Twelve-Year History of Late-Life Depression and Subsequent Feelings to God Arjan W. Braam, M.D., Hanneke Schaap-Jonker, Ph.D., Marleen H.L. van der Horst, M.A., Bas Steunenberg, Ph.D., Aartjan T.F. Beekman, M.D., Willem van Tilburg, M.D., Dorly J.H. Deeg, Ph.D. Objectives: Growing evidence shows several possible relations between religiousness and late-life depression. Emotional aspects of religiousness such as facets of the perceived relationship with God can be crucial in this connection. The aim of the current study was to examine the association between the course of late-life depres- sion and feelings about God and religious coping. Design: Longitudinal survey study; naturalistic; 12-year follow-up. Setting: Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam; population-based, in three regions in The Netherlands. Participants: A subsample of 343 respondents (mean age: 77.2 years), including all respondents with high levels of depressive symptoms at any measurement cycle between 1992 and 2003 (assessed by using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Diagnostic Inter- view Schedule) and a random sample of nondepressed respondents who completed a postal questionnaire in 2005. Measurements: Scales on God Image and Religious Coping. Twelve-year depression course trajectories serve as predicting variables and are specified according to recency and seriousness. Results: Persistent and emergent depression are significantly associated with fear of God, feeling wronged by God, and negative religious coping. In terms of negative religious coping, significant associations were observed after adjustment for concurrent depression with a history of repeated minor depression and previous major depression. Conclusions: Late-life depression seems to maintain a pervasive relationship over time with affective aspects of reli- giousness. Religious feelings may parallel the symptoms of anhedonia or a dysphoric mood and could represent the experience of an existential void. (Am J Geriatr Psychi- atry 2013; -:-e-) Key Words: Depression, God image, old age, population, religious coping, religiousness Received September 28, 2012; revised April 1, 2013; accepted April 26, 2013. From the VU University Medical Center (AWB, MHLVDH, ATFB, DJHD), EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Altrecht Mental Health Care, Department of Emergency Psychiatry and Department of Specialist Training (AWB), and University for Humanistic Studies, Department of Humanist Counseling, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Department of Comparative and Historical Study of Religion (HS-J), University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, and Center for Religion, World View and Mental Health, Dimence Institute of Mental Health, Zwolle, The Netherlands; University Medical Center Utrecht (BS), Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Department of Primary Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands; and GGZ Ingeest Mental Health Care (ATFB, WVT), VU University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The results of this study were previously presented at the 15th World Congress of Psychiatry (World Psychiatric Association), Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 21, 2011. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Arjan W. Braam, M.D., VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, EMGOþ Institute for Health and Care Research, LASA, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. e-mail: a.braam@vumc.nl Ó 2013 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2013.04.016 Am J Geriatr Psychiatry -:-, - 2013 1