Religious People are More Likely to Have Thicker Brains, Not Likely to Suffer from Depression

People who are religious or spiritual have been found to have thicker brains so they are less likely to suffer from depression, a recent study finds.

"Our beliefs and our moods are reflected in our brain and with imaging techniques we can begin to see this," said Dr. Myrna Weissman, a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University. "The brain is an extraordinary organ. It not only controls, but is controlled by our moods," she added. However, although the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry confirmed that religiousness and spirituality makes sections of the brain thicker, thus preventing depression, it did not say that thickness of the brain causes people to become religious or spiritual.

The results show hint however that being religious can enhance the brain's resilience against depression in a physical way. Prior to the new research, the scientists have already found that people who said they were religious were at lower risk of depression. Likely, they also found out that people who suffered from depression had thinning cortices compared to those with much lower risks. As part of their study, the researchers asked 103 adults between the age of 18 and 54 how important religion is to them and how often they attended religious services.

Brains of the participants were also imaged once to see how thick their cortices were. Overall, the researchers found that the importance of religion or spirituality to an individual - but not church attendance - was tied to having a thicker cortex. This link was strongest among those at high risk of depression. "What we're doing now is looking at the stability of it," Dr. Weissman said. "This is a way of replicating and validating the findings."