Depression Search in All NIHR NIHR catalog Defying Depression through Religious Coping Identical twins, just alike as two peas in a pod, live with the same genetic risks. Similar results were also found in two studies in Europe.
Identical twins have the same genetic make-up, so they often serve as a focus for research studies.
Since their genes are identical, effects of behavior or environment can stand out more clearly. A strong religious commitment was also found to protect people from depression in a number of other studies. One study of 4,000 initially healthy older adults undertaken by the National Institute on Aging found that over time persons who attended church weekly or more had only half the depression rates of those who didn't attend church often or at all. This protective effect of going to church remained even after controlling for other factors like physical health, social ties, and age. Another study of 850 men hospitalized for acute illness found that those who used their religious faith to cope were significantly less depressed, even when taking into account how severe their physical illness.