Spiritual Health through Psychology

• Spirituality


  Faith in and submission to an all-powerful force often referred to as God, who rules the universe and determines the fate of mankind. It entails how people carry out what they see to be the purpose of their existence, a quest for life's meaning, and a sense of kinship with the cosmos.
• Religion


  Institutionalisation of spirituality. Different religions have different sets of doctrines, practices, and beliefs. They offer a variety of community-based worship initiatives.
• Religions may lose their spirituality


  If they start acting as sources of injustice rather than as promoters of charity, peace, and harmony. They risk dividing rather than uniting people.
• Mental health


  Absence of mental illness and the presence of a well-adjusted personality that positively impacts communal life.
• Essential qualities of mental health

  • Ability to take responsibility for one's own actions
  • Adaptability
  • High threshold for frustration
  • Acceptance of uncertainty
  • Participation in activities of social interest
  • Courage to take risks
  • Serenity to accept the things we cannot change
  • Courage to change the things we can change
  • Wisdom to distinguish between the above
  • Acceptance of impairments
  • Balanced self-control
  • Maintain a satisfying to oneself, others, including Nature and God
• Lack of spirituality


  Can contribute to the development of psychiatric illness
• Religious content


  Can manifest as psychiatric symptoms
• Certain religious feelings and experiences are misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders. Examples include visions and possession states.</b>
• The patients' lives are significant in terms of spiritual principles and religious activities.
• Existential concerns may be at the heart of many of their issues.
• It is crucial that we include spirituality and religious practices in the recommended course of treatment.
• Bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach


  Approach that has to be promoted in psychiatry.
• Gathering psychiatric history


  1. Patient's religious background

  2. Past religious experiences

  3. Role religion plays in coping with life's difficulties
• Some religious views could be in opposition to the suggested therapy. Some religious organisations are opposed to all forms of therapy.
• The current psychiatric issue could be exacerbated by some religious disputes and frustrations. Examples include the sexual exploitation of patients by religious personnel, painful experiences that led the patient to abandon religious activities and beliefs, unanswered prayers, etc.
• Surveys can be used to get information about past spiritual and religious experiences.
• Discussing spiritual issues and religious experiences with the patient will strengthen the relationship.
• If patients' religious practices enable them to cope better or have no negative effects on their mental health, we should appreciate and encourage them.
• We should also question the notions that have a negative impact on mental health. This needs to be handled delicately, and it is preferable to remain impartial until we have a solid understanding of the patients and the issues at hand and have established a successful therapeutic connection.
• Psychiatrists are typically less religious than other medical professionals; they frequently learn about spirituality from their patients' pathological religious symptoms, which makes them sceptical of spirituality; they frequently take a biological approach to mental illness that downplays the spiritual component, and they may believe that spirituality and religion lead to dependencies and feelings of guilt.
• All of these can be reduced by communication and regular orientation programmes. The more commonly used and discussed religious and spiritual terms and notions within the field of psychiatry as a whole, the better.
• It is also true that religious experiences tend to cause more disputes and issues than spirituality does.
• Praying alongside the sick should only be done if the patient requests it and only when a solid therapeutic relationship has been established. Praying for the sick person can be helpful.
• To increase the objectivity and efficacy of clinical applications, high-quality evidence-based research is necessary. There are several opportunities for this field of study. Meditation, religious conversion, faith, mystical encounters, near-death experiences, and the idea of reincarnation are all unexplored phenomena.
• It makes sense to incorporate religious ideas into psychotherapy if spirituality and mental health are linked, and if religious experiences and beliefs matter to the lives of psychiatric patients.
• Default mode network


  Network in the brain that becomes inactive during spiritual experiences.
• Rumination network


  Network that takes on a strong life of its own and is challenging to switch off when someone is depressed. Strong spirituality reduces the likelihood of developing a runaway default mode network.
• Front temporal network


  Network that processes relational bonding and becomes more activated during spiritual experiences, strengthening our sense of familial ties.
• Ventral attention network


  Network where perception and direction reside, and becomes more activated during spiritual experiences.
• Inferior parietal lobe


  Brain region that helps us distinguish between ourselves and others, and becomes less activated during spiritual experiences, leading to a profound awareness of our shared experience with nature and one another.