Religious-sociocultural psychotherapy in patients with anxiety and depression

Objective: To show the effectiveness of incorporating religious-sociocultur al components in the management of patients with generalised anxiety disord ers and major depression who have strong religious and cultural backgrounds as compared with a normal psychotherapeutic approach. Methods: One hundred and three cases of anxiety and 100 cases of depression with strong religious and cultural backgrounds were randomly assigned to t he study or control groups. Both groups received standard treatment for the ir respective illnesses. The study group was given additional religious-soc iocultural psychotherapy. They were followed for 6 months and were assessed in a double-blind fashion using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale or the H amilton Depression Rating Scale. Results: Patients receiving additional religious-sociocultural psychotherap y responded significantly faster than those who received standard treatment . However, the difference became non-significant at the end of 6 months. Conclusions: Incorporating a religious and sociocultural component in the t reatment program rapidly improved anxiety and depressive symptoms in patien ts with strong religious and cultural backgrounds. The present study demons trates a need for more sensitivity to religious-sociocultural issues in the field of mental health.