So far, many studies have been published on the impact of religion, spirituality, and prayer in helping people recover from illness or injury. These studies have been ongoing since the 1980s and have become more advanced, using scientific methods to understand how religion affects health. However, because of variations in study quality and small sample sizes, the results have not consistently shown that religious or spiritual practices definitively improve health.
Below, I discuss two meta-analyses that examine the role of actively-applied religious interventions or religious participation in relation to mental health.
In one meta-analysis by Goncalves and his team, they focused on randomized controlled clinical trials. Their goal was to understand how religious or spiritual interventions (RSI) impact depressive and anxiety symptoms in people dealing with physical and mental illnesses. The studies they analyzed were published between 2005 and 2013, and they all included a comparison group of healthy participants.
These studies used various ways to include religion or spirituality in the treatment process, such as psychotherapy, audiovisual materials, and meditation. Because of these differences, it was challenging to determine which approach is the most effective. The results showed that anxiety symptoms improved for those who received these treatments compared to those who didn’t, and depressive symptoms improved but were not statistically significant. However, there were notable improvements in outcomes when comparing before and after treatment.
In summary, these findings suggest that incorporating religious or spiritual elements alongside conventional treatments may result in better physical and mental health outcomes.
Goncalves, J. P. B., Lucchetti, G., Menezes, P. R., & Vallada, H. (2015). Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. Psychological Medicine, 45, 2937-2949. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291715001166
A more recent study, based on previously published longitudinal studies, explored the impact of religion and spirituality (R/S) on mental health, including feelings of distress, well-being, life satisfaction, and overall quality of life. Longitudinal studies are useful because they allow us to observe how individuals change over time, and this meta-analysis controlled for factors that could influence the results. It included 48 studies with over 200,000 participants. The R/S factors considered as predictors of mental well-being included participating in religious activities, receiving support from fellow church members, finding meaning in religion, valuing religion, and using religious coping strategies.
The meta-analysis found that regularly attending religious services and placing importance on religion in one’s life had a significant positive impact on mental well-being, even when taking into account participants’ mental health at the beginning of the study. However, the other predictors of mental well-being did not show significant effects. Overall, there was a small but noticeable positive effect of R/S on mental health. These findings differ from some other meta-analyses on religion and spirituality, likely due to the challenges in defining and measuring these concepts accurately.
In conclusion, when considering the future of research on R/S and mental health, the authors questioned its value. “The heterogeneity of studies in the field suggests that one can endlessly search for relationships between all the various aspects of R/S and all the various aspects of mental health, but what is the practical significance of such studies?” (p. 17). They noted that the diversity in studies in this field makes it challenging to draw definitive conclusions. While the existing studies provide some insights, they acknowledge that mental well-being is influenced by numerous factors beyond religion and spirituality.
Garssen, B., Visser, A., & Pool, G. (2021). Does spirituality or religion positively affect mental health? Meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 31(1), 4-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2020.1729570
©Jennie Dilworth, Ph.D