Do spirituality and religiousness differ with regard to personality and recovery from depression? A follow-up study.

BACKGROUND: The studies show that both spirituality and religiousness are protective for mental health. Personality is related with course and outcome of depression, as well as spirituality and religiousness, and their relations toward to recovery from depression are underresearched. This study followed influence of spirituality and religiousness on course and outcome of depression in patients with depressive episode, controlled for personality dimensions. METHODS: The patients were assessed with self-report measures of depression (Beck Depression Inventory), spirituality (WHO-Quality of Life-Spiritual, Religious, Personal Beliefs), religiousness (Duke University Religion Index) and personality (Temperament and Character Inventory). Ninety nine patients finished a year long follow up. RESULTS: Higher spirituality influenced recovery of depression in patients with depressive episode, but religiousness did not show to be significant predictor of recovery for depression. Dimension harm avoidance was significant predictor of improvement of depression in all points of measurement. LIMITATIONS: Some limitations of this research are small sample size, usage of the self-report measures of depression in follow-up period, and the predominantly Catholic affiliation of the participants that can impact the generalizability of our data to other denominations. CONCLUSION: Spirituality and dimension harm avoidance are significant predictors of recovery from depression during a year long follow up.

Spirituality and Its Relationship with Personality in Depressed People: Preliminary Findings.

The relationship between spirituality and personality in patients with depression is complex and not much explored. The aim of our study is to examine the interconnection between the spiritual quality of life (QoL) and Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality in patients with depression. The sample consisted of 85 consecutive outpatients treated for depression. The measurements used were: Beck Depression Inventory, WHO-Quality of Life-Spiritual, Religious, Personal Beliefs, and Temperament and Character Inventory. The results have shown that higher harm avoidance, lower self-directedness and lower cooperativeness are personality dimensions associated with depression. The spiritual QoL has showed to play a significant role in depression, just as it has proved to be a unique predictor of lower depressive symptoms, adjusted for personality dimensions. The spiritual QoL itself is predicted by personality dimensions, self-directedness and self-transcendence implying that spirituality is a broader construct than the character dimension. Our findings may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of depression, spirituality and personality.

Association between C-reactive protein and homocysteine with the subcomponents of metabolic syndrome in stable patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies revealed high prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. C-Reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine have also both emerged as independent risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but are less investigated in psychiatric disorders. AIMS: The aim of this study was to ascertain which specific subcomponents of MetS are associated with levels of CRP and homocysteine in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. METHODS: Our sample consisted of patient group (n = 122) (60 bipolar and 62 schizophrenic patients) treated with second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) and healthy controls (n = 59). MetS was defined according to NCEP ATP-III criteria; the cut-off point for elevated CRP was set up at 5 mg/l and for hyperhomocysteinemia at 15 µmol/l. RESULTS: In the patient group, homocysteine was correlated with waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides and blood glucose, while CRP was correlated with waist circumference and diastolic blood pressure. Patients with hyperhomocysteinemia had an 8.442 times higher chance to have met the criteria for MetS while elevated CRP was not a significant predictor of MetS. CONCLUSIONS: There is a complex association between CRP and homocysteine with specific subcomponents of MetS in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Given the high risk of cardiovascular disorders in psychiatric patients, these relationships deserve further investigation. Clinically, it could be useful to include the measurement of homocysteine and CRP levels in routine psychiatric diagnostic procedures.

Hopelessness, suicidality and religious coping in Croatian war veterans with PTSD.

BACKGROUND: Hopelessness is a strong predictor of suicide which is closely associated with PTSD in war veterans. Previous studies showed that if religious faith in war veterans was weakened it contributed to more extensive current use of mental health services. War trauma experience can weaken religious faith as well as strengthen it. It partly depends on religious coping which can be positive or negative. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In our work we present correlation between hopelessness (measured with Beck Hopelessness Scale) and style of religious coping (positive or negative, measured with R-COPE) in 111 Croatian war veterans with PTSD and 39 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: Veterans with PTSD were more hopeless than healthy volunteers, and had greater usage of negative religious coping. In PTSD group, less hopeless veterans showed greater extent in use of positive religious coping strategies. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that experts treating male combat veterans with PTSD should inquire about religious coping of the individual. Positive religious coping should be encouraged while negative religious coping should be addressed appropriately.

Metabolic syndrome and serum homocysteine in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia treated with second generation antipsychotics.

There is accumulating evidence for an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in bipolar patients, which is comparable to the prevalence of MetS in patients with schizophrenia. Hyperhomocysteinaemia has emerged as an independent and graded risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is, at the same time, the primary clinical outcome of MetS. The aim of this study was to ascertain if the presence of MetS was associated with hyperhomocysteinaemia in patients with bipolar disorder (N=36) and schizophrenia (N=46) treated with second-generation antipsychotics (SGA). MetS was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP-III) criteria and the cut-off point for hyperhomocysteinaemia was set up at 15 µmoll(-1). Results of the study indicated that the presence of the MetS is statistically significantly associated with the elevated serum homocysteine in all participants. As hyperhomocysteinaemia has emerged as an independent risk factor for psychiatric disorder and CVD, it could be useful to include fasting homocysteine serum determination in the diagnostic panels of psychiatric patients to obtain a better assessment of their metabolic risk profile.

Spiritual well-being, cortisol, and suicidality in Croatian war veterans suffering from PTSD.

We present our preliminary results of work that aims to observe the relationship between the cortisol level, the level of spiritual well-being, and suicidal tendencies in Croatian war veterans suffering from PTSD. The survey was conducted on 17 PTSD veterans who completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. The plasma cortisol level was obtained by venepuction at 8.00, 12.00, 13.00, 16.00, and 22.00 h. Results showed that veterans with higher spiritual well-being scores had lower cortisol levels, and evening cortisol levels showed significant correlation with suicidal risk. The results of the present study could be a stimulus for further investigation into spiritually based interventions, exploring their impact both on mental status and physical health.