Magico-religious Beliefs in Schizophrenia: A study from Eastern part of Nepal

Background & Objectives: Schizophrenia is one of the commonest psychiatric disorders which require immediate interventions. Magico-Religious beliefs may affect the expression of psychopathology as beliefs are entrenched into human psyche. Local and community beliefs in such phenomena appeared to be a factor in influencing the decision to seek magico-religious treatment. This study aimed (1) to determine attitude of patients and relatives with respect to magico-religious beliefs and its influence on psychopathology, and (2) to examine the relationship between psychopathology and major sociodemographic variables.Materials & Methods: All 50 consecutive cases of schizophrenia attending psychiatric services during study period were thoroughly evaluated. All the cases were diagnosed as per ICD 10 DCR criteria. The supernatural attitude questionnaire was applied.Results: Fifty cases were studied. Among them, 48% belonged to the age-group of 25 to 34 years, the majority of them were male (62%), 82% were Hindus, and 64% married. Majority of the patients had undergone magico-religious treatment (n = 35). Among the sample, 68% consulted faith healer and 42% performed religious treatment during the illness period; 60% acknowledged personal belief in sorcery, 58% in ghosts, and 52% in spirit intrusion. Among them, 20% believed there was a link between sorcery and mental illness, and 20% believe spirit could cause mental illness. Among the samples, 38% found the link between sorcery and abnormal behaviour, 38% with evil spirit, and 22% due to planetary influences. Statistically significant association was noted in the belief that rituals can improve patient behaviour and local belief in supernatural influences.Conclusion: There is a common belief in the relationship between supernatural influences and mental illness among the relatives of the patients. Such beliefs and magicoreligious treatment do occur during the course of the illness.

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The Relationship between Parental Loss and Attempted Suicide: A Control Study

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.110.468.698 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 110 (468) ◽

pp. 698-705 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Steven Greer

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Old Age ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Attempted Suicide ◽

Predisposing Factors ◽

Parental Loss ◽

Abnormal Behaviour ◽

Interpersonal Conflicts ◽

The Relationship ◽

Control Study

Attempted suicide has been described as “one of the most disturbing and costly abnormal behaviour patterns in our society” (29). Various suspected predisposing factors have been extensively studied, including physical and mental illness (e.g. 24, 17, 11, 25, 6), alcoholism (e.g. 19, 8, 3, 12), interpersonal conflicts (e.g. 10, 30, 14), old age (e.g. 15, 34, 23), and social isolation and degeneration (e.g. 7, 28, 33).

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Magico-Religious beliefs among primary care takers of manic patients

Journal of Psychiatrists Association of Nepal ◽

10.3126/jpan.v2i1.8568 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 7-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

N Sapkota ◽

AK Pandey ◽

BR Adhikari ◽

PM Shyangwa ◽

R Shakya

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Treatment Group ◽

Religious Beliefs ◽

Economic Status ◽

P Value ◽

Common Belief ◽

Faith Healer ◽

Religious Rituals ◽

Primary Caretakers ◽

Seeking Behavior

Introduction: Mania is one of the commonest psychiatric disorders that require immediate interventions. There is a wide held belief that co-occurrence of mental disorders and underlying religious or spiritual problems is found. Local and community belief in such phenomena appeared to be a factor in influencing the decision to seek Magico-Religious treatment. The study was done with the objective to determine the attitudes of the primary care taker with respect to Magico-Religious beliefs which can have impact on treatment seeking behavior and timely consultation to the psychiatrist for underlying condition. Materials and Method: Consecutive fifty primary care takers who accompanied the patient and gave consent were included in the study. The supernatural Attitude questionnaire developed to study the magico religious beliefs was applied to the primary care taker. Both parametric and non parametric statistical tools were applied to analyze the variables. Results: About 48% believed that performing magico-religious rituals could improve the behavior of the patients and 76% of the primary caretakers visited faith healer for this purpose. Association between Magico-religious treatment group and non-magico-religious treatment group with different variables like Age, Sex, Religion, Socio-Economic Status, Education and Occupation, were compared, which shows that, all the variables were comparable and the P-value was not significant. Conclusion: There is a common belief among the primary care takers about the relationship between supernatural’s influences and mental illness. The study concluded that there exists no significant relationship between socio demographic characteristics of a primary care takers and traditional practices and beliefs and hence are independent of each other. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpan.v2i1.8568 J Psychiatrists’ Association of Nepal Vol .2, No.1, 2013 7-13

