In prospective studies on religiousness and depressive symptoms, it remains unclear whether religiousness is a predictor or parallels the fluctuating course of depressive symptoms. The current study focuses on several affective aspects of religiousness in their associations over time with late life depressive symptoms. As part of the population-based Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, a subsample of 222 respondents (mean age 76.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGiven that surrender to God has been associated with health and well-being in believers, research in this area would benefit from the availability of scales outside the United States, where these were first developed. To this end, we conducted two studies (N = 130 and N = 574) in Christian samples in the Netherlands to test the psychometric properties of a Dutch translation of the Surrender to God Scale (D-StGS). In addition, the abbreviated Religious Surrender Scale-2 was tested to examine whether the two-item scale would show validity and reliability, as this would benefit research in which there are time (and other) constraints on assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReligiosity and spirituality (R/S) are often regarded as being relatively stable over time. The present exploratory experience sampling method (ESM) study aims to assess the variability of three R/S parameters concerning affective representations of God and spiritual experiences in a psychiatric population. Depressed in- and outpatients self-identifying as being spiritual or religious participated, from two Dutch mental health care institutions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Little is known about types of religious/spiritual (R/S) struggles with regard to various diagnostic groups in mental health care. The current qualitative study aims to give an impression of R/S struggles as observed in six diagnostic groups in clinical mental health care.
Methods: Inductive thematic content analysis was applied to 34 semi-structured interviews.
Introduction: Alcohol-related cues trigger relapse in patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). These cues may automatically activate motivational approach tendencies. Through computerised cognitive bias modification (CBM), the tendencies of patients with AUD to approach alcohol can be reduced.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this qualitative study, we examined how community members of the Dutch reformed pietist community coped with the COVID-19 pandemic, and which religious sources of meaning making and resilience they used during this time of crisis. Based on seven in-depth interviews, we found that the representation of God being 'above all things' was prominent in times of close encounter with the coronavirus. In actively interpreting the pandemic, community members tended to stay away from concrete eschatological or ecological interpretations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Religiousness and meaning in life are protective factors against addiction. Understanding this relationship may help to improve treatment. The aim of the current study was to assess the associations of positive and negative religiousness and search for meaning with treatment outcome, for patients with substance disorder (SUD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patient satisfaction with religious/spiritual (R/S) care during mental health treatment has been associated with a better treatment alliance.
Aims: To investigate the longitudinal relations between (un)met R/S care needs and treatment alliance/compliance over a 6-month period.
Method: 201 patients in a Christian (CC) and a secular mental health clinic completed a questionnaire (T0) containing an R/S care needs questionnaire, the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) and the Service Engagement Scale (SES).
This exploratory study shows that God representation types are associated with levels of personality organization. Among two Dutch samples of psychiatric patients (n = 136) and nonpatients (n = 161), we found associations between the psychotic, borderline, and neurotic personality organizations, and passive-unemotional, negative-authoritarian, and positive-authoritative God representation types, respectively. Both patients and nonpatients reported positive God representations, but only nonpatients and higher-level functioning patients reported an integrated God-object relation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: The relationship between patient and professional is one of the cornerstones of successful treatment in mental health care. For part of the mental health patients, a similar outlook on life with their caregiver(s) is important. Attention to religion/spirituality (R/S) in mental health care is likely to influence the relationship between a patient and mental health professional, for patients preferring so.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examines religious/spiritual (R/S) care needs and their possible determinants among mental health patients in the Netherlands. Patients in a Christian (CC, n = 100) and a secular (SC, n = 101) mental health clinic completed a questionnaire. Analysis revealed three factors on the R/S care needs measure: (1) "R/S conversations," (2) "R/S program and recovery," and (3) "R/S similar outlook on life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: In the last decades, the attention for religion/spirituality (R/S) in mental health care (MHC) has considerably increased. However, patients' preferences concerning R/S in treatment have not often been investigated. The aim of this study was to find out how patients in clinical multidisciplinary MHC want R/S to be addressed in their care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Geriatr Psychiatry
November 2014
Objectives: Growing evidence shows several possible relations between religiousness and late-life depression. Emotional aspects of religiousness such as facets of the perceived relationship with God can be crucial in this connection. The aim of the current study was to examine the association between the course of late-life depression and feelings about God and religious coping.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The present study explored the role of the emotional experience of God (i.e., positive and negative God images) in the happiness of chronic pain (CP) patients.
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