Do religious patients need religious psychotherapists? A naturalistic treatment matching study among orthodox Jews

Religion is professed by the majority of the general population, but a minority of mental health practitioners. We evaluated whether religious patients benefited more from treatment with religious psychotherapists in a naturalistic study among adult Orthodox Jewish (n = 117) and control patients (n = 91) receiving psychotherapy from Orthodox Jewish (n = 15) and other (n = 7) psychotherapists at a New York based outpatient clinic. Groups did not differ with respect to diagnoses (χ²(200) = 7.5, p = .76), likelihood of having an Orthodox Jewish therapist (χ²(200) = .06, p = .81), or number of therapy sessions (t(206) = .73, p =  .47). Multilevel regression modeling revealed that Orthodox patients reported lower initial anxiety (t(198) = 3.71, p < .001, d = .54) and depression (t(198) = 3.71, p < .001, d = .54, d = .50), but were equivalent to controls at termination (Anxiety t(189) = .36, p =  .72; Depression t(182) = 1.00, p =  .32). Interactions between patient and therapist religious affiliations were not significant. These results suggest that religious (and non-religious) patients may benefit equally from treatment delivered by religious and non-religious therapists.