Trends in Use of Prayer for Depressive Symptoms: Evidence from the National Health Interview Survey

OBJECTIVE: Examine trends in use of prayer for depressive symptoms over time and analyze the association between prayer use and depressive symptoms.

METHODS: Data are from the alternative medicine supplement of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2002 (N=30,080) and 2007 (N=22,306). Prayer use was categorized into 3 groups: 1) never prayed; 2) prayed in the past 12 months and 3)did not pray in the past 12 months. Depressive symptoms were measured based on the responses to queries on how often did the respondent feel sad during the past 30 days. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regressions were performed to analyze the relationship between prayer use and depressive symptoms over time.

FINDINGS: In 2002 and 2007, 10% of adults reported having depressive symptoms all or most of the time. Between 2002 and 2007, among those who reported depressive symptoms all the time, prayer use increased by 7%. Prayer use did not change for those who reported depressive symptoms some of the time. After adjusting for demographic, socio-economic status, health status, and life-style behaviors, adults who reported depressive symptoms all the time and some of the time were more likely to use prayer in the past 12 months in 2002 and 2007.

CONCLUSION: The use of prayer for depressive symptoms has increased over time.

IMPLICATION: Given the evidence that pharmaceutical treatment for depression may not be successful for everyone, our study findings suggest that alternative forms of therapy such as prayer may be used to reduce the negative impact of depressive symptoms.