title: Religious faith after psychotic illness.
abstract: Religion can play an important role in the lives of psychiatric patients. We assessed how often a psychotic illness can lead to a change in the strength of religious faith and how commonly religion is used for coping with such illnesses in a sample of consecutively admitted patients. 52 patients with psychosis were interviewed regarding their religious beliefs after their index admission. 69.4% of the patients were religious, and 11 (22.4%) stated that religion was the most important part of their lives. 30.4% of the sample described that there had been an increase in their religiousness after the onset of illness. 61.2% of patients were using their religion for coping with the illness. Such patients had a better insight into their illness and were more compliant with antipsychotic medication. We conclude that the experience of a psychotic illness is likely to lead to an increase in religious beliefs. Such beliefs are commonly used for coping with the illness and some patients attach a great importance to them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK. kirov@cardiff.ac.uk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kirov
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirov
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: David
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012067:Religion; D012649:Self Concept