Jews make the best therapy patients, study finds

Jews: They make great therapists in the movies, not to mention in real life. (Woody Allen, of course, is also a fan.)

With that in mind, it’s natural to imagine that Jews also make good patients — a theory that is now being corroborated by a new scientific study.

According to the latest issue of the Journal of Religion and Health, Jews show themselves to be significantly more open-minded than other groups about the benefits of therapy. “Jews had greater confidence in a therapist’s ability to help, were more tolerant of stigma, and more open to sharing their feelings and concerns,” reports the study, led by Columbia University professor Elizabeth Midlarsky.

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The article, quoted in Pacific Standard magazine, reached its conclusions after polling 307 elderly New Yorkers battling mental-health issues, roughly a quarter of whom were Jewish. The researchers attributed the findings partly to cultural differences, writing that the Jewish community “places a positive value on help-seeking behavior,” and “encourages introspection and self-knowledge.” That attitude differs with that of Christian whites, who are more likely to emulate “the ‘rugged individualist’ who is self-reliant, independent, autonomous and reluctant to appear helpless.”

Black Americans, it turns out, are among the most resistant to therapy, a finding that reflects earlier research.

The connection between Jews and psychology stretches back far beyond Freud, in the view of some scholars. In its write-up of the new research, Pacific Standard helpfully points out one recent book that identifies parallels between therapy and the study of the Talmud.