Magico-religious beliefs in schizophrenia: A study from North India

Psychiatric disorders in India are often attributed to influence of superna tural phenomena, and many patients are subjected to various kinds of 'magic o-religious' treatments, We studied 40 cases of schizophrenia and ascertain ed magico-religious beliefs held by their key relatives, The effects of suc h magico-religious beliefs on psychopathology and treatment-seeking behavio ur were explored. The sample were schizophrenia patients diagnosed accordin g to ICD-10 of the World Health Organisation, Psychopathology was assessed on the 9th version of the Present State Examination (PSE-9). Supernatural A ttitude Questionnaire was administered to the key relatives of the patients to ascertain their beliefs about various supernatural phenomena and magico -religious treatments. It was observed that the majority of the patients ha d undergone magico-religious treatment(n = 23), Nearly 74% of the patients who had symptoms coloured by cultural influences such a!; delusional explan ation in terms of paranormal phenomena had undergone magico-religious treat ment, It was also seen that though many relatives denied personal convictio n in such magico-religious beliefs, yet they sought some kind of magico-rel igious treatment for the patients. The prevalence of culturally influenced delusions as defined by the PSE-9 was very low. Belief in supernatural infl uences is common in patients' relatives from urban background and with adeq uate education, and treatment based upon such beliefs is sought to a consid erable extent in such cases, Local and community belief in such phenomena a ppeared to be a factor in influencing the decision to seek magico-religious treatment, Copyright (C) 2000 S.Karger AG, Basel.