Finding New Language

Abstract

This study examined the role of faith, both religion and spirituality, on the sexual satisfaction of lesbian/queer and bisexual women (n = 318). A hierarchical regression was used to determine the potential influence of religion and spirituality above and beyond the variance explained by three background variables (i.e., age, sexual orientation, living with partner status). While religion did not significantly contribute to women's reports of sexual satisfaction, results indicated that both living with a partner and spirituality had a significant positive relationship with sexual satisfaction. In particular, two aspects of spirituality (spiritual freedom and connectedness) were strong predictors of sexual satisfaction.     

The Ways in Which Adolescents Cope and their Relationship to Age,Gender and Specific Religious Variables

This study investigated the roles of age, gender, the importance of religion/spirituality, attending church activities and frequency of prayer on the types of adolescents’ coping strategies. Participants were drawn from ten public high schools. Data on coping strategies, personal variables and religiosity and spirituality were collected using the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE) coping inventory. Scheffé posthoc tests were used to evaluate associations between the coping strategies used by adolescents and the identified personal and faith-oriented variables. Gender and age explained some differences in types of coping strategies preferred. Specifically, females used the developing social support coping strategy more than males; older adolescents used the avoiding problems coping strategy more than younger adolescents. Adolescents for whom religion/spirituality is of lesser importance, obtained a significantly higher mean score for the avoiding problems subscale. Both personal variables (age and gender) as well as one of the faith-oriented variables (importance of religion) were identified as important role players in using developing social support and avoiding problems as coping strategies by adolescents.     

Ways of Studying Religion,Spirituality, and Aging: The Social Scientific Approach

SUMMARY

This paper presents an overview of methods of research most commonly used in research in the field of aging, religion and spirituality. It discusses the reasons for doing research and the applicability of findings to practice, providing a guide to practitioners in becoming discerning consumers of research in this field. The paper also provides examples of research in this field, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.     

Trends in the Scientific Study of Religion, Spirituality, and Health: 1965–2000

The present study examined the degree to which interest in religion, spirituality, and health has changed in psychology and the behavioral sciences over the past few decades. To accomplish this, searches were conducted on the PsycINFO database between the years 1965 and 2000. Three basic searches were conducted combining the word “health” with the following search terms: 1. (religion OR religious OR religiosity) NOT (spiritual OR spirituality); 2. (spiritual OR spirituality) NOT (religion OR religious OR religiosity); and 3. (religion OR religious OR religiosity) AND (spiritual OR spirituality). The rate per 100,000 articles was then calculated for each of the three search-terms: religion, spirituality, religion and spirituality. A significant upward trend across years was found for the rate of articles dealing with spirituality, r(34) = .95, p<.001, and religion and spirituality, r(34) = .86, p<.001. A significant downward trend was found for articles that only addressed religion, r(34) = −.64, p<.001. The consequences of these trends are discussed.Dr. Andrew J. Weaver is a United Methodist minister and clinical psychologist. He is the Associate Publisher of Zion’s Herald, an independent religious journal founded in 1823 and is co-author of numerous professional and popular articles and eleven books. His recent book titles include Counseling Survivors of Traumatic Events and Reflections on Grief and Spiritual Growth.Dr. Kenneth I. Pargament is professor of clinical psychology at Bowling Green State University. Dr. Pargament has published over 100 articles on the meanings of religion and spirituality, the vital role of religion in coping with stress and trauma, perceptions of sacredness in life, and psychospiritual treatment. He is author of The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice.Dr. Kevin J. Flannelly has been the Associate Director of Research at The Health Care Chaplaincy since 2001. Dr. Flannelly has published more than 100 studies in various areas of psychology and he has worked in the field of religion, spirituality and health since 1996. He recently published a review and analysis of the methodological quality of research on religion and health in the Southern Medical Journal.Julia Oppenheimer is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon, studying child development and clinical practice in the Clinical Psychology program. She has conducted research on the etiology and treatment of anxiety disorders, as well as publishing a number of studies on religion and mental health. Her current research on the development of children’s self-perceptions of personality is funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Award. Correspondence to Dr. Kevin J. Flannelly, kflannelly@healthcarechaplaincy.org.     

