Joshua Buckman from University College London and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study and found that Muslims are less likely to benefit from psychotherapy than people of other faiths and the non-religious. The analysis included more than 70,000 people (average age 39.2 years; 68.2 percent women) who received psychotherapy for anxiety and depression in five London NHS Trusts from 2011 to 2020 and indicated their religious affiliation. It was considered in four groups: non-religious, Christians, Muslims, and adherents of any other religion (in a sensitivity analysis, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs, and others were considered separately). The results are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
After adjusting for sociodemographic, treatment-related, and clinical characteristics, the odds of sustained recovery after psychotherapy were lowest among Muslims. In comparison, the odds ratio for nonbelievers was 1.34; for Christians, 1.39; and for those of other religions, 1.25. The association was weaker among Asian, black, and mixed-race Muslims, and stronger among whites and other ethnicities.