Kitten-- I think "religiosity" is a weird word, well weird-sounding anyway... it sounds like "monstrosity"--
it is good to have it technically defined now and available on this thread. Thanks!

You make an interesting point-- in short, what if the depressed people in the study/survey lied; put on a show-- phony, lied.

Some probably did. Research in any field can be falsified/tweeked/enhanced, etc., by the participants or by the research team.
Numbers are skewed to "fit" the hoped-for data and results... lots of ways to manipulate outcomes.
But there is a ton of hard, honest&dedicated research going on out there in a relentless effort to improve the quality of human life.

Sadly, the study of the brain-mind-body-emotions connection is probably the most difficult and frustrating of all.
You know that film "A Beautiful Mind"?-- many beautiful minds are trapped this way.

Quote:
Kitten's kind posting of definitions of religiosity made me alert to the word. Another study to be published in the journal "Intelligence" uses the word, so I guess it is becoming a value-neutral expression:

Intelligence and relligious belief

Not sure whether it is accessible without a subscription. But I was really only posting about the use of the word.



Excuse my warped sense of humour intel, but, doesn't religion only have 'one' 'ell
Surprisingly, the link opened.
And! this is quite interesting


Received 31 May 2011; revised 15 July 2011; accepted 13 August 2011. Available online 3 September 2011.

Abstract
High levels of religiosity have been linked to lower levels of intelligence in a number of recent studies. These results have generated both controversy and theoretical interest. Here in a large sample of US adults we address several issues that restricted the generalizability of these previous results. We measured six dimensions of religiosity (rather than just one or two), along with a multi-scale instrument to assess general intelligence. We also controlled for the influence of the personality trait openness on facets of religious belief and practice. The results indicated that lower intelligence is most strongly associated with higher levels of fundamentalism, but also modestly predicts central components of religiosity such as a sense of religious identification and private religious practice. Secondly, we found that a higher level of openness – often assumed to lead to lower religiosity – is weakly associated with reduced fundamentalism but with increased religious mindfulness, private religious practice, religious support, and spirituality. These new results provide a framework for understanding the links between reasoning and faith.

Highlights
► We model the association of religiosity with intelligence and openness. ► We use a large adult US sample, and six measures of religious belief and behavior. ► Lower intelligence was significantly associated with higher levels of faith. ► Lower intelligence was most strongly associated with increased fundamentalism. ► Higher openness was associated with lower fundamentalism.

Keywords: Intelligence; Religiosity; Openness; Fundamentalism; Spirituality

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RULES ARE FOR THE OBEYENCE OF FOOLS AND FOR THE GUIDENCE OF WISE MEN

recently came across this article

Spirituality Tops Religion for Depression
By RICK NAUERT PHD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 24, 2008
Those who worship a higher power often do so in different ways. For some, an active religious community is preferred while for others, praying or meditating are methods to connect.

New research out of Temple University suggests that a person’s religiousness –- also called religiosity -– can offer insight into their risk for depression.

Lead researcher Joanna Maselko, Sc.D., characterized the religiosity of 918 study participants in terms of three domains of religiosity: religious service attendance, which refers to being involved with a church; religious well-being, which refers to the quality of a person’s relationship with a higher power; and existential well-being, which refers to a person’s sense of meaning and their purpose in life.

In a study published online this month in Psychological Medicine, Maselko and fellow researchers compared each domain of religiosity to their risk of depression, and were surprised to find that the group with higher levels of religious well-being were 1.5 times more likely to have had depression than those with lower levels of religious well-being.

Maselko theorizes this is because people with depression tend to use religion as a coping mechanism. As a result, they’re more closely relating to God and praying more.

Researchers also found that those who attended religious services were 30 percent less likely to have had depression in their lifetime, and those who had high levels of existential well-being were 70 percent less likely to have had depression than those who had low levels of existential well-being.

Maselko says involvement in the church provides the opportunity for community interaction, which could help forge attachments to others, an important factor in preventing depression. She added that those with higher levels of existential-well being have a strong sense of their place in the world.

“People with high levels of existential well-being tend to have a good base, which makes them very centered emotionally,” said Maselko. “People who don’t have those things are at greater risk for depression, and those same people might also turn to religion to cope.”

Maselko admits that researchers have yet to determine which comes first: depression or being religious, but is currently investigating the time sequence of this over people’s lives to figure out the answer.

