Hearing spirits? Religiosity in individuals at risk for psychosis-Results from the Brazilian SSAPP cohort.
Schizophrenia research February 1, 2019 Alexandre Andrade Loch, Elder Lanzani Freitas, Lucas Hortêncio et al. 31 citations
Organizational religious activity—such as attending churches or temples—is positively linked to perceptual abnormalities and hallucinations in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis, and also to lower ideational richness. Intrinsic religious activity is negatively correlated with suspiciousness, while non-organizational religious activity is associated with higher ideational richness. These findings come from 79 ultra-high-risk and 110 control individuals in Brazil, where religious syncretism and Spiritism may normalize hallucinatory experiences. The results suggest that subclinical psychosis may lead people to use religious organizations to cope with hallucinations, and highlight the need to assess religion and cultural context when studying psychosis risk.