A new study has suggested that believing in God relieves one from depression.

Researchers at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center examined the levels of depression in 136 adults who were depressed clinically and combined that with their sense of religious well-being.

The study posted those patients who believed in a caring, personal and concerned God experienced improvement in their condition.

Patricia Murphy, the study's director and an assistant professor of religion, health and human values, revealed that a patient's trust in religion and God is just as essential in caring for the clinically depressed as it is prescribing medication.

"In our study, the positive response to medical had little to do with the feeling of hope that typically accompanies spiritual belief. It was tied specifically to the belief that a Supreme Being cared", she added.

The findings are published in the "Journal of Clinical Psychology."