Couple Therapy and Spirituality and Religion

Abstract

The current state of the art of the integration of couple therapy with spirituality and religion is presented. Each of three waves of this integration identified in this article have seen an increase in the literature in this area, although only a limited amount in each wave has addressed couple therapy specifically. In the first wave, from 1990–1994, articles set forth arguments for why spirituality should be integrated in therapy. During the second wave, 1995–1999, publications focused on the ways that including spirituality in therapy can enhance as well as harm the therapeutic process. In the third wave, 2000-present, attention has shifted away from whether to include spirituality to how it should be included, and the literature of this period features many practical interventions and suggested guidelines for integrating spirituality and religion into therapy and training. The article concludes with recommendations for further developing the integration of spirituality and religion into couple therapy models, research, and training.     

Making sense of the study of spirituality: late modernity on trial

ABSTRACT

In this article I offer a meta-theoretical mapping of spirituality studies and its many controversies. I begin by distinguishing between two projects that together constitute the field: the study for and the study of spirituality. I argue a good deal of the confusion surrounding ‘spirituality’ is the result of scholars failing to make this distinction. Next, I outline the few areas of agreement within the study of spirituality in order to illuminate what I consider the issue that defines the field: the merits and shortcomings of late modernity. By late modernity I mean the current era, whose origins can be traced roughly to the 1960s. I then offer a meta-theoretical analysis of the social-cum-political theoretical frameworks commonly used to study spirituality, delineating them according to their assessments of the contemporary epoch. I contend this is a useful and much-needed means of dispelling some of the fuzziness that characterizes the field.     

Religion,Spirituality, and Marriage and Family Therapy: A Study of Family Therapists' Beliefs about the Appropriateness of Addressing Religious and Spiritual Issues in Therapy

For many years the literature in the field of family therapy was silent as to the religious and spiritual aspects of clients' lives. During the past five years, however, many voices have come forth calling attention to the importance of bringing spirituality and religion into our conversations with clients. The result of these new voices has been a significant increase in attention to spirituality in journal articles, books, and presentations at national conferences. While there appears to be a strong movement in favor of bringing spirituality and religion into the therapy room, there have been no published studies in marriage and family therapy journals that explore marriage and family therapists' beliefs about the appropriateness of addressing spiritual issues in therapy. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap in the literature by examining the beliefs of a random sample of clinical members of AAMFT in respect to this issue.     

Religious experience and mental health: anthropological and psychological approaches

ABSTRACT

Moreira-Almeida, Sharma, van Rensburg, Verhagen and Cook have written a very comprehensive position statement pertaining to religion and psychiatry. While presenting a good overview of studies of religion, spirituality and mental health it does not include the important area of the health implications of religious experience which is the focus of this piece. I begin by discussing definitions of religious experience before examining the work of William James. The second part of this paper focuses upon specific religious experiences and psychopathology with a focus on mysticism, hallucinations and culture.     

The Imagination of Images and Images of Imagination: How the Imagination Relates to Aging,Health, and Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Psychological literature suggests that religion and spirituality increase in late adulthood. Yet, operational definitions of spirituality and religiosity remain widely debated and inadequate for the concepts they are designed to measure. The empirical studies of religion and spirituality as one ages are of poor design and often measure only limited aspects of religion or spirituality. Few empirical studies exist which have been conceived to only study religiosity and spirituality in late adulthood. The purpose of this study was to determine the defining aspects of religiosity and spirituality using the Allport, Ross Intrinsic, Extrinsic Religiosity Scale, Ellison's Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Neugarten's Life Satisfaction Instrument. Using a principal component factor analysis, the study examined the factor structure using an older adult sample of 320 individuals 65 years of age and older. Having a purpose in life combines with intrinsic religious questions for the first factor. Life satisfaction questions group together on two factors and extrinsic religiosity is clearly one factor. The scales used hold together well when combined. A new, shortened scale to measure aspects of religiosity and spirituality is proposed.     

Some reflections on spirituality,religion and mental health

For both religion and psychiatry context is becoming more important. Object relations theory, and especially the concept of a transitional object, may be a means of linking religious thinking and psychoanalysis together. The distinction between religion and spirituality is important, though not absolute. Two factors emerge from this engagement: 1) critical questioning at the boundary of each discipline; and 2) both spirituality and mental health are related to life in a specific society. The link between religion and irrational behaviour is important, religion being a primary means of acknowledging the irrational facets of everyday life. But delusion must not be confused with illusion: between these two imagination, art and religion flourish. Each of these is dangerous, since they connect the ‘normal’ with the ‘riskily marginal’. In a multicultural society behaviour which may be acceptable in one context may in another be regarded as a sign of illness. This is particularly true of religious behaviour. Three key issues are examined: 1) the social function of spirituality and religion; 2) the idea of personal wholeness; and 3) the link between external and internal validation of the individual's spirituality. The boundary between psychotic and religious behaviour is a difficult one to discern. Yet neither medical nor spiritual explanations alone seem sufficient. There is a complementary mapping of the complications of human experience.     

