2026-05-05T15:08:06.530Z http://ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai

ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai:2:11626 2025-10-17T11:09:48Z 2

Mental Health, religion, and economic outcomes: evaluating CBT interventions in Serbia. 2025 http://ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai/record/2/11626 https://anale.spiruharet.ro/economics/issue/view/172/258 M. Čolović V. Mitić Depending on the severity of the symptoms and the clinical picture, depression is usually treated with a combination of medication therapy and certain forms of psychotherapy, of which CBT therapy has proven to be particularly effective. However, an increasing number of practitioners – psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and psychologists – recognize the importance of other types of activities, which can be brought under a certain lifestyle and which can have a protective effect on people's mental health and reduce their level of depression. In the current paper, the possibility of the protective effect of religiosity and finding the meaning of life by turning to God are examined, which would more precisely mean that the subject of the current research could be defined as the examination of the relationship between the level of religiosity and depression in people. Gender differences, as well as differences between persons who declare themselves as members of different religions, are also determined.The research was conducted online, through a Google questionnaire, on a sample of 400 respondents, uniform by gender, while the data was processed using the SPSS program. The results show the existence of a negative correlation between religiosity and depression, which means that with an increase in the degree of religiosity, depressive symptomatology decreases. Issue 3/2025368Depressive symptomatology is more pronounced in women. On the other hand, men are more committed to their relationship with God, more easily declare themselves as members of certain religions and more often practice different religious rituals. From an economic perspective, these findings suggest that incorporating religiosity into CBT may not only enhance clinical outcomes but also reduce the economic burden of depression in Serbia. Lower levels of depression are linked to increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and lower healthcare expenditures. Thus, religiosity as a complementary factor to CBT can be viewed as a cost-effective public health strategy, contributing to both improved mental health and broader economic well-being. article https://doi.org/10.26458/25318 16(25) 3 367 395 2393-1795 Annals of Spiru Haret University. Economic Series