Spirituality and mental health status among Northern Plain tribes

Spirituality measures often show positive associations with preferred mental health outcomes in the general population; however, research among American Indians (AIs) is limited. We examined the relationships of mental health status and two measures of spirituality – the Midlife Development Inventory (MIDI) and a tribal cultural spirituality measure – in Northern Plains AIs, aged 15–54 (n?=?1636). While the MIDI was unassociated with mental health status, the tribal cultural spirituality measure showed a significant relationship with better mental health status. Mental health conditions disproportionately affect AIs. Understanding protective factors such as cultural spirituality that can mitigate mental health disorders is critical to reducing these health disparities.     

The holistic and spiritual relevance of Bible stories among Finnish 10-year-old pupils: a classroom case study

Abstract

In this article, we explore what kind of relevance Bible stories have on 10-year-old pupils in religious education lessons. The data was gathered in Lutheran RE lessons in Finland. The Bible stories were told by using special storytelling methods, Godly Play and Religious Pedagogic Practice. The study used stimulated recall method interviews to study the reflections the students (N = 9) had during lessons. Analysis was done via deductive content analysis. The study showed that different forms of holistic relevance could be identified in the recollections of the students. The most common forms of relevance were emotional, moral and religious relevance. The study indicates that different kinds of stories emphasise different kinds of relevance and while there were some similar features in the relevance of the stories among the students, there were also differences. In the end, the implications of this study to teacher education and classroom learning are discussed.     

The life tasks model: Enhancing psychological and spiritual growth in the aged

ABSTRACT

The life tasks model is an active, mutual, and potentially universal approach to the spiritual care of the aged. A life task is a responsibility, once undertaken, that lasts a lifetime. Three tasks are identified. Task 1 is the discovery of hidden learning. The process of discovery draws on implicit learning that comes into awareness. This leads to task 2, testing in which learning brought into awareness is tested by other life experiences. The final task is task 3, integration, in which a more aware and cohesive self is formed. Ideally, this leads to service or vocation. Progress on the life tasks is illustrated by responses in a qualitative study of older adults. Although this model can be applied to self-growth and ministry to all ages, it is well suited to the care of the aged.     

Developing the Good Physician: Spirituality affects the development of virtues and moral intuitions in medical students

The Project on the Good Physician is a national longitudinal study of moral and professional formation of American physicians over the course of medical training. The purpose of this paper is to examine the processes by which spirituality influences the development of three virtues (mindfulness, empathic compassion, and generosity) in medical students as mediated by the moral intuition to care/harm, as well as make predictions as to how this type of study could be generalizable to other populations. Study participants were 563 medical students recruited by the University of Chicago from 24 medical schools across the U.S. (54.7% male, 57% white) who completed measures assessing virtue formation 9 months apart. Path analysis of a cascade model showed that spirituality (but not religiousness) was directly and indirectly related to change in the virtue empathic compassion, and also indirectly related to change in the virtue generosity. Moreover, the moral intuition to care/harm partially mediated the association between spirituality and the virtues of empathic compassion and generosity (but not mindfulness).     

The psychological implications of believing that everything is one

ABSTRACT

A variety of philosophical, religious, spiritual, and scientific perspectives converge on the notion that everything that exists is part of some fundamental entity, substance, or process. People differ in the degree to which they believe that everything is one, but we know little about the psychological or social implications of holding this belief. In two studies, believing in oneness was associated with having an identity that includes distal people and the natural world, feeling connected to humanity and nature, and having values that focus on other people’s welfare. However, the belief was not associated with a lower focus on oneself or one’s concerns. Participants who believed in oneness tended to view themselves as spiritual but not necessarily religious, and reported experiences in which they directly perceived everything as one. The belief in oneness is a meaningful existential belief that has numerous implications for people’s self-views, experiences, values, relationships, and behavior.     

Oneness Experience: Looking Through Multiple Lenses

This article defines healthy oneness experience and establishes the progressive, life enhancing components of the experience. The author clarifies the paradox that a cohesive, well-integrated self allows unitive, non-self-definitional experiences. The author attempts to work the cultural/clinical border by exploring oneness phenomena as they occur in art, religion, literature and the clinical consulting room. The author uses psychoanalytic tools to understand non-clinical experiences of oneness. Through compelling accounts of such experiences as described by artists, writers and meditators, psychoanalytic theorizing about oneness is illumined further.     

Spiritual Coping, Family History, and Perceived Risk for Breast Cancer—Can We Make Sense of it?

Differences in spiritual beliefs and practices could influence perceptions of the role of genetic risk factors on personal cancer risk. We explored spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions among women with and without a reported family history of breast cancer. Analyses were conducted on data from 899 women in primary care clinics who did not have breast cancer. Structural equation modeling (SEM), linear, and logistic modeling tested an interaction of family history of breast cancer on the relationship between spiritual coping and risk perceptions. Overall analyses demonstrated an inverse relationship between spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions and a modifying effect of family history. More frequent spiritual coping was associated with lower risk perceptions for women with positive family histories, but not for those with negative family histories. Results support further research in this area that could influence communication of risk information to cancer genetic counseling patients.     

This new science of ours: a more or less systematic history of consciousness and transcendence. Part I

This paper is a search for the origins and nature of human consciousness. This portion, the first part of two, takes up a signal work of Jung and one of Freud, both published in 1911 and both deriving thinking as the first embodiment of higher mental functions. Thinking and consciousness (and subsequently spirit) are elaborated in terms of the nature and vicissitudes of libido. Jung's less well understood theory regarding a quantitative libido is particularly addressed as are his non-Cartesian ways of reasoning. Also addressed is Jung's turning away in the final analysis from a frankly metaphysical and transcendent position as compared to the pre-Socratic philosophers with whom focused thinking began in the western world. Differentiation is made between mechanistic and energetic field dynamics in how reality is viewed.     

A Jewish Spiritual Perspective on Psychopathology and Psychotherapy: A Clinician's View

This paper will present a Jewish Spiritual Perspective on clinical work by examining key underlying values and attitudes in Judaism that relate to human behavior, mental health and illness. Common symptom presentations and family issues that have roots in culture will be explored. Contemporary and ancient spiritual coping tools will be suggested for use in clinical work and personal growth.     

Spirituality Predicts Health and Cardiovascular Responses to Stress in Young Adult Women

The primary focus of this study was to investigate the roles of spirituality and religiosity in self-reported physical health, and to determine whether there is an association between an individuals spirituality and cardiovascular responses to two stressors. Fifty-two females participated in both a betrayal interview and a structured interview, during which blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. Spirituality, as assessed by the Spiritual Well-being Scale, was associated with perceived stress, subjective well-being, and medication use. The Existential Well-being subscale predicted fewer physical health symptoms and was associated with lower mean heart rate and decreased heart rate reactivity. The Religious Well-being subscale was associated with reduced systolic blood pressure reactivity in response to the structured interview. These findings suggest that spirituality may have a salutary effect on health, even in a fairly young sample. While previous studies have predominantly reported that religion, as well as spirituality, have a health protective effect, this study did not find strong support for that conclusion. Religiosity in this age group may still be undergoing developmental maturity, which may explain the lack of relationships to health.