The relationship between religious attitude and the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder in people who experienced the Bam earthquake

Religious contents indicate that the human being recalls God in threatening conditions. Research in psychopathology also has shown that traumatic and threatening events could cause symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in some vulnerable people. So the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between religious attitude and symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder in people who experienced the Bam earthquake (Iran). In this correlational and ex post facto study, 117 participants (70 men and 47 women) randomly selected from those Bam people who were present in the Bam earthquake. The participants completed personally the Religious Attitude Scale and the Mississippi Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale (Eshel). Pearson correlation coefficient, stepwise regression and t-test were used to statistical analysis. there was a relationship between religious attitude and "difficulty in emotional control" and "depression" components of the Eshel scale inversely. Also, people with mild symptoms compared to those with severe symptoms showed superior religious attitude (P<0.001). Religious attitude is related to a decrease in the intensity of PTSD affective symptoms, but has no effect on automatic features of the PTSD.