OK. Here is a scientific paper on the subject. Peer reviewed and published in a medical journal. The abstract follows:
Religious sanctions and rates of suicide worldwide. Kelleher MJ, Chambers D, Corcoran P, Williamson E, Keeley HS.
Mercy Hospital, South Infirmary, Cork, Ireland.
In order to understand differences in suicide rates between the countries affiliated to the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), the present paper investigates whether there is a relationship between the existence of religious sanctions and aggregate national suicide rates as reported to the World Health Organization. Through their participation in this study, 49 IASP national representatives reported on the existence of religious sanctions against suicide. It was discovered that countries with religious sanctions were less likely to return rates of suicide to the WHO. Comparative analysis revealed that the average reported rates for countries with sanctions are lower than those for countries without religious sanctions. The difference is particularly significant for females. Overall, then, at an aggregate level, it would appear that an inverse relationship does exist; however, while countries with religious sanctions against suicide return lower rates of suicide, as recorded by the WHO, recording and reporting procedures may be affected by the existence of sanctions, thus diminishing the reliability of reported rates. Furthermore, distinctions between rates among the different denominations seem to have been somewhat blurred, in particular between Catholics and Protestants, to the extent that in certain societies Catholics have a higher reported rate of suicide--despite the fact that, doctrinally, Catholicism is more severe in the condemnation of suicide than the majority of Protestant churches (with a few notable exceptions, such as the Orthodox Calvinists).
PMID: 9785649 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Religious sanctions and rates of suicide worldwide.
Crisis. 1998;19(2):78-86.
PMID: 9785649 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Suicide rate and religion within the United States. Templer DI, Veleber DM.
PMID: 7220728
Public and private domains of religiosity and adolescent health risk behaviors: evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Soc Sci Med. 2003 Dec;57(11):2049-54. Nonnemaker JM, McNeely CA, Blum RW; National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Research Triangle Institute International, Health, Social, and Economic Research, 3040 Cornwallis Road, PO Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 22709-2194, USA. [email protected]
The purpose of this study was to examine the association of public and private domains of religiosity and adolescent health-related outcomes using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative sample of American adolescents in grades 7-12. The public religiosity variable combines two items measuring frequency of attendance at religious services and frequency of participation in religious youth group activities. The private religiosity variable combines two items measuring frequency of prayer and importance of religion. Our results support previous evidence that religiosity is protective for a number of adolescent health-related outcomes. In general, both public and private religiosity was protective against cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana use. On closer examination it appeared that private religiosity was more protective against experimental substance use, while public religiosity had a larger association with regular use, and in particular with regular cigarette use. Both public and private religiosity was associated with a lower probability of having ever had sexual intercourse. Only public religiosity had a significant effect on effective birth control at first sexual intercourse and, for females, for having ever been pregnant. However, neither dimension of religiosity was associated with birth control use at first or most recent sex. Public religiosity was associated with lower emotional distress while private religiosity was not. Only private religiosity was significantly associated with a lower probability of having had suicidal thoughts or having attempted suicide. Both public and private religiosity was associated with a lower probability of having engaged in violence in the last year. Our results suggest that further work is warranted to explore the causal mechanisms by which religiosity is protective for adolescents. Needed is both theoretical work that identifies mechanisms that could explain the different patterns of empirical results and surveys that collect data specific to the hypothesized mechanisms.
PMID: 14512236 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBF-48CNK35-1&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2003&_alid=160400123&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=5925&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000010878&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=130561&md5=70dc2789bb0cfbfeae0d412150ebd035
| Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2003 Sep;38(9):502-6. | Related Articles, Links |
Clarke CS, Bannon FJ, Denihan A.
Dept. of Psychiatry, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. [email protected]
BACKGROUND: The relationship between suicide rates and the religious climate of a community is a matter of controversy. Rising suicide rates have been attributed in part to a decline in religious observance, but contradictory evidence has also been adduced. METHODS: We compared national suicide rates, classified according to gender, age, and urban-rural location,with the results of a national survey on religious belief and practice conducted during the same year. The survey consisted of four questions dealing with different dimensions of religiosity, some of which might be considered as internal and central, others more external and social. RESULTS: Suicide rates were higher for males than for females, and for younger than for older age groups. Religiosity was, in contrast, higher among females and in rural areas. Suicides were more frequent in rural areas, which also had greater religiosity. External, social dimensions of religiosity differed more than core beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence of an inverse relationship between religiosity and suicide when age and gender are considered, but not according to location. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
PMID: 14504734 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
| Ann Med Psychol (Paris). 1975 Jan;1(1):160-7. | Related Articles, Links |
A religious sect, its mental ill patients, its physician and its psychiatrists
[Article in French]
Bourgeois M, Khaleff M, Labrousse D.
A religious Sect (Jehovah witness), its mental patients, its doctor and its psychiatrists. The authors study religious sects, specially Jehovoah witness. Such 15 mentally ill patients among this group have been treated at the psychiatric clinic. The fact that they are members of a community, sharing the same religious faith, and having in common severe rules of life, is considered as having a pathogenic or beneficial effect. One of them, physician, explain their opinion of mental illness : they believe in biological factors and discard any psychotherapeutic mean.
PMID: 1163915 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]