Depression and negative emotions are less common among “very religious” Americans than among the nonreligious, a poll reveals.
Gallup’s new report on Tuesday shows that 15.6 percent of American adults who say religion is an important part of daily life and who attend a church, synagogue or mosque at least every week or almost every week have been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime.
Meanwhile, 18.7 nonreligious Americans have been diagnosed. Among “moderately religious” adults, 20.4 percent reported having been diagnosed with depression.
Gallup noted in its report that the finding does not necessarily imply that the act of becoming religious will reduce or eliminate depression since Americans were asked whether they were diagnosed at any point in their life.
Still, the research group documents a significant relationship between high religiosity and lower levels of negative emotional wellbeing.
read full story
article courtesy of TheChristianPost.com
