The Role of Spirituality in Mental Health

 The Role of Spirituality in Mental Health

Updated 30th May 2020

On the role of spirituality in mental health Dr Michael Galea explains that both research and experience show that taking into consideration one’s spirituality is crucial to offer a holistic treatment contribute to the wellbeing of a person experiencing mental health issues.

Research has established a consistent relationship between important life events and one’s tendency toward transcendence. Adjustment to negative events in one’s life often results in seeking spiritual consolation and meaning. For example childhood trauma is related to increased religious behaviours such as frequency of prayer and self-reported spiritual experience.

Spirituality as a deeper awareness of our true self

But what exactly is spirituality? Research opts at differentiating it from religion, considering it more the human’s inclination towards the Absolute, be it God, Allah or whoever else it may be. Spirituality has been described both positively, as a deeper awareness of our true self in both Eastern and Western traditions, and sometimes negatively, as a distraction and alienation that may hinder life’s development . History and experience constantly confirm that a very high preoccupation with religious concerns, extreme fundamentalism, legalism, and blind obedience could well degrade spirituality into a harmful experience. Freud defined organized religion as an illusion. He viewed religion basically as a means of avoiding anxiety. In line with this, in the past, spirituality was sometimes seen as the antithesis of physical and mental well-being. Nowadays, both are understood as key to one’s well-being.

There seems to be three patterns along which spirituality is found acting and is somewhat defined:

i. Spirituality as a coping mechanism against negative events

These negative events include hopelessness and depression, stress, addictions, loss and death indicated that spiritual variables may also be important mediators or moderators of change. Prayer and spirituality was found to correlate to more positive feelings, greater psychological well-being, better ability to handle stress and less hypertension. They were also found to enhance one’s ability to think clearer and more positively.

ii. Spirituality as a provider of social support

Connectedness, such as community gatherings and involvements, provided an important buffer against isolation, hopelessness, and loneliness. It may also serve as a creative tool for self-enhancement.

iii. Spirituality as a provider of wellness and meaning in life

Victor Frankl, a psychiatrist and holocaust survivor, spoke about how the search for the sacred could bring about meaning. This meaning may be interpreted as a greater sense of wellbeing. This explains why the American psychologist Abraham Maslow spoke of the importance of having a framework of values for a healthy life.

Holistic treatment includes spirituality

Increasingly, both human experience and empirically based evidence strongly suggest that wellbeing is to be holistic in scope in order to be truly valid, with long term effects, and to make a meaningful difference in one’s quality of life. In other words, I cannot treat and perhaps cure a person’s physical or mental condition or disorder while ignoring one’s spiritual outlook on oneself in the long run, and how that condition or disorder has impacted one’s understanding of self and world around.

For more related issues, you can subscribe to Dr Michael’s YouTube channel – Psychology Minute With Michael Galea

Read more on the role of spirituality in mental health:

– Frankl, Victor, Man’s Search for Meaning, Boston, 2006.

– Rathunde, Kevin,  Toward a psychology of optimal human functioning: What positive psychology can learn from the “experiential turns” of James, Dewey, and Maslow. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41(1), 135-153. doi:10.1177/0022167801411008 2001.

– My Psychosis Recovery: Love, Medicine and Faith

 

Dr Michael Galea

http://drmichaelgalea.com

Dr Michael Galea is a clinical psychologist and a senior lecturer in the Department of Mental Health within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Malta.

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  • … Mary the Mystical Rose 🌹, please pray 🙏 with us and for us.
    Please see: “Pierina Gilli” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierina_Gilli
    … Pierina Gilli (1911–1991), was an Italian visionary who experienced apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, revealing herself as Rosa Mystica. The messages focused on Our Lady’s motherly care for her deeply beloved consecrated souls of priests and of male and female members of religious institutes within the Roman Catholic Church.

    DAGLIGA BÖNEFÖRFRÅGNINGAR
    Evangelisering apostolat av Guds gudomliga kärlek och barmhärtighet

    Skicka gärna din böneförfrågan för idag som en kommentar till det här inlägget. Dina behov och avsikter kommer att ingå i våra dagliga offer under hela dagen och klockan 3 för gudomlig barmhärtighet, och dina önskemål kommer personligen att erbjudas vår himmelske Fader, med tro på de ord som vår Herre talade till Saint Faustina, “Genom kaplet kommer du att få allt, om det du ber om är förenligt med min vilja.” (Dagbok, § 1731)

    ****************************************************************

    “Allsmäktige och Barmhärtige Gud, i den obeskrivliga och gränslösa Kärlek som fyller Din Gudomliga Natur för var och en av oss, Dina barn, fyll oss med Din Helige Ande för att inspirera, stärka och vägleda oss när vi färdas varje dag genom livet;

    – när vi ser till Dig, Herre Jesus, med en orubblig tro på Din Gudomliga Godhet som vi håller så helig i våra hjärtan, må vi verkligen leva, i vårt dagliga liv, önskan att äga Dig som den enda Sanna Skatten som tillfredsställer vårt hjärtas och vår själs djupaste längtan.” †
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    synd att förlora unga liv min egen privata mening

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