Master of Arts (Applied Psychology)

This research was undertaken to explore the impact of spirituality on depression. The hope is that the data will be used to promote some measure of collaboration between the two worlds of psychotherapy - namely the sacred and the secular. The study explored the correlation between various aspects of spiritual wellness (conception of divinity, meaning, connectedness, present-centeredness, mystery, ritual, hope, forgiveness, knowledge/learning and spiritual freedom) and depression. In addition, socioeconomic factors (sex, age, race, marital status, religion, monthly income and education) were also examined for their connection with depression.

A sample of subjects (N = 263) was chosen from a cross section of society that included working adults from the media field, commercial industry, civil service and clients from several counselling centres. Two instruments were used for this study, namely the Spiritual Wellness Inventory (SWI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Participants also filled up a form with information about their socioeconomic traits.

All the spiritual dimensions produced significant negative correlations with depression. Spiritual freedom, hope and meaning exhibited the most telling inverse relationship with depression. Spiritual freedom (which is a measure of a person's ability to savour and enjoy life) had the most significant result, indicating that an individual's inability to enjoy life will seriously affect the level of the mental health. Also, the results showed that persons devoid of hope and meaning were also at risk of suffering from depression.

Race, education and income also exhibited negative correlations with depressions. The minority races (Malay and Indians) in Singapore appear to be experiencing more than twice the incidence of depression than the majority race (Chinese). This could be a result of real or perceived discrimination and racism. Subjects with lower levels of income and education reported greater depression than their counterparts who were more educated and held better paying jobs.

The importance of the spiritual dimensions vis-a-vis depression suggests that spiritual resources should be employed to boost the effectiveness of psychotherapy, particularly with religious or spiritually oriented clients. These resources could also be useful to mitigate the debilitating effects of depression when dealing with those who are poor and lowly educated.