Religious activities affect our mind, and they are a crucial medium to cope with hopelessness. Taking part in congregational worship reduced the chances of death due to depression. This fact has been revealed by the prestigious Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), in its study conducted on people aged between 45 and 65 in 10 states of the USA.
The study revealed that while there was only a 2% reduction in deaths due to despair among people who worshipped alone, a 12% downfall in the same cases was seen among people who visited the church and took part in congregational prayers. As per the research, there is no religious reason behind this reduction in deaths due to depression or despair, but this is the result of people meeting other people. Religion offers the opportunity for people to meet at one place, and after the prayers in a church, people meet and greet each other, and share the good and bad things happening in their lives.
This reduces the level of despair at a surprising level. As per JAMA’s report, non-religious activities like charity meetings or any other such meetings where people meet each other in large numbers are beneficial, but their effect is always less than that of the prayers at religious places. During the last 10 years, in the state of Ohio, the number of people who go to the church regularly has gone up to 45% from 15%.
With this, deaths caused due to depression and despair among people aged between 45 and 65 in the state reduced from 54 in every 1 lakh, to only 2 in every 1 lakh.
As per JAMA researcher Tyler Gills, during the pandemic, in 5 states of the US, more than 75% out of the 1.10 lakh medical workers continued with congregational prayers following social distancing. The result was such that not a single medical worker out of them died due to despair or depression.
According to another research, 33% people in the USA still do not go to church regularly, and the term ‘death of despair’ or a death caused because of depression, is being used in the USA for the last decade, for the cases of suicides which are committed due to drug overdose, alcoholism, or depression.
