In a time where kids are cutting because it’s cool, people are killing to impress Slender Man, and joking about death is commonplace, it is crucial to watch for signs of depression in children. Continue reading
Sadness can come slowly or as a huge slap in the face. Types of sadness include grief, unhappiness, regrettable, feeling worthless and useless. People can confuse ordinary misery with clinical depression. The primary difference is Continue reading
Mental health is a factor in any relationship. To have a healthy relationship, it is important to be aware of some of the pitfalls that can occur. This post is specifically for LGBT relationships but some concepts may be applicable to any dating couple. The LGBT community faces additional hardships in relationships due to the societal implications of being open about one’s sexual orientation. A concept which one day should not matter, in today’s dating world there are things to be discussed regarding anxiety and depression within an LGBT relationship. Continue reading
How we talk to ourselves has a huge impact on how we perceive the rest of the world. One common symptom of depression is being very negative in our heads. Imagine waking up in the morning and your first few thoughts include “ugh, I have to get up…I have to go to work…I hate my job…today is going to suck.” These are perceptions of your life. You might have your dream job, but when depression hits, the ability to get out of bed becomes the hardest thing you do all day. Continue reading
Religiosity and spirituality are concepts that have been around for many millennia. It has been the root of many wars and many celebrations. Studying religiosity and spirituality coincides with analyzing the behaviors of humans, which is the purpose of psychology. Depression, although a relatively newer notion than spirituality, is currently the most common mental health concern. Researchers continue in their efforts to find a relationship between the two. If a positive relationship can be determined, religious organizations would benefit greatly to claim that science and religion finally agree on this benefit.
Numerous studies have been conducted on both depression and spirituality/religiosity. For this post, the terms spirituality and religiosity will be used interchangeably to mean closeness with a higher power.
Depression and Coping
Theories have been posed suggesting that negative religiosity correlates positively with depression. In one study, “Religious Coping, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents: A Prospective Study,” adolescents were questioned on positive and negative coping strategies using the brief RPOCE, on depression using the Children’s Depression Inventory, and on stress using the Adolescent Perceived Events Scale. The hypothesis was that those with positive religious coping strategies would handle stress better, while those with negative religious coping strategies would be more stressed and have more depressive symptoms. The results of this study indicated that those who reported higher use of negative religious coping strategies also reported more depressive symptoms in stressful life events (Carpenter, Laney, & Mezulis, 2011). Their study contributed to the growing literature that provides evidence that negative religious coping strategies increases the depression that may occur during stressful life events. This evidence supports their primary hypothesis.
The study entitled, “Religious Devoutness in College Students: Relations With Emotional Adjustment and Psychological Separation From Parents,” analyzed mental health, personality, and religiousness among a sample of college students. Richards’ (1991) first research question was “Do more religiously devout or intrinsic or proreligious college students manifest greater emotional disturbance and personality maladjustment than less devout extrinsic or antireligious students?”. His findings were that more religious students were no more depressed than their non-religious counterparts. Richards’ (1991) other research question was “What are the relations between the I and E scales of the ROS and various indicators personality adjustment and mental health in college students?” The current study is concerned only with his first findings. His results are directly related to the present study in that they provide inverse findings of the hypothesis for this study. Instead of looking as the negatives of religiosity, this study focuses on the positive ramifications of attending religious services, two parent households, and intrinsic spirituality.
In college I did a research paper the looks in depth at religion/spirituality and depression. Follow my blog for more on the topic later. Also, check out my new website: