Psychiatry Investig.
2012 Mar;9(1):29-35.
The Relationship between Religion and Mental Disorders in a Korean Population
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Psychiatry, Kangwon National University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
- 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- 3Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. mjcho@plaza.snu.ac.kr
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
The question of whether religion has beneficial or detrimental effects on the mental well-being of the adult individual is debatable. Because most Korean citizens are free to select their own religion, there is a higher proportion of non-believers than believers among the Korean population. The aim of this research was to investigate the association between spiritual values and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition mental disorders in Korea across all types of belief systems, including Koreans not affiliated with a particular religion.
METHODS
The Korean version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 2.1 was used to interview 6,275 people across South Korea in 2001. While controlling for age and sex, we used logistic regression to analyze the relationship between mental disorders (both current and past) and the types of religion and spiritual values.
RESULTS
Strong spiritual values were positively associated with increased rates of current depressive disorder and decreased rates of current alcohol use disorder. Using "atheist" as the reference category, Catholics had higher lifetime odds of single episodes of depression whilst Protestants had higher lifetime odds of anxiety disorder and lower lifetime odds of alcohol use disorders.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that depressive episodes often lead to a search for spirituality and that religion may be helpful in overcoming depression or becoming less vulnerable to relapsing. The associations between religion, spiritual values, and mental health have not been fully elucidated and warrant further exploration.
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