MENTAL HEALTH AND THE EFFECTS OF BELIEFS

Mental Health Beliefs

Mental Health Beliefs

Q: How religious beliefs influence the mental health issues and approach to address them?

Introduction

For thousands of years, spirituality and health have been closely allied with each other, in concept and in practice. Historically, treatment was administered by religious and spiritual healers. However, with the Age of Enlightenment and the advent of modern medicine, diagnosis and treatment were separated from their spiritual context (Resnicow, 2001). Despite this initial separation between health and spirituality, in recent years, a rapprochement has been taking place. Empirical studies are revealing significant links between spirituality and health. And religious/spiritual and health care communities have begun to join forces in the prevention and treatment of illness and the promotion of health and well-being (Pargament, 1997).

The Meaning of Spirituality

The term spirituality comes from the word spirit (to breathe). Although there is a lack of consensus about its precise meaning, there is general agreement that spirituality is a living, dynamic process that is oriented around whatever the individual may hold sacred. The sacred refers to concepts of God, the divine, and transcendence as well as other aspects of life that take on spiritual character and significance by virtue of their association with the divine (Miller, 1999). Thus, the sacred can also include material objects (e.g., crucifix), special times (e.g., the Sabbath), special places (e.g., cathedral), relationships (e.g., marriage), and psychological attributes (e.g., soul). Spirituality refers to the attempt to discover the sacred, hold on to the sacred, and, when necessary, transform the sacred (Koenig, 2001).

In their search for the sacred, people may take a variety of spiritual pathways. These paths include traditional or nontraditional organized religious beliefs (e.g., God, afterlife, karma), practices (e.g., prayer, meditation, rituals), experiences (e.g., mysticism, conversion), and institutions (e.g., church attendance, Bible study). Pathways to the sacred may also take nonreligious forms, such as walking in the outdoors, listening to music, intimate relations with others, or participating in social action (Hughes, 1998). The richness and complexity of spirituality is a reflection of the many different ways people can define the sacred in their lives and the many different pathways they can follow to discover and rediscover the sacred.

Empirical Links between Spirituality and Health

A substantial body of research has examined the relationships between various dimensions of spirituality and health. Studies have shown that both organizational forms of spirituality (e.g., church attendance, religious affiliation) and more private expressions of spirituality (e.g., personal spiritual practices and beliefs, spiritual coping) are related to a variety of health dimensions (Green, 2003). Despite the different methodologies used to examine the relationships among these complex constructs, in general, empirical studies demonstrate that spirituality appears to have beneficial consequences with respect to physical and mental health.

A number of studies have found that greater frequency of attendance at religious services is associated with better health. (Garmezy, 1972) For example, more frequent worship attendance has been tied to a lower risk of drug and alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity, and ...