The authors studied the religious beliefs, practices, and experiences of
52 psychiatric inpatients. The rate of belief in the major tenets of faith
(God, the Devil, and an afterlife) was uniformly high and in accord with
national and local public poll results. Patients with depressive and
anxiety disorders tended to score lower than those with other diagnoses on
a wide variety of indexes of religion. The authors conclude that religion
is an important factor in most patients' lives and that individual inquiry
and systematic research into this neglected area are both feasible and
important.Abstract Teaser