has much to do with their loss of friends, community and a comprehensive life philosophy. (Hartz, 207-17). The most important conclusion to take from this is that the propensity explanations for the ex-fundamentalists depression involve their loss of conviction, social-support system and theological thoughts of damnation, sin, and guilt.

Although there is some evidence to suggest that religion help the elderly cope with death and depression, evidence also suggests that a philosophic belief system that is non-religious is as equally effective in accomplishing this. A case study analyzed ten devout elderly believers, in a variety of religions, in relation to ten devout elderly atheists. Religion was defined as 'a shared system of beliefs and associated practices on s transcendent view of life.’ The results of this study showed that regardless of their beliefs, the subjects were coping well. This suggests that strong atheistic beliefs provide the same benefits that religion does. Moreover, they suggest that the strength of the beliefs and how beliefs are used are more important than the content of those beliefs. The atheists in the study spoke of how inspiring science was to them and that by realizing how small their material role in reality was they were better able to “transcend their own problems.” (Wilkenson et al, 347-59). The universality of the human condition brought them joy and inspiration. Whether through humanism or religion it appears that the convicted can lead emotionally stable lives while approaching death.

The reason many assume that atheists are more depressed than the religious is partly due to the misrepresentation of certain studies. This misrepresentation of studies extends to those which some use to claim that the religious are healthier, in both the psychological and physical sense, than atheists. In a systematic review of sixty-nine studies that claimed an association between health and religiosity/spirituality Victor Stenger notes that they all compare the religious to the non-religious. The non-religious, however, are not necessarily atheists. They simply do not regard themselves as belonging to a particular religion. The studies actually show that positive worldviews and a network of like-minded friends might decrease ones vulnerability to depression. This is something that many devoted atheists arguably do have. The negative relationship between non-religion and depression is at least partially due to the non-religious person’s lack of a philosophical grasp of the world and their place in it, as well as their lack of community. (Carrier). Intellectually committed atheists, humanists, naturalists and similar groups do have a worldview and community that are comparable to that of the religious persons (Zuckerman, 949-71).

These assertions are given credence by studies published in the Oxford Journal of Medicine. In two separate studies, theism and atheism have been correlated with fewer depressive symptoms than those who are in the in-between state of ‘existential uncertainty’. In the first study conducted by J. Riley, S. Best, and B.G. Charlton, in regards to the effect of religious conviction on the Beck Depressive Inventory (BDI) those a part of the most and least religious groups reported the fewest depressive symptoms.  Additionally, the same researchers conducted a different study in which they created an, “11-item existential conviction scale (ECS) as a measure of the degree of certainty with which an individual feels they understand the basis of human life” They had subjects complete the ECS and BDI test and the results showed that those who rated themselves as depressed were approximately half-way between theist and atheist. This association has several possible explanations: strong beliefs can protect against depression, low-mood may decrease strong beliefs and alternatively existential uncertainty may be a result of systematic illness. (Riley, 840).

While there is evidence that the secular aspects of religion contribute to one’s prevention or remediation of depression there is also evidence that religion does not decrease one’s vulnerability to or the strength of depression at all. Additionally, there is evidence that the non-religious are actually less depressed than the religious. Contrary to the results of other studies, a 2013 study published in the Cambridge University Press shows that spiritual and religious beliefs can be risk factors for the onset of depression. In using the word ‘religion,’ they meant the actual practice of faith. Those who identified as spiritual had a belief that there is some higher power or force and that it might have influence on their life. Those that identified as neither spiritual nor religious were referred to as secular. The religious and spiritual participants identified on a scale from to 6 how strongly they held their worldview. In this study a strong conviction of religious belief correlated with being twice as likely to experience depression as those with weak religious belief. There was also no evidence that religion acts as a buffer to prevent depression after a traumatic event in life. (Leurant et al, 2109-20). This data is supported by other studies such as a cross-sectional study of over 6000 people in Korea that showed that strong spiritual values were associated with increased rates of depressive disorder (B. Leurent et al, 2013 cited Park et al. 2012).

Possible reasons for the stark contrast in the results of the Cambridge study and other similar studies need to be addressed. The contrast could be because findings in a particular population might not generalize to others. Most studies in relation to religion and depression have been conducted in North America where as this study was done in various countries but not in the United States. Also, the religious population in the US might have greater support for their faith than populations in other countries. The results of the study could also be because the non-religious are not as anxious about life’s grand meaning or purpose. Furthermore, the religious, those who do worry about questions such as the meaning of life and one’s worth, might be predisposed to depression. (Leurant et al, 2109-20).  Ultimately, though, what these studies suggest is that if religion/spirituality does prevent depression and promote psychological well being the association is weak. Also, they study provides evidence that atheists might be better able to cope with or prevent depression than the religious.

There are many flaws with studies involving religion and depression that need to be remediated and there is a limited amount of research in this field that hamper the credence of existing studies and prevent new discoveries. As such, I present several recommendations for future research. First, given that depression is not self-authored the discussion of religion and depression ought to be furthered by evaluating the relationship between religions effects on the depressed and how the religious cope with their depression especially vis-à-vis atheists. Further studies should not bundle atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists, and other groups in the title of ‘non-religious’. They should distinguish between different non-religious groups and offer participants in surveys options to specify their strength of worldview regardless of whether or not they are religious. To distinguish between specific religious denominations but not distinguish between the belief systems of those lumped into the group “non-religious” is to implicitly suggest that distinction between non-religious groups matters less than in religious groups. Also, more research into how the acquisition of ones worldview impacts their vulnerability or reactance to depression is also necessary to develop a deeper understanding of worldview in relation to depression. For example, one who became an atheist because of emotional trauma (and perhaps via depression) might be more susceptible to depression (or might react in a less proactive manner in dealing with their depression) than one who became an atheist through rational deliberation. This is especially pertinent since the route one takes in treating, or not treating, their depression is largely related to their personal beliefs and social support system and different types of religious and atheist persons might deal with it differently (Carrier). So, there needs to be a change in direction of future studies, they should analyze specific beliefs and should not bundle them together, also they should present information on the acquisition of a persons beliefs.

As an atheist, I find the notion that we are more often depressed and vulnerable to depression insulting to those of us who live wonderfully joyous lives such as myself. The claim that we are more likely to be depressed is made with the false premise that because atheists do not believe in the divine that we cannot experience comparable happiness as the religious. This is insulting as it wrongfully devalues the happiness we experience. With that in mind, my interest in belief systems and depression lies in the desire to promote well-being in my fellow person. This means that if religion can, at all, prevent or alleviate depression, then as a rationale and caring atheist I should do my best to learn from religion and use what I learn from them to help atheists and people in general. However, theological aspects of religion do not, or do little to, prevent depression and atheism does not entail greater vulnerability to depression. Additionally, atheists are not less able to cope with their depression. Of greater importance in preventing or alleviating depression is one’s support system and positive worldview. In consideration of this, religion should focus much less on damnation, sin and guilt and instead focus on forgiveness and love. Atheists should promote a sense of community and belonging as well as provide a strong worldview to those who are uncertain of their beliefs. In doing this, both the religious and non-religious can combat depression. That, rather than proving the superiority of on group to the other, is what is of importance in furthering research on religion and depression.

Works Cited

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Merica, Dan. "Survey: One in Five Americans Has No Religion." CNN Belief Blog RSS. Cable News Network, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

Riley, J. "Religious Believers and Strong Atheists May Both Be Less Depressed than Existentially-uncertain People." Qjm 98.11 (2005): 840. Print.

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