Abstract

The two most prevalent religions in the world are Christianity and Islam, each having more than one billion followers. It is well known that religious beliefs, including Christian and Islamic thoughts and beliefs, affect the feelings and behaviors of religious people. Many times, the psychopathological thoughts have religious contents. On the other hand, some studies have reported faster recovery of religious anxious and depressed patients by adding religious techniques, cognitions, and behaviors to the usual psychotherapy. This article discusses several religious thoughts and beliefs common to Christianity and Islam that the author has found useful in cognitive therapy of religious depressed patients and offers three case examples to illustrate how to use them. A set of such religious thoughts and concepts has important potential implications: more effective psychotherapy of religious Christian or Muslim patients, decreasing biases towards the patients from the other religion, and designing questionnaires and manuals for assessing the role of these thoughts in treatment or prevention of psychiatric disorders. © 2011 Springer Publishing Company.