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Religious advisors’ role in mental health care in the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders survey

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To study the role of religious advisors in mental health problems in six European countries and to compare it to data from the USA.

Methods

Data were derived from the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD) study, a cross-sectional study, conducted in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. 21,425 individuals, 18 and older, were interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0. Findings were compared to the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) and replication of the NCS (NCS-R) in the US.

Results

In ESEMeD, 0.6% of individuals (0.3% exclusively) sought help from religious advisors concerning mental health problems during the previous year, compared to 2.6% in NCS and 3.4% (for human services) in NCS-R in the US. Among those using any form of service, 6.9% consulted religious advisors (12.2% in Germany to 2.1% in Spain) compared to 18.8% in the US. Being younger (less than 25 years old), being older (more than 64) and religiosity are associated with the use of religious advisors, whereas being a student is associated with a lower probability.

Conclusions

Seeking help from religious advisors for mental health problems varies dramatically among ESEMeD countries. Except for Germany, organised religion in the ESEMeD countries could not be considered as an alternative.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the WMH staff for assistance with instrumentation fieldwork, and data analysis. A complete list of WMH publications can be found at http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/. This project was funded by the European Commission (Contract QLG5-1999-01042); the Piemont Region (Italy), Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (FIS 00/0028), Ministerio de Ciencia Y Tecnologia, Spain (SAF 2000-158-CE), Department de Sanitat, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain, other local agencies and by an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline. ESEMeD is carried out in conjunction with the World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) Survey initiative. These WMH activities were supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the US Public Health Service (R13-MH066849, R01-MH069864, and R01 DA016558), the Fogarty International Center (FIRCA R01-TW006481), the Pan American Health Organization, Eli Lilly and Company, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EA 4069, Université Paris Descartes, 12, rue de l’Ecole de médecine, 75 006, Paris, France

    Viviane Kovess-Masfety, Anne Dezetter, Xavier Briffault & Fabien Gilbert

  2. Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Ron de Graaf

  3. Serveis de Salut Mental, Sant Joan de Déu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain

    Joseph Maria Haro

  4. Department of Neurosciences and Psychiatry, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium

    Ronny Bruffaerts

  5. Centre de Recherche Psychotropes, Santé mentale, Société (CESAMES), Paris Descartes University, Paris, France

    Anne Dezetter & Xavier Briffault

  6. Health Services Research Unit, Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain

    Miquel Codony & Jordi Alonso

Authors
  1. Viviane Kovess-Masfety
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  2. Anne Dezetter
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  3. Ron de Graaf
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  4. Joseph Maria Haro
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  5. Ronny Bruffaerts
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  6. Xavier Briffault
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  7. Fabien Gilbert
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  8. Miquel Codony
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  9. Jordi Alonso
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Consortia

the ESEMeD/MHEDEA 2000 Investigators

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viviane Kovess-Masfety.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Fig. 1
figure 1

Questions on religion and use of care

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Kovess-Masfety, V., Dezetter, A., de Graaf, R. et al. Religious advisors’ role in mental health care in the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders survey. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 45, 989–998 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0143-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0143-0

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