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Objective: To assess the prevalence of religious obsessions in a general psychiatry setting, review sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with religious obsessions, and explore the relation between these obsessions and religiosity. Method: In a general psychiatry setting (n = 1500), we have studied patients with an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and then in this sample, we have identified those who also had religious obsessions. Results: OCD was found in 9.6% (n 144) of patients. Religious obsessions are the most common and were found in 31.3% (n = 45) of patients in this group. Forty-five subjects (n.= 45) with religious obsessions were compared with 99 subjects (n = 99) with other types of obsessions. The total number of obsessions is significantly higher in patients with religious obsessions. Patients with religious obsessions have a significantly higher score at the religiosity scale. Conclusion: These results suggest that religious obsessions are common in patients with OCD, and that they are associated with religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: First, to explore whether in Morocco, a non-Western country, family members of patients with schizophrenia suffer from stigma and, if they do, which areas of their lives are most affected; and second, to explore family members' knowledge about the illness and their attitudes toward the patients.Methods: The study was conducted among 100 family members accompanying patients with schizophrenia. We used a heteroquestionnaire that inquired about family members' and patients' sociodemographic data, family members' knowledge of the patients' illness, their attitudes and behaviours toward the patient, and their perception of stigma.Results: Family members' mean age was 47.44 years, SD 12.83; 69% were women; 38% had no education; and 77% had no professional activity. Most families (76%) reported having no knowledge about the illness. However, the illness was considered to be incurable (39%), severe (37%), chronic (80%), and handicapping (48%) and was believed to be caused by drug use (25%), stressing life events (such as conflict or bereavement; 46%), sorcery (25%), organic disturbance (30%), or heredity (23%). We found that most of the families suffer from stigma and discrimination. A total of 86.7% reported they have hard lives because of the illness, and 72% reported psychological suffering caused by sleep and relationship disturbances and a poor quality of life.Conclusions: In this study, we found that Moroccan families of patients with schizophrenia suffer from stigma. We found the same results in European, In North American, and in some Arab and Islam countries. Despite the belief that traditional societies are more supportive of the weak and the sick, stigma is a major burden in addition to that of the illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]