Views of Catholic Priests Regarding Causes, Treatments and Psychosocial Consequences of Schizophrenia and Depression: A Comparative Study in Italy

Abstract

This study explored views of Catholic priests about schizophrenia and depression in Italy. Participants completed a questionnaire on their views about either schizophrenia (N = 282) or depression (N = 277). The depression group was surer than the schizophrenia group that: the disorder was due to psychosocial causes; curable; non-requiring long-term pharmacotherapy; the persons with depression could participate in religious activities. The older priests were more convinced than the younger priests that: the prayer and long-term pharmacotherapy are useful; the persons with mental disorders had affective difficulties, are recognizable and kept at distance. Priests should receive education on stigma in mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia.

Attitudes of Catholic Priests Regarding the Participation of People with Schizophrenia and Depression in Religious Practices: Relationships with Prejudices and Community Size

“…However, several priests preferred to participate by giving verbal consent. Participants were asked to complete the Opinions on mental disorders Questionnaire, Priest version (OQ-P) (Magliano et al, 2021 ) after reading a randomly chosen description of either schizophrenia (13) or depression (14). Therefore, each participant completed the questionnaire only once and with reference to only one clinical description, either schizophrenia or depression.…”

“…001), advices (45.8% and 59.6%; χ 2 10.2, df 1, p < .001), and economic help (27.3% and 34.8%). Further details on the descriptive data are reported in Magliano et al ( 2021 ). In the two groups, the distribution of priests by community size of the municipalities where the parishes were located was as follows: 21.3% and 17.0% in ≤ 5.000 inhabitant municipalities; 5.0% and 6.9% in 5.001-10.000 inhabitant municipalities, 24.5% and 30.7% in 10.001-50.000 inhabitant municipalities, 19.5% and 16.6% by 50.000-100.000 inhabitant municipalities, and 29.8% and 28.9% by > 100.000 inhabitant municipalities.…”

“…For each OP-Q factor, an average score is computed. Single factor scores are not combined into a total overall score as not all factors correlated significantly with each other (Magliano et al, 2021 ). The study investigated the relationships between priests’ prejudices about people with schizophrenia and depression and the priests’ own opinions about whether people with MD should participate in religious activities and be treated like other churchgoers during celebrations.…”

“…As commented by the study’s authors: “religious practice did not seem to protect against discrimination toward persons with MDs, suggesting that social representations of persons with MDs are so anchored that they resist the inherent empathy and humanistic nature of the clerics profession”. A recent survey carried out in Italy compared views regarding people with schizophrenia and depression in a sample of 559 Catholic priests (Magliano et al, 2021 ). The study results showed significant differences in priests’ opinions in relation to the type of disorder.…”

“…Using the dataset of the comparative survey described above (Magliano et al, 2021 ), in this study we investigated whether priests’ attitudes regarding the participation of individuals with schizophrenia and depression in religious practices varied in relation to priests’ adherence to common prejudices about people with these disorders. It should be noted that although the same dataset was used, there is no overlap in objectives, data analysis, or results between the two studies.…”