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Magico-religious Beliefs Stigma and Help-seeking Behaviour among the Caregivers of Persons with Schizophrenia

National Journal of Professional Social Work ◽

10.51333/njpsw.2020.v21.i1.243 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 19

Author(s):

Mrinal Basumatary ◽

Arif Ali ◽

Buli Nag Daimari

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Help Seeking ◽

Religious Beliefs ◽

Faith Healer ◽

Descriptive Research ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

Help Seeking Behaviour ◽

Family Interview ◽

Persons With Schizophrenia ◽

Informal Groups

Background: The cultural and traditional aspects of caregivers of people with mental illness have been seen widely, where the faith healers are the immediate source for treatment. Due to poor understanding of mental illness and stigma among caregivers, people often seek traditional help than modern medical treatment. Aim: To assess the Magico-religious beliefs, stigma and help seeking behaviour among the caregivers of persons with schizophrenia. Methods and Materials: Descriptive research design was used. Seventy caregivers of persons with schizophrenia attending the outpatient department of LGBRIMH, Tezpur, Assam were purposefully taken for the study. Socio-demographic datasheet, Family Interview Schedule (stigma section), Super Natural Attitude Questionnaire and General Help Seeking Questionnaire were administered. Results: Prevalence of the stigma was 100%. The majority (80%) of care giver's locality and community believe in Jadu Tona, 75.7% have performed puja/ritual/jhad-phook, 72.9% visited or consulted faith healer, 67.1% talk about or believe in bhoot pret, Jadu Tona (65.7%), Opari kasar (64.3%), 68.6% believed that performing puja/rituals/jhad-phook can change patient's behaviour. Majority 57.6% care giver showed high help-seeking behaviour while 42.4% showed low help-seeking behaviour. Majority of the caregivers seek help from the parents (5.47Â±1.20). Conclusion: Supernatural beliefs and stigma found to be common among the caregivers of persons with schizophrenia. Caregivers have higher help-seeking behaviour from informal groups than formal groups.

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The Role of Faith Healer Visits in the Management and Prognosis of Mental Illness in Iraq

Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development ◽

10.37506/v11/i2/2020/ijphrd/195149 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 2148

Author(s):

Waleed Azeez Mahdi Al Ameedee ◽

Maythem Muhsin Alyasiry

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Faith Healer

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND THE ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMIC PRACTICES OF A SOCIETY: EVIDENCE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Accounting Historians Journal ◽

10.2308/0148-4184.40.2.115 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 115-143 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

David N. Herda ◽

Stephen A. Reed ◽

William F. Bowlin

Keyword(s):

Religious Beliefs ◽

Dead Sea Scrolls ◽

Second Temple ◽

Dead Sea ◽

First Century ◽

Second Temple Period ◽

Economic Practices ◽

The Dead ◽

Primary Focus ◽

The Relationship

This study explores the Dead Sea Scrolls to demonstrate how Essene socio-religious values shaped their accounting and economic practices during the late Second Temple period (ca. first century BCE to 70 CE). Our primary focus is on the accounting and commercial responsibilities of a leader within their community – the Examiner. We contend that certain sectarian accounting practices may be understood as ritual/religious ceremony and address the performative roles of the Essenes' accounting and business procedures in light of their purity laws and eschatological beliefs. Far from being antithetical to religious beliefs, we find that accounting actually enabled the better practice and monitoring of religious behavior. We add to the literature on the interaction of religion with the structures and practices of accounting and regulation within a society.

