Religious believers and strong atheists may both be less
depressed than existentially-uncertain people.

Jennifer Riley, Sophia Best, Bruce G Charlton

Address for correspondence:

Dr Bruce G Charlton
School of Biology
Henry Wellcome Building
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
UK
NE1 7RU

bruce.charlton@ncl.ac.uk

Although this is controversial, it is commonly argued that religious belief is a cause of greater happiness [1]. But in two separate studies we have found that both theism and atheism are correlated with fewer reported depressive symptoms than the in-between state of 'existential uncertainty'.

Our first study of the effect of religious conviction on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) surprisingly discovered an ‘inverted-U’ relationship, where the most- and least-religious groups had fewest depressive symptoms. An 11 item existential conviction scale (ECS) was devised as a measure of the degree of certainty with which an individual understands the basis of human life (www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/ecsq). Fifty-two subjects (24 male: 28 female, age: 18-76) completed the ECS and BDI. All 10 subjects rated as depressed (‘mild’ depression, BDI score 10+) were roughly halfway between atheist and theist. There was a significant negative relationship between ECS and the BDI (Spearman rank correlation -0.44, p < 0.2).

There are several plausible explanations for such an association. Most obviously, strong beliefs may protect against depression, or low mood may diminish strong beliefs. Alternatively, depressive symptoms and existential uncertainty may both be a consequence of confounding by systemic illnesses, because immune activation tends to cause malaise symptoms such as fatigue (leading to depressed mood [4]) and impaired concentration (perhaps leading to greater uncertainty of beliefs [2,3]). This hypothesis is currently being tested.

References
1. French S, Joseph S. Religiosity and an association with happiness, purpose in life and self-actualization. Mental Health, Religion and Culture. 1999; 2: 118-120.
2. Hart, B. l. (1988). Biological basis of the behaviour of sick animals. Neuroscience & Biobehavioural Reviews, 12: 123-137.
3. Charlton BG. The malaise theory of depression: Major depressive disorder is sickness behavior and antidepressants are analgesic. Medical Hypotheses. 2000; 54: 126-130
4. GE Campbell, N Goodchild & BG Charlton. Depressive symptoms in injury and illness. QJM. 2001; 94:720-1.

HOME

also by Bruce Charlton
Palliative psychopharmacology
The Malaise Theory of Depression
Public Health and Personal Freedom
Psychiatry and the Human Condition
Pharmacology and Personal Fulfillment
Awareness, Consciousness and Language
Self-management of Psychiatric Symptoms