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Article

Are religious delusions related to religiosity in schizophrenia?

1
Vilnius Mental Health Center, Lithuania
2
University Clinic of Psychiatry, High Security Hospital Gollersdorf, Vienna, Austria
3
Vytautas Magnus University
4
Institute of Psychophysiology and Rehabilitation, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Submission received: 5 February 2008 / Accepted: 12 June 2008 / Published: 17 June 2008

Abstract

This article attempts to explore the phenomenology of religious delusions in patients suffering from schizophrenia and to determine parallels between personal religiosity and content of religious delusions. We have studied the content of delusions in patients with schizophrenia looking for religious themes using Fragebogen fur psychotische Symptome (FPS) – a semistructured questionnaire developed by the Cultural Psychiatry International research group in Vienna. A total of 295 patients suffering from schizophrenia participated in this study at Vilnius Mental Health Center in Lithuania, among whom 63.3% reported religious delusions. The most frequent content of religious delusion in women was their belief that they were saints and in men – that they imagined themselves as God. Univariate multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that four factors such asmarital status, birthplace, education, and subjective importance of religion were significantly related to the presence of religious delusions. However, multivariate analyses revealed that marital status (divorced/separated vs. marriedOR (odds ratio)=2.0; 95% CI, 1.1 to 3.5) and education (postsecondary education vs. no postsecondary education OR=2.3; 95% CI, 1.4 to 3.9), but not personal religiosity, were independent predictors of the religious delusions. We conclude that the religious content of delusions is not influenced by personal religiosity; it is rather related to marital status and education of schizophrenic patients.
Keywords: schizophrenia; religiosity; religious delusions; cultural psychiatry schizophrenia; religiosity; religious delusions; cultural psychiatry

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MDPI and ACS Style

Rudalevičienė, P.; Stompe, T.; Narbekovas, A.; Raškauskienė, N.; Bunevičius, R. Are religious delusions related to religiosity in schizophrenia? Medicina 2008, 44, 529. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/medicina44070068

AMA Style

Rudalevičienė P, Stompe T, Narbekovas A, Raškauskienė N, Bunevičius R. Are religious delusions related to religiosity in schizophrenia? Medicina. 2008; 44(7):529. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/medicina44070068

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rudalevičienė, Palmira, Thomas Stompe, Andrius Narbekovas, Nijolė Raškauskienė, and Robertas Bunevičius. 2008. "Are religious delusions related to religiosity in schizophrenia?" Medicina 44, no. 7: 529. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/medicina44070068

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