The impact of religiosity, anxiety and depression on proneness to auditory hallucinations in healthy individuals

TL;DR

This study explores how religiosity, anxiety, and depression relate to auditory hallucinations in healthy people, finding that non-believers are more prone to these experiences.

Contribution

The study identifies religiosity as a potential protective factor against proneness to auditory hallucinations in non-clinical populations.

Findings

31% of the variance in proneness to auditory hallucinations is explained by a model including religiosity, anxiety, depression, and demographics.

Non-believers showed higher scores in depression, anxiety, and hallucination proneness compared to believers.

Religiosity, particularly positive aspects, correlates with lower proneness to auditory hallucinations.

Abstract

Auditory hallucinations (hearing voices in the absence of physical stimuli) are present in clinical conditions, but they are also experienced less frequently by healthy individuals. In the non-clinical population, auditory hallucinations are described more often as positive and not intrusive; indeed, they have received less attention.

The present study explores the phenomenology of non-clinical auditory hallucinations and their possible relationship with religiosity.

Starting from previous findings suggesting that non-clinical auditory hallucinations are often described as a gift or a way to be connected with ‘someone else’, we administered standardised questionnaires to quantify proneness to experiencing auditory hallucinations, religiosity and anxiety/depression scores.

Regression analysis carried out using an auditory hallucinations, index as the dependent variable on a final sample of 680 responders revealed that a total of 31% of the variance was explained by a five-steps model including demographic characteristics (i.e. being young, a woman and a non-believer) and negative (e.g. being afraid of otherworldly punishments) and positive (e.g. believing in benevolent supernatural forces) components of religiosity, anxiety and depression. Crucially, compared with believers, non-believers revealed higher scores in depression, anxiety and in a specific questionnaire measuring proneness to auditory hallucinations.

Results suggests that religiosity acts as a potential protective factor for proneness to paranormal experiences, but a complex relationship emerges between religious beliefs, mood alterations and unusual experiences.

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