# 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.

## Key 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.