Religiosity and its influence on mental health of late age persons

Christian anthropology considers personality as a unity of spiritual, emotional and corporal manifestation. Spirituality is defined as highest level of development and self-control of mature personality, ignoring which leads to moral dissonance and spiritual conflict. For the believing person, it is indisputable that belief, church sacraments and practices are capable to facilitate not only corporal, but also spiritual diseases. Clinical and expert analysis of 235 late age patients (> 60 years), who underwent forensic psychiatric examination in criminal and civil cases, helped to identify the influence of religiosity on mental health of late age persons. At late age, appeal to spirituality defines further evolutionary development of the person and favorable forms of aging. It is noted that elderly believers have no expressed cognitive and emotional frustration. When developing mental disorders, they resort to church sacraments and prayers. Thus, a patient with visual hallucinosis noted that during a prayer “visions calmed down, left or started listening”. A patient with acoustical hallucinosis (“blasphemous” voices) considered them as manifestation of “dark powers”, fought them by appeal to the icon of the Mother of God. A patient with menacing acoustical hallucinations read Psalmbook, dawned on them a cross sign with “consecrated hand” (venerated to Sacred relics) and “locked” them in room corner. Ignoring spirituality, which is observed in psychiatry, is connected with incompatibility of representations based on science and belief; low level of religiousness among psychiatrists; underestimation of religion role in life of patients; lack of special knowledge of this area. Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.