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Exploring the relationship between spiritual well-being and death anxiety in patients with gynecological cancer: a cross-section study

BMC Palliative Care ◽

10.1186/s12904-021-00778-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yue Feng ◽

Xingcan Liu ◽

Tangwei Lin ◽

Biru Luo ◽

Qianqian Mou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cancer Patients ◽

Cross Section ◽

Death Anxiety ◽

Religious Beliefs ◽

Gynecological Cancer ◽

Well Being ◽

Life Questionnaire ◽

Section Study ◽

Spiritual Well Being ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Background In recent years, spiritual well-being has gradually gained the attention of health care providers in China, especially those in oncology departments, who have recognized the importance of improving spiritual well-being in cancer patients. Since most of the current research on spiritual well-being has been carried out in areas with religious beliefs, this study was conducted in the context of no development of formal religion. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between death anxiety and spiritual well-being and the related factors of spiritual well-being among gynecological cancer patients. Methods This cross-section study was conducted among 586 gynecological cancer patients. The European Organization for Research and Treatment for Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-spiritual well-being32 (EORTC QLQ-SWB32) and Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (T-DAS) were used to measure spiritual well-being and death anxiety. The Multiple Linear Regression Model was used to determine the relationship between spiritual well-being and death anxiety. Results For all participants, the highest QLQ-SWB32 centesimal score was 75.13 on the Relationship with Other scale, and the lowest was 60.33 on the Relationship with Someone or Something Greater Scale. The mean Death Anxiety score was 5.31 (SD 3.18). We found that Relationship with Someone or Something Greater was the only scale not associated with death anxiety. Overall, patients with lower death anxiety have a higher level of spiritual well-being. Besides, a high Relationship with Other score was associated with living with a partner (B = 2.471, P < 0.001) and married (B = -6.475, P = 0.001). Patients with higher Global-SWB were retired (B = 0.387, P = 0.019). Conclusions Our study found that the spiritual well-being of patients with gynecological cancer in China was no worse than in other countries with religious beliefs and patients with lower death anxiety have a higher level of spiritual well-being. Clinical staff should pay attention to the spiritual health of cancer patients, and spiritual care should be regarded as an essential element in cancer care.

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Risk of Typical Diabetes-Associated Complications in Different Clusters of Diabetic Patients: Analysis of Nine Risk Factors

Journal of Personalized Medicine ◽

10.3390/jpm11050328 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 328

Author(s):

Michael Leutner ◽

Nils Haug ◽

Luise Bellach ◽

Elma Dervic ◽

Alexander Kautzky ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Liver Disease ◽

Diabetic Patients ◽

Complication Risk ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Icd 10 ◽

Healthy Control ◽

Design And Methods ◽

The Relationship ◽

Observation Period

Objectives: Diabetic patients are often diagnosed with several comorbidities. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between different combinations of risk factors and complications in diabetic patients. Research design and methods: We used a longitudinal, population-wide dataset of patients with hospital diagnoses and identified all patients (n = 195,575) receiving a diagnosis of diabetes in the observation period from 2003–2014. We defined nine ICD-10-codes as risk factors and 16 ICD-10 codes as complications. Using a computational algorithm, cohort patients were assigned to clusters based on the risk factors they were diagnosed with. The clusters were defined so that the patients assigned to them developed similar complications. Complication risk was quantified in terms of relative risk (RR) compared with healthy control patients. Results: We identified five clusters associated with an increased risk of complications. A combined diagnosis of arterial hypertension (aHTN) and dyslipidemia was shared by all clusters and expressed a baseline of increased risk. Additional diagnosis of (1) smoking, (2) depression, (3) liver disease, or (4) obesity made up the other four clusters and further increased the risk of complications. Cluster 9 (aHTN, dyslipidemia and depression) represented diabetic patients at high risk of angina pectoris “AP” (RR: 7.35, CI: 6.74–8.01), kidney disease (RR: 3.18, CI: 3.04–3.32), polyneuropathy (RR: 4.80, CI: 4.23–5.45), and stroke (RR: 4.32, CI: 3.95–4.71), whereas cluster 10 (aHTN, dyslipidemia and smoking) identified patients with the highest risk of AP (RR: 10.10, CI: 9.28–10.98), atherosclerosis (RR: 4.07, CI: 3.84–4.31), and loss of extremities (RR: 4.21, CI: 1.5–11.84) compared to the controls. Conclusions: A comorbidity of aHTN and dyslipidemia was shown to be associated with diabetic complications across all risk-clusters. This effect was amplified by a combination with either depression, smoking, obesity, or non-specific liver disease.

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