Is it that non-believers view the world to be made of inert substances? In that case how do they avoid getting anxious or depressed? Has there been any research activity on this? If yes, where have they been published?
Can you rephrase the sentence; "Is it that non-believers view the world to be made of inert substances?"
In regards to the body of your question - there is a considerable volume of published work attesting both "YES" and "NO" to your question. Many of those research articles appear to be highly subjectively biased, and the issue is absolutely a polarizing one.
A study published in the Oxford Journals in 2005 posited what seems to be a much more objective examination of the issue. The authors claim that their findings support the theory that BOTH the highly religious, and the highly stoic brand of atheist (or non-believer) alike suffer from significantly less anxiety and depression. The authors posit that both those who have come to terms with their belief that there is no divine power or afterlife awaiting them after death, as well as those who strongly believe in a divine power and the idea of an afterlife are happier and feel less anxiety and existentially-rooted fear.
They claim that it is likely that those ascribing to agnosticism, as well as those who do not profess total faith in either their religion or their atheism as being the most at-risk demographic for existential fear, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms that have been linked with levels of faith.
Source: http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/11/840.1.full
I suggest you look at the book by Harold G. Koenig, MD., Spirituality & Health Research: Methods, Measurement, Statistics, and Resources. Religion and spirituality has been found to reduce anxiety. Wonderful book.
I have no source information or references just here say from cases, people I've known, some people whom are or have been involved in the church I've seen with horrendous depression / anxiety/ breakdowns as a result of the voluntary work the church has incarcerated them into and the strange beliefs which at times are not based upon evidence based medicine or sience, but then that happens to anyone, people can be taken advantage of also by secular society and I've seen people with anxiety and depression as a result of being volunteers at schools and over a number of years they feel taken advantage of and worthless, but I would not necessarily agree with the question is anxiety and depression higher among non-believers? I think it exists everywhere for various reason and no one can escape it totally, we are all human so all suffer at various times for a numbers of reasons, even the most astute professor can get depressed and anxious, we are only human beings, sorry I don't have a reference to this or a more concrete answer.
Need to question first as to whether there is such a thing as 'non-believers' .
You might find interesting in this discussion that it was found that "non-believers" tend to be more risk-taking than religious people. Research findings have proven that the willingness to take risks is distributed heterogeneously among individuals. Religious beliefs are thought to explain differences in risk-preparedness on the individual level. We analyzed religion as potential determinant of individual risk attitudes and find that religious persons are less risk-tolerant than atheists. Moreover, religious affiliation matters: Muslims are less risk-tolerant than Christians. - Other studies link psychological distress, depression and risk taking as examples indicate below.
Article Risk-Averse by Nation or by Religion? : Some Insights on the...
Article The psychological distress of the young driver: A brief report
Article Risk Taking, Depression, Adherence, and Symptom Control in A...
Dr. Siham hassan, the psychologist, said : "The atheist is a person with disorders, grief, depression, and loss, because of life experiences that have shaped the sick history of his condition, most of them hysterical and obsessive, and then a schizophrenic split personality.
An atheist's personality trait is that he likes to respect his opinion, to listen to him while he does not respect your lack of acceptance, to accuse you of blasphemy, but accuses you of ignorance.
Religion is a main source of copping, hope, validation, and ect.
Religious beliefs and practices can help people cope better with the stressful situations of life, give meaning and hope, and surround depressed people with a supportive community.
However, religious beliefs also may increase guilt and discouragement, intolerance, repression, maladaptive behaviors, family conflicts... That is, religious beliefs or religious practice as an etiological factor of mental illness.
You can read this interesting review.
Article Religious and Spiritual Factors in Depression: Review and In...
Thankyou Dr Aragonès for this as that makes sense, even though I don't know the research in that area, but the abstract seems correct from how I've seen people end up as a result of religiosity/ church. Some people are helped, some unfortunately are harmed, including myself in that I've had good experiences and bad experiences. I hope you are keeping well in Spain, and I'm sorry that the pandemic is worse there then Australia. I've been attempting to have the minister at church find evidence related to prayer, but they are disinterested in EBM & have a poor understanding of scientific principles. Kindest Regards, https://www.mathewsopenaccess.com/scholarly-articles/art-therapy-and-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-public-mental-health-and-emotional-well-being.pdf