Spiritual people ‘more susceptible to mental health problems’

A new study in the British Journal of Psychiatry has demonstrated a link between a spiritual outlook on life and a heightened risk of mental health problems.

According to assessments of a random selection of a nationally representative sample of 7,403 people in England, individuals who are spiritual but do not follow a framework of religious observance are more likely to be on mental health medication, have abnormal eating disorders, use recreational drugs or have a generalised anxiety disorder, phobia or neuroses.

It was also found that there was no clear relationship between religiosity and happiness – unlike in American studies – though people with a religious understanding of life were much less likely to have problems with drugs or alcohol.

The researchers suggested that these trends could be explained by the fact that people with strong spirituality are often "caught up in an existential search that is driven by their emotional distress".

This comes at a time when the government is increasing its efforts to improve support for mental health patients, recently launching a scheme to provide funding for businesses that are developing products and services for people with mental illnesses.