Religie fungeert als antidepressiva, volgens deze ene studie dan.
4 February 2019
11:11
‘New research published in Brain and Behavior provides evidence that religious and spiritual beliefs lower the risk of depression because they’re associated with changes in white matter microstructure, the communication pathways of the brain.
“A previous study found that persons who said that religion or spirituality were highly important to them were protected against depression over 5 years, even though they were at high risk because of their family history. Because of these findings, we tried to understand what may be going on in the brain that would have this effect,” said study author Dongrong Xu of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatry Institute.’
‘“Our findings suggest that the reported high importance of [religion or spirituality]beliefs may have effects on white matter integrity in the bilateral frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and parietal lobe, particularly the bilateral precuneus. While these regions are also associated with risk of developing [depression], reorganization of white matter through [religion or spirituality]may help protect individuals from going on to develop the illness,” the researchers wrote in their study.’