How Do “Religion” and “Spirituality” Differ? Lay Definitions Among Older Adults

Research and public interest in religion and spirituality is on the rise. Consequently, there is an increasing need for rigorously obtained information on what individuals mean when they use these terms. This study examined how 64 older adults living in three retirement communities (including one Christian‐based community), a relatively understudied population, conceptualize religion and spirituality. Participants defined “religion” and “spirituality,” and their narrative definitions were coded and compared using a framework derived from Hill et al.'s (2000) conceptualization of religion and spirituality. Despite considerable overlap, participants' definitions differed on several dimensions. Participants were more likely to associate religion than spirituality with personal beliefs, community affiliation, and organized practices. Moreover, spirituality appeared to be a more abstract concept than religion, and included nontheistic notions of a higher power.     

An Interpersonal and Intercultural Embrace

SUMMARY

Using Ono's (1997) “letter” format to share one's multiplicity of “voices,” I discuss the negotiation of interpersonal and intercultural factors of a gay, transcontinental, HIV serodiscordant relational connection with my late partner and a multicultural relational connection with my current partner. In this letter, I work to open paths of inquiry and understanding of our connections by intersecting relational “differences” (e.g., ethnicity, nations of birth, social class, HIV status, and religion/spirituality) with relational “similarities” (e.g., attraction and love, age status, shared gay identity, shared languages, and educational privilege). Finally, I address our learned and practiced skills for sustaining relational healthiness.     

Whither the Psychology of Religion: A Spirituality-Focused Discussion of Paloutzian and Park’s (2005)

Presuming Rayburn’s (2006: Child & Family Behavior Therapy, 28, 86–92) review of (Paloutzian and Park, 2005, Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. New York: The Guilford Press) and sketching an alternative paradigm, this review focuses on the Handbook’s virtual conflation of religion and spirituality; relates this conflation to the hegemony of Protestant theology in North American psychology of religion; highlights the Handbook’s neglect of spirituality per se, which, if not inseparably linked with theism, is, nevertheless, related to the self-transcending, meaning-making dimension of the human mind, could provide an explanatory breakthrough in the field of the psychology of religion and of the social sciences overall; and sees Handbook’s advocacy for a “multilevel interdisciplinary paradigm” as a regrettable acceptance of the failed, long-term strategy of the field of psychology in general.     

The existential dimension in psychiatry: an enactive framework

ABSTRACT

In his paper Psychiatry and religion: Consensus reached!, Verhagen advocates the relevance of spirituality and religion for the “origins, understanding, and treatment of psychiatric disorders”. In this comment, I argue for the broader claim that the existential dimension is important for understanding psychiatric disorders – of which religion can, but must not necessarily be, part. The existential dimension refers to our ability to relate to ourselves, our experiences, and our situation. This evaluative relation can play an important role in psychiatry: it can co-constitute the disorder, be affected by the disorder, and/or modulate the course of the disorder. Given this importance, it makes sense to explicitly recognize the existential dimension in our explanatory model of psychiatric disorders. The biopsychosocial model goes a long way in providing an integrative model, but there is room for improvement, especially when it comes to integration of its aspects, and acknowledging the existential aspect. I briefly introduce the research paradigm of enactivism, and suggest that an enactive framework is well-suited to incorporate this existential dimension – along with the traditional dimensions of the biopsychosocial model.     

Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality. Implications for physical and mental health research

Empirical studies have identified significant links between religion and spirituality and health. The reasons for these associations, however, are unclear. Typically, religion and spirituality have been measured by global indices (e.g., frequency of church attendance, self-rated religiousness and spirituality) that do not specify how or why religion and spirituality affect health. The authors highlight recent advances in the delineation of religion and spirituality concepts and measures theoretically and functionally connected to health. They also point to areas for areas for growth in religion and spirituality conceptualization and measurement. Through measures of religion and spirituality more conceptually related to physical and mental health (e.g., closeness to God, religious orientation and motivation, religious support, religious struggle), psychologists are discovering more about the distinctive contributions of religiousness and spirituality to health and well-being.     

