Meditation and Prayer Prevent Depression

Meditation and prayer can help prevent depression, according to Italian researchers.

Spontaneous thoughts are often blamed as a cause of depression and negative or otherwise unwanted patterns in people's behaviours. These intrusive thoughts are very much independent entities and are seen as causing severe disturbances especially in depressed patients. For this reason, researchers investigated ways in which these thoughts could be avoided or controlled without the use of drugs.

The researchers monitored twenty men and women, some of whom were trained in meditation and some who were not, and examined the influence of praying and carrying out a memory task to combat the spontaneous thoughts.

The results showed that there was a significant reduction in thought arousal during both the memory task and the reciting of prayer. Those patients who practised meditation also all reported fewer spontaneous thoughts.

People who have a tendency to depression and those suffering from mild depression may, therefore, benefit from including meditation and prayer in their daily routines.

Source: Effects of praying and a working memory task in participants trained in meditation and controls on the occurrence of spontaneous thoughts.
Fabbro F; Muzur A; Bellen R; Calacione R; Bava A
Percept Mot Skills, 88:765-70, 1999 Jun