“For doctors, psychiatrists and counselors, it’s hard to disentangle these elements when treating mental illness,” she said. “You can’t just ask a patient if they go to church to gauge their spirituality or coping behaviors. There are other components to consider when treating patients, and its important information for doctors to have.”

Source: Temple University

I agree with much of what you say in your post 26 letters, but I have known folk who viewed themselves, honestly, as Christians and felt guilt at being depressed. That is until they got a balance and accepted that no one is immune from depressions, and that depression and its causes are often misunderstood.

To have a strong faith may well help, but it will not of itself remove the depression... one may have to live with such for a lifetime.

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle

Hi Intel...

Yes, I see the missing/not developed variables-- I haven't any more info right now regarding this article.
I'd like to comment a bit on meditation&health... not quite sure what is meant by "medical meditation"(?)....
Any type of meditation (if the person's willing and is comfortable participating, etc.) is beneficial....
it greatly facilitates the "switching off" of the body's production of stress chemicals-- especially the steroid/adrenaline
group (fight or flight chemicals), and turn on the endorphin group.... the endorphins help the trillions of cells to "remember"...
to remember a more "natural", calm, balanced state of affairs (on every level, in and around every tissue, etc)....
this promotes healing of body&mind.... (sorry, not preaching--you must know this--just tossing it out).
For many a small group is best with a guide... I don't know how much it matters whether or not an extensive psych study
is done on meditation&depression&religiosity/spirituality.... if it works for someone, then, well... it works.
(sorry to be brief... hope to add more later)

your last sentence... "alone would actually be isolating"? I agree, I think; not quite sure of your meaning here.
Good point though.

Medical meditation...

I use sauna, pétanque and beer with good friends in local pub for the same purpose ;-)

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Spot on, and a great example of mindfulness is that state of mind when you are just about to throw the last boule of the match and the whole outcome depends on it, yet you shut out the distraction, you breathe quietly and try to turn your mind away from the immense pressure, swing your arm and ..... it's the perfect shot.

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"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller

An additional research paper to be published in Am. Journal of Psychiatry


Being Spiritual Protects People from Depression
A prospective study suggests that this is especially true if the patient has already experienced depression and has a depressed parent.
These researchers performed a follow-up study into the question of whether spirituality ameliorates depression risk. In the original study, which involved white Protestant or Catholic women at high depression risk and low-risk epidemiological controls, those who rated their religious or spiritual beliefs as having high personal importance had one tenth of the risk of other participants for recurrence or new incidence of major depression over 10 years.
In the new, prospective, 10-year study, participants were 114 adult Catholic or Protestant offspring of the original sample (mean age at study entry, 29; 72 offspring of high-risk group; 61% female). At study entry, they reported their history of major depression episodes (MDEs; 49% of high-risk vs. 24% of low-risk offspring) and the importance of religion or spirituality in their lives, frequency of attendance at religious services, and denomination.
At the 10-year follow-up, 29% of high-risk offspring and 14% of low-risk offspring reported having an MDE during the interim. Although fewer high-risk than low-risk offspring rated religion/spirituality as highly important at entry (19% and 36%; P=0.05), their rates at follow-up were similar (41% and 45%). After adjustment for age and sex, participants who reported high importance of religion/spirituality at entry had a lower risk for an MDE during follow-up (odds ratio, 0.24) than those who did not. Denomination and frequency of religious attendance were not significant predictors of risk. Among high-risk offspring with a previous MDE, those who rated religion/spirituality as highly important at entry were significantly less likely to have a recurrence (OR, 0.09).
Comment: Other studies have associated placing high importance on religion or spirituality (but not frequent service attendance) with substantially decreased risk for new incident depression and, particularly, recurrence. Also, some degree of heritability of spirituality and religiosity has been reported; perhaps the current findings are somehow linked to heritable factors contributing to resilience or vulnerability to depression. Clinicians may want to ask depressed patients about their religious or spiritual beliefs. Supporting religious or spiritual engagement by individuals with such inclinations may offer some protective value.
CITATION(S):
Miller L et al. Religiosity and major depression in adults at high risk: A ten-year prospective study. Am J Psychiatry 2011 Aug 24; [e-pub ahead of print]. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10121823)

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"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller