Effect of a spiritual retreat on perceived stress of Nigerian Catholic immigrant sisters in the United States

Stress among immigrants may be due to loss of familiar environment and experience of discrimination. Spiritual retreats may be one way to manage stressful life situations. The present study examined whether participation in a six-day spiritual retreat results in changes in perceived stress and whether changes in perceived stress depend on participant’s demographic characteristics. A total of 88 Nigerian Catholic immigrant sisters completed the Perceived Stress questionnaire pre-retreat, day three, and immediately after a spiritual retreat. Friedman Two-way ANOVA by rank was used to determine if there are mean changes in perceived stress over the three-time period, while Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA was used to determine if there were demographic differences in perceived stress. There were no differences in perceived stress at baseline, but there was a significant reduction in perceived stress at Time 2 and 3. There were no differences in perceived stress for the demographic variables except age.     

The role of attachment to God and spiritual self-awareness in predicting evangelical Christians’ appraisals of suffering

The present study examined how attachment to God and spiritual self-awareness are related to evangelical Christians’ appraisals of suffering. Specifically, we were interested in whether attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance with God were related to the appraised meaning of stressful life experiences as transformational and whether spiritual self-awareness mediated this relationship. A national sample (N?=?988) of students from Christian institutions completed an online survey. The results indicated that individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety or attachment avoidance with God were less likely to view suffering as a means of spiritual growth and connection with God. Mediation analyses also showed that higher levels of avoidant attachment to God were related to lower levels of spiritual self-awareness, which in turn were related to reduced ability to appraise suffering as transformational. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Cultural Dimensions of Early Pregnancy Loss: Spiritual and Religious Issues

Nearly one in five clinically confirmed pregnancies ends in a loss before 20 weeks (Bardos et al., 2015). Despite the prevalence of miscarriage, many women and partners experience a lack of acknowledgment and support while also encountering complicated concerns related to the intersection of perinatal loss, culture, religious and spiritual issues, medical treatment, their reproductive stories, and grief (Randolph et al., 2015). Counselors working with these clients must address complex cultural considerations. As such, we review key cultural and religious/spiritual issues related to early pregnancy loss and offer recommendations for practice based on the current literature in the context of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (2009) counseling competencies.     

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as a Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

This article presents acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a spiritually integrated therapeutic modality. ACT is a value‐driven therapy that involves facilitating transcendence of physical, mental, and emotional experience to alleviate human suffering; as such, ACT shares common ground with the domain of spirituality. Approached as a spiritually integrated therapy, ACT can help clients to access spiritual resources and create life meaning as well as aid in the resolution or transformation of spiritual struggles. Given that spiritual struggles, in particular, can have a significant impact on mental health and well‐being, this article provides guidance in how ACT can address such struggles.     

Information Medicine: An Application of the New Paradigm in Medicine

Information medicine is a new application and development of an age-old method of healing. It re-creates and re-discovers a method that has proved its merits for thousands of years through a synthesis with new developments in new-paradigm physics and biology. The basic premise of information medicine is the use of information to correct faulty or blocked information-flows in the organism. As the latest discoveries, among others by Dr. Biava, show, even cancerous cells can be reprogrammed through the introduction of substances that provide the correct information. Also, electromagnetic information can produce corrective re-programming, introducing an era of soft, information-based healing not as a substitute for, but as a complement to, the current biochemical substance and physical intervention-based methods. The information-based method I have developed is the one created by the Austrian scientist Erich Koerbler, called New Homeopathy. It harmonizes the electromagnetic field in the body through the use of specific geometrical forms. This article outlines the basic elements of this application of the new paradigm in medicine, with more detailed information provided in the references.     

Play Therapy – respecting the spirit of the child

Play Therapy is an appropriate form of counselling for children; it is based in a therapeutic relationship where communication is developmentally appropriate and easily expressed. Using a variety of methods from non-directional to co-operative play, the therapist acts to affirm, articulate and co-regulate emotional expressions and joins the child in finding meaning, and understanding of the environment. Play Therapy is presented in this paper as an expression of spiritual connection. The relationship of mutual respect and positive expectation between therapist and child allows new understanding to emerge. The interaction between these two areas of knowledge, Play Therapy and children’s spirituality is examined through case study notes and experience of Play Therapy as an early intervention response to children at a time of community disaster. The author is a Clinical Play Therapist as well as a lecturer in children’s spirituality, so this work emphasises the importance of the spiritual nature of the child and the use of a spiritual connection with the therapist for children recovering from psychological distress.     

Seeking help at an Islamic spiritual healing centre: Malaysia’s perspective

Spiritual healing centre is a popular place to seek help among Malaysians whether for medical, psychiatric or other reasons. This study aims to understand the characteristics and illness perception of those patients who seek help at Islamic spiritual healing centre. A cross-sectional study was conducted at an established Islamic spiritual healing centre with 357 respondents. Younger age (OR .97, 95%CI .94–.99, p?=?.002), higher education level (OR 1.99, 95%CI 1.15–3.45, p?=?.014) and a more threatening view of the illness (OR 1.19, 95%CI 1.13–1.26, p?≤?.001) were found to confer risk of seeking help at this centre among attendees with psychiatric diagnosis. Supernatural attribution to illness is common among the attenders with or without a psychiatric diagnosis. Spirituality is important to bring balance and healing. Collaboration with Islamic spiritual healing practitioners to co-manage patients is recommended.     

Lost in Eden: Dementia From Paradise

I look at dementia from an eschatological perspective through personal experience as I supported my husband through his journey into Alzheimer’s disease. Building on the notion of a monastic garden, I draw from the contemplatives to understand my own “kairos” moment that changed my perspective on the way church and other providers offer care. Comparing the church to a garden, I argue that people with dementia are priest-bearing sacraments in whose faces God is seen. Looking into the faces of those with dementia, these priests shepherd us to recognize our illusions about life calling us to greater humility.     

WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE PHILOSOPHICALLY: OR,HOW TO PROGRESS IN THE ART OF LIVING

This essay presents an account of what it takes to live a philosophical way of life: practitioners must be committed to a worldview, structure their lives around it, and engage in truth-directed practices. Contra John Cooper, it does not require that one’s life be solely guided by reason. Religious or tradition-based ways of life count as truth directed as long as their practices are reasons responsive and would be truth directed if the claims made by their way of life are correct. The essay argues that these three conditions can be met by progressors as well as sages. Making progress in how one acts in the world, and improving one’s understanding and direction through being part of a community is living a philosophical way of life. The offered view acknowledges more ways to develop the art of living and enables a broader range of people to count as living philosophically.