By Dr. William Farrell
The following excerpts are from Dr. Farrell’s new book Strong Brains, Strong Bodies: you can live a longer, healthier, and happier life.
Psychiatrist Victor Frankl’s experience as a prisoner at Auschwitz resulted in his writing the influential book Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy. Dr. Frankl realized through his and others’ suffering in the Nazi camps that even in the most dehumanizing of conditions, life had potential meaning and that even suffering could be meaningful.
“If a prisoner felt that he could no longer endure the realities of camp life,” he wrote, “he found a way out in his mental life—an invaluable opportunity to dwell in the spiritual domain, the one that the SS were unable to destroy. Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and thereby improved his chances of survival.” In other words, spiritual resilience may help us deal with even the most horrific and extraordinary stress.
Much research assesses the effect of religion and spirituality on coping in health and medical care. Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard, for example, is a pioneer in the study of breathing relaxation for stress management; he also studied Transcendental Meditation. Dr. Benson examined the health impacts of spiritual practice and belief in his book Timeless Healing; the Power and Biology of Belief. He advanced the concept that believing in God is independent of the benefits that we receive from belonging to a religious community.
Harold Koening (2004) reported that 90 percent of patients in the United States described themselves as religious and that most of them employed their religious beliefs to help them cope and derive comfort when dealing with physical illness. Forty percent of patients reported that religion was the most important factor in helping them to cope with their illness. Religion was associated with less substance abuse and depression, faster recovery from depression and a greater sense of well-being, hope, and optimism.
Karen Dunn and Ann Horgas evaluated religious and nonreligious coping in older adults experiencing chronic pain. They noted a growing body of evidence that supports and association between health outcomes and the use of religious coping to manage pain. The researchers sampled 200 adults with an average age of 76 years. The subjects reported average pain intensity in the moderate range. Results of this study support prior research suggesting elders use a variety of pharmalogic and non-pharmacologic strategies to manage their chronic pain.
Tarakeshwar, et al, analyzed the effect of religious coping on the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer. Researchers conducted structured interviews with 170 patients to determine whether they employed positive versus negative religious coping approaches to life. "Positive religious coping" presumes a loving and caring relationship with the deity, and finding spiritual hope and meaning in one's religious or spiritual beliefs when dealing with life's challenges. "Negative religious coping" involves strategies and beliefs that reflect a less secure relationship with the deity--in other words, the possibility of punishment by God--and an ominous and negative view of the world.
The researchers found that patients who employed greater use of positive religious coping had a better overall quality of life. Negative religious coping was correlated with poorer overall quality of life. The authors of this study concluded that religious coping played an important role in quality of life of the patients and that the type of religious coping strategies used was related to better or poorer quality of life.
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As Robert Sapolsky, an admitted atheist, observed in his book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, a stress-reducing advantage is found in believing in the right kind of god or Gods, to which we can attribute intervention in human affairs with rules that are mysterious. We may not know what God’s intentions are, Sapolsky argues, but at least we know who is responsible for our bad situation or our good luck. If we believe that God has discoverable rules, then we can be comforted by this information. If we can carry out a certain ritual and expect a certain result then we have the stress-reducing advantage. Also, if we can view calamities and the worst events in life and our own death in the context of God’s loving plan, this conveys the greatest source of support imaginable.
Bibliography:
Dunn, K.& Horgas, A.L. (2004) Religious and non-religious coping in elderly adults experiencing chronic pain. Pain Management Nursing, 5(1), 19-28
Tarakeshwar, N. Vanderwerker. L.C., Paulk, L., Pearce, M.J., Kasi, S.V.&Prigerson, H.G. (2006) Religious Coping is Associated with the Quality of life of Patients with Advanced Cancer, Journal of Palliative Medicine, 9(30), 646-657.
Sapolsky, R.M. (1998) Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. New York: W.H.Freeman.
Dr. William H. Farrell is a Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate with over 35 years of experience. You can visit Dr. Farrell's website at http://www.strongbrainsstrongbodies.com.