Religious beliefs and religious delusions: Response to treatment in schizophrenia

Abstract

It has been suggested that patients with strong religious beliefs or religious delusions have poor outcome from psychiatric treatment. The aim of the investigation was to establish if the patients’ shorter-term response to psychiatric treatment was affected by these factors. A quasi-experimental design was used, in which patients with schizophrenia were assessed soon after admission to hospital. They were categorised as (1) religious or not religious, (2) experiencing religious delusions or not, using reliable criteria. Patients were given their routine treatment and their symptoms were then re-assessed after four weeks. There was no difference in response to treatment between the religious and non-religious patients. There was no difference between patients who had religious delusions and those who had other types of delusions. Though this study does not settle the debate, it suggests that strong religious beliefs or religious delusions do not adversely affect the patient's response to treatment in the shorter term.