DEPRESSION IN PERSONS WITH SPIRITIST ENGAGEMENT

Objective: To analyze the factors associated with depression, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, among people with some Level of Spiritist Engagement (LSE). Method: This is a cross-sectional study that investigated the prevalence of depression in people with LSE, before and during COVID-19. Results: Digital data on sociodemographic profile, mental state, psychological care, and LSE, in addition to the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), were collected from 848 people with LSE using the snowball sampling technique. Significant results (p<0.05) showed a high prevalence of severe depression in unemployed individuals (16.2%), those in marital crisis (23.2%), alcohol users and/or smokers (28.6%), those with self-inflicted violence (44.1%); those greatly/totally affected by the "lockdown" (21.3%) and those who perceived their emotional health as poor/very poor (53.6%). Before and during COVID-19, psychiatric follow-up was highly prevalent, especially in mild depression (>60%); and people with some LSE were mainly associated with mild depression (>75%). The pandemic did not significantly change the values associated with severe depression, with a low prevalence of high/very high LSE (2.7% before, 5.0% during COVID-19) compared to low LSE (8.2% before, 9.5% during COVID-19) and very low LSE (10.7% before, 9.9% during COVID-19). Conclusion: Regardless of the pandemic, Spiritism was attractive to people with depression and high/very high LSE was less associated with severe depression. Keywords: Depression. Spiritism. Spirituality. COVID-19.