Faith in God influences treatment positively.

• Position: Psychiatry - Brief article

Belief in God may improve the outcome of those receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness, according to a study conducted by investigators from McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass.

"Our work suggests that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without, regardless of their religious affiliation," observes clinician David H. Rosmarin--who also is an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Boston. "Belief was associated with not only improved psychological well-being, but decreases in depression and intention to self-harm."

Of the patients sampled, more than 30% claimed...