Stress, Anxiety, Depression and suicidal ideation among people with spiritist engagement before and during COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in the state of Ceará /Brazil

Abstract

Mental disorders are prevalent in Brazil and demand psychic care, whether medical or not. Although the scarcity of research, spiritism seems to attract people with mental disorders. This cross-sectional investigation encompassed 848 residents at Ceará/Brazil and aimed to estimate the prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation among people with some Level of Spiritist Engagement (LSE). Significant data collected online during the pandemic have shown high prevalence of stress (29,1%), anxiety (29,5%), depression (30,6%) and suicide risk, mainly regular (63,4%), but reaching to 20,0% to high and very high. Very low LSE increased (20,3% to 28,3%), if compared before and during the pandemic and high LSE (12,6% to 5,5%) and very high (4,7% to 3,0%) lowered. This prevalence was seen in women (72,1%) aged between 35 and 54 yrs. (48,6%), white (48,7%), married (58,6%), with children (66,5%), post-graduated (55,0%), with an income greater than R$ 5.200 (49,1%) and spiritist (78,8%), with high attendance at the spiritist centre during the pandemic (63,6% once a week or more). Unemployment (29,0%), personal diseases (20,7%) and relative’s diseases (35,8%) were often the causes of suffering and COVID-19 caused /worsened pain due to mourning (38,0%), licit drug abuse (58,1%) and illicit (44,4%), suffered violence (33,8%) and self-inflicted violence (56,1%). Psychiatric care decreased during the pandemic (24,3% vs 17,7%), however, anxiety disorders raised (75,6% vs 78,4%), the obsessive-compulsive disorder (6,3% vs 7,8%), bipolar disorder (5,6% vs 6,9%), and the use of 2 or more psychiatric drugs increased (39,1% vs 42,0%). Spiritism has shown to be an attractive religion for persons with severe mental disease, mainly, suicidal ideation. During COVID-19 LSE lowered, mental health and psychic care worsened, which might be linked to a high prevalence of these mental disorders in this population.