Tag: benefits of spirituality

Spirituality is Good for Your Health, Research Shows

Posted on by Tammy

It doesn’t matter what religion or belief system a person follows, new research from the University of Missouri found that any type of spirituality enhances a person’s heath – particularly mental health!

“In many ways, the results of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait,” said Dan Cohen, assistant teaching professor of religious studies at MU and one of the co-authors of the study. “With increased spirituality people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connectedness with the rest of the universe. What was interesting was that frequency of participation in religious activities or the perceived degree of congregational support was not found to be significant in the relationships between personality, spirituality, religion and health.”

The study used the results of three surveys to determine if correlations existed among participants’ self-reported mental and physical health, personality factors, and spirituality in Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Protestants. Across all five faiths, a greater degree of spirituality was related to better mental health, specifically lower levels of neuroticism and greater extraversion. Forgiveness was the only spiritual trait predictive of mental health after personality variables were considered.

“Our prior research shows that the mental health of people recovering from different medical conditions, such as cancer, stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, appears to be related significantly to positive spiritual beliefs and especially congregational support and spiritual interventions,” said Cohen. “Spiritual beliefs may be a coping device to help individuals deal emotionally with stress.”

Cohen believes spirituality may help people’s mental health by reducing their self-centeredness and developing their sense of belonging to a larger whole. Many different faith traditions encourage spirituality, though they use different names for the process. A Christian monk wouldn’t say he had attained Nirvana, nor would a Buddhist monk say he had communed with Jesus Christ, but they may well be referring to similar phenomena, according to the study.

Spiritual interventions such as religious-based counseling, meditation and forgiveness protocols may enhance spiritually based beliefs, practices and coping strategies in positive ways, the authors note.

The benefits of a more spiritual personality may go beyond an individual’s mental health as well. Cohen believes the selflessness that comes with spirituality enhances characteristics important for fostering a global society based on the virtues of peace and cooperation.

 

Spiritual Beliefs Help People Facing Chronic Illness

Posted on by Tammy

People who practice a religion or hold spiritual beliefs report better physical and mental health, and have been found to cope better when facing significant health issues. Belief in a higher power can also improve health outcomes for both men and women, according to researchers at the University of Missouri, who published a study, “Gender Differences in Spiritual Experiences, Religious Practices, and Congregational Support for Individuals with Significant Health Conditions,” in the Journal of Religion, Disability & Health.

“Our findings reinforce the idea that religion/spirituality may help buffer the negative consequences of chronic health conditions,” said Stephanie Reid-Arndt, associate professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions. “We know that there are many ways of coping with stressful life situations, such as a chronic illness; involvement in religious/spiritual activities can be an effective coping strategy.”

Religious and spiritual support includes care from congregations, spiritual interventions, religious counseling and forgiveness practices, as well as assistance from pastors and hospital chaplains.

“Both genders benefit from social support – the ability to seek help from and rely on others – provided by fellow congregants and involvement in religious organizations,” said co-author of the report, Brick Johnstone, health psychology professor. “Encouragement to seek out religious and spiritual supports can assist individuals in coping with stress and physical symptoms related to health issues. Health care providers can urge patients to take advantage of these resources, which provide emotional care, financial assistance and opportunities for increased socialization.”

The study also examined the role of gender in using spirituality/religiosity to cope with chronic health conditions and disabilities, including spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke and cancer. Although other studies report women more likely to participate in religious or spiritual practices, this study – using measures of religiousness/spirituality, general mental health and general health perception – found no differences between men and women in terms of self-reported levels of spiritual experiences, religious practices or congregational support.

“While women generally are more religious or spiritual than men, we found that both genders may increase their reliance on spiritual and religious resources as they face increased illness or disability,” Johnstone said.

For women, mental health is associated with daily spiritual experiences, forgiveness and religious/spiritual coping, suggesting that belief in a loving, supportive and forgiving higher power is related with positive mental coping for women with chronic conditions. For men, religious support – the perception of help, support and comfort from local congregations – was associated with better self-rated health, according to the study.