A Review of Spiritual and Religious Measures in Nursing Research Journals: 1995--1999

Background: A series of systematic reviews has revealed relatively high levels of interest in religion and spirituality in different nursing specialties, but not in general nursing research journals. Purpose: To identify the extent to which spirituality and religiousness were measured in all quantitative and qualitative research articles published in Research in Nursing and Health, Nursing Research, Advances in Nursing Science (ANS), and Image: The Journal of Nursing Scholarship from 1995 to 1999. Methods: A full-text search was conducted of ANS and Image using the Ovid search system. Nursing Research and Research in Nursing and Health were hand searched for spiritual/religious measures. Characteristics of selected studies, the measures taken, and their uses were coded for data analysis. Results: A total of 564 research studies were identified, of which 67 (11.9%) included at least one measure of spirituality or religiousness. A significant difference was found between the percentage of qualitative and quantitative studies that contained measures of these concepts. Of the 119 qualitative studies, 23 (19.3%) contained a measure of religion or spirituality, compared to 44 of the 445 (9.9%) quantitative studies. Nominal indicators of religious affiliation were the most commonly used measures in the quantitative studies and measures of religion and spirituality were rarely used in the analyses. Although only a few quantitative or qualitative studies intended to focus on religion or spirituality, these themes often emerged spontaneously in the qualitative research. Conclusions: Research in Nursing and Health, Advances in Nursing Science, Nursing Research, and Image: The Journal of Nursing Scholarship all published research measuring spirituality and religiousness during the time-period studied. The rate at which spirituality and religion appeared in these nursing research articles is substantially higher than that found in most fields outside of nursing. Even more frequent inclusion of spiritual and religious variables and richer measures of spirituality and religiousness would help to increase the available scientific information on the role of spirituality and religion in nursing care.     

Training and Education in Religion/Spirituality Within APA-Accredited Clinical Psychology Programs: 8 Years Later

This study was a follow up investigation of Brawer et al.’s (Prof Psychol Res Pr 33(2):203–206, 2002) survey of education and training of clinical psychologists in religion/spirituality. Directors of clinical training were surveyed to determine whether changes had occurred in the coverage of religion and spirituality through course work, research, supervision, and in the systematic coverage of the content area. Results indicated an increased coverage in the areas of supervision, dedicated courses, inclusion as part of another course, and research. There was no increase in systematic coverage, but significantly more programs provided at least some coverage. The current study also assesses other areas of incorporation as well as directors’ opinions regarding the importance of religion/spirituality in the field of psychology.     

“It’s Like Playing with a Nuclear Bomb”

Abstract

Most observers of the evangelical purity culture situate it within a form of contemporary evangelicalism that prioritizes personal spiritual growth and self-fulfillment. As a result, portrayals of the movement emphasize the therapeutic individualism and optimism of new paradigm spirituality. But the new paradigm does not help us explain the language of spiritual warfare and what Jason Bivins calls a religion of fear within purity rhetoric. Evangelical purity culture is as equally informed by a religion of accommodation and new paradigm spirituality as it is by a religion of fear and the remnants of cold war fundamentalism. This discordance makes sense only when the contemporary purity culture is placed within a broader historical trajectory that marks its genesis in the fundamentalist resurgence of the 1940s, not the 1970s when new paradigm churches first emerged. By examining the seemingly discordant elements of evangelical purity culture, historians are able to recognize the theological and historical continuity between evangelicalism’s religion of fear and religion of accommodation.     

Humor and the Rebellious Spirit of the Early Adolescent Boy

In my companion article on the making of the reliably religious boy (D. Capps, 2006c) I presented my argument that, whereas the younger boy of three to five is becoming religious as a result of his emotional separation from his mother, the early adolescent boy (age 11–14) has become reliably religious in that he has developed a religious habit of mind, a habit reflected in his embrace of the religions of honor and hope. I presented myself as a case study in this regard. I noted, however, that there is a third form of religion, that of humor, and that it relativizes—and thereby preserves—the religions of honor and hope. I also noted that religion and spirituality are capable of being differentiated. I suggested that my own spirituality took the form of rebellion and that this spirit of rebellion fueled and was fueled by the religion of humor. Employing Freud’s writings on humor, I explain in this article how this works.