Connection,Action, and Hope: an Invitation to reclaim the “Spiritual” in Health Care

The complex process of health has, until recently, been understood devoid of a spiritual component. The present article offers a model of health inclusive of spirituality with implications for the health communication field. Amending the assumptive non-relevance of spirituality to individual health, a growing body of scholarship in various disciplines recognizes the ways in which spirituality connects to overall wellness. As a whole, this literature equates spirituality with seeking, striving, and forward movement. Given the potential for health communication scholars to make significant contributions at the forefront of this research, this article proposes a dynamic model of health inclusive not only of the physical and mental, but of the spiritual as well. Recognizing its centrality to wellbeing, the model locates the spiritual self at the center. Specifically, the spiritual self is described as engaging action, hope, and connection to self, others, and/or the universe.     

“And Let Us Make Us a Name”: Reflections on the Future of the Religion and Health Field

After years of marginality, research on religion and health is entering the academic mainstream. Scholarship on this topic has evolved into a large, productive field. As in any emerging field, there are competing visions for what the field should be about and what research questions should be pursued. Different opinions exist as to which constructs should be researched. Words like religion, spirituality, faith, and prayer, and health, healing, medicine, and healthcare, imply different things. The study of their various interconnections can thus take myriad forms. This article argues for a welcoming approach open to the widest range of research subjects. An earlier version of this article was presented as a Visiting Scholar Seminar, Duke Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, March 6, 2008.     

Sacred Practices and Family Processes in a Jewish Context: Shabbat as the Weekly Family Ritual Par Excellence

The present article provides a deep and more focused look at the utility, meaning, processes, and power involved in a specific, family‐level, sacred practice or ritual from Judaism: Shabbat (Sabbath). Content analysis of in‐depth interviews with 30 diverse, marriage‐based Jewish families living in the United States (N = 77 individuals) yielded three emergent themes: (a) “Shabbat brings us closer together”; (b) How Shabbat brings the family together; and (c) The Power of Blessing the Children. These themes will be discussed respectively, along with related verbatim data from participants’ in‐depth qualitative interviews.     

The language of spirituality

By exploring the evidence brought forward by palaeontologists and archaeologists, this paper will investigate the hypothesis that spirituality is rooted in our primordial origins. It will be claimed that as a fundamental human dimension that distinguishes humans, spirituality needs to interact with the other constituent dimensions that make us human, including our need for community, our characteristics of learning, of being rational and of developing tools that change us. If spirituality emerged so early in the evolutionary process, and if it is tied to the quest of search for meaning, one could put forward an argument that it precedes most of the tools and knowledges developed by humans. There seems to be evidence that its ability to spur human development is mainly done through the development and use of symbols which, if understood in a wider sense, seem to be the primary language of spirituality.     

Affect as a foundational psychological process for spirituality and empathy

There is growing interest in understanding the manner by which spiritual experiences, religious beliefs and behaviours, and prosocial traits (e.g., empathy, altruism) are related. Research has recently focused on determining those psychological constructs (e.g., affective, behavioural, cognitive) that are common to these related constructs, although the specific relationships remain unclear. The current study evaluated relationships among spiritual experiences and affective and cognitive dimensions of empathy in 98 participants with heterogeneous health conditions. Results indicate that spirituality is significantly related to affective empathy, but not cognitive empathy. These findings suggest that individuals’ propensity to be both spiritual and empathetic is primarily related to a greater disposition towards emotional connection with others (i.e., whether with the divine or other people). Research and practical implications are discussed.     

社群、精神性传统和中国社会中的灾难(英文)

本文假定深切的处境观念和社群疗法是受害者"家庭"观念重建的最好途径。本文作者认真响应中国心理学会主席张侃的号召,重视中国的本土资源和精神遗产对于中国人在心理治疗中作用。本文沿袭了沃尔什将重建社群作为缓解创伤和灾难效果的四种方式:分享对创伤事件的认知,分享丧失和存活的经验,社群的重新组织和关系的重新建立。有人认为在灾难之后,精神性也可以在意义和社群的复原中扮演着积极的作用,前提是尊重信仰,鼓励信仰者使用自己的信仰语言,而不是把信仰当作工具来寻求心理健康。文中引用的例子包括俄罗斯乌克兰人中的门诺派教徒在社群/宗教重建中的努力,还有中国人对2008年5月12日汶川大地震中对灾难的回应方式。     

Spiritual Need One: Spiritual Development: The Aging Process: A Journey of Lifelong Spiritual Formation

SUMMARY

To grow old is but one chapter in a lifelong journey of spiritual formation. Spirituality can be defined most easily by what it is not. Aging is a process of discovery and pondering, reminiscing, and acting, integrating and meaning making, even surrendering to Life as it is, not as we will it to be. Spiritual insights are gained from James Fowler, Viktor Frankl, Thomas Merton, Paul Tournier, Adrian Van Kamm, and Rachel Remen.     

Spirituality and Religion in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Kwazulu-natal,South Africa: A Longitudinal Study

This study assesses the effects of spirituality and religion in health outcomes of patients on ART in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Participants were 735 patients who attended three HIV clinics for ART over a period of 20 months as follows: 519 after 6 months on antiretroviral therapy (ART), 557 after 12 and 499 after 20 months on ART. They completed the Duke Religion Index each visit. Factors associated with spirituality/religiousness included fewer mental health problems (lower depressive symptoms, lower alcohol use), CD4 cell counts, adherence to ART, better certain health related quality of life outcomes (physical, psychological and environmental), social support and internalized HIV/AIDS stigma. Further research could examine the feasibility of including spirituality and religion in the assessment and providing support interventions for HIV patients.     

Genetics and Religion: Prospects for Dialogue

Although he became infamous for his support of the judges in the Salem “witch trials,” Cotton Mather made significant contributions to early American discourse in science and spirituality. Since he possessed a unified worldview, Cotton Mather applied the same purposes, assumptions, and methodology to both the natural sciences and to prayer. In doing so, he implicitly taught that truth is holistic and absolute.     

Holistic movement practices – An emerging category of physical activity for exercise psychology

BackgroundExercise psychology has an interest in physical activity behaviour and the psychological dimensions of physical activity delivery and outcomes. Holistic movement practices (HMPs) can be defined as physical practices embedded in holistic philosophies of well-being. As such, they go beyond what is typically offered in exercise contexts to purposefully include mental, emotional, social and/or spiritual components. Traditional Eastern movement practices (e.g., Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong) are examples of HMPs, but a range of lesser known “Western-born” HMPs (e.g., 5Rhythms, Biodanza) also exist. HMPs have not yet received much structured attention within exercise psychology.ObjectiveTo analyse the nature of HMPs and discuss their relevance to the field of exercise psychology, with a view to raising awareness of HMPs within exercise psychology as well as encouraging and supporting future research.ContentWe discuss what we see as commonalities among HMPs and argue that it is useful to treat HMPs as a category of physical activity for exercise psychology, not only because they are forms of physical activity but also because psychological dimensions are an integral and purposeful part of these practices. We provide a tentative conceptualization of HMP philosophies, with brief examples, and consider how exercise psychology's subfields of participation behaviour, delivery parameters, outcomes, and mechanisms are applicable to the study of HMPs. Last, we briefly explore research issues, including HMPs' multicomponent nature, selected potential mechanisms, and methodologies.ConclusionHMPs are part of the leisure-based physical activities landscape in many modern societies, and deserve attention by exercise psychologists. Their embeddedness in holistic philosophies and multicomponent nature provide unique opportunities and challenges for research in exercise psychology.