Healing
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Psychotherapy needs to catch up with religion and spirituality. Not that psychiatrists need to write prescriptions for reading certain Bible passages, or to prescribe specific houses of worship for their patients to attend. But America is strongly trending away from traditional psychotherapy and turning to alternative forms of spirituality for personal growth and connection to Source. In numbers that are growing by leaps and bounds, Americans are discovering in spirituality what they've been fervently and unsuccessfully seeking in therapy -- healing techniques, fresh inspiration and a soothing link to a higher power.
According to national polls described in "Psychology Today," 9 out of every 10 Americans believe in God and regard religion as a vital part of their lives. Spirituality is not only the fastest growing sector of the publishing industry –- it's one of the only growing sectors. There are literally millions of spiritual self-help seekers buying books on that particular subject.
In addition to books, there are many other forms of media where spirituality is flourishing. TV programs such as Bill Moyers' "Genesis: A Living Conversation" and Hugh Hewitt's "Searching for God in America" have magnetized huge audiences. Newspapers and magazines, including "Newsweek," "Time," and the "New York Times Magazine" print stories about "Faith and Healing," "Science, God and Man" and "Choosing My Religion."
People have an appetite for spirituality and religion -- and they are ravenous. With traditional psychotherapy losing some of its traction, people are seeking out prayer, contemplation, meditation (a form of communicating with God), chanting, personal rituals and a myriad of other practices in order to tap into the wellspring of their innate life force, as well as connect with the guidance of a higher power. New data demonstrates that religion and spirituality have helped mental wellbeing when nothing else could.
The word "spirituality" is rooted in the Latin term "spiritius," -- "the breath of life." It encompasses opening our hearts and nurturing our capacity to feel awe, respect and gratitude. It heightens our ability to discover the sacred in the mundane, to revel in the exquisite beauty of life, to become impassioned about existence, and to surrender to powers far greater and wiser than ourselves. All of these attributes are aimed at fostering compassion that manifests itself in optimal physical and mental wellbeing.
Could spirituality be the true prescription for our ailing happiness and our deteriorating emotional health?
Clinical psychologist and university professor David N. Elkins believes successful treatment of mental ailments involves nurturing both the mind and the soul. "I encourage clients and students to first figure out what moves them deeply," he explained in a 1999 "Psychology Today" interview, "whether it's Beethoven, Garth Brooks or the Grateful Dead, a hike in the mountains or a day in an art gallery. Then I help them design a regular, structured program to incorporate these activities into their life."
Elkins is not alone. In psychology's history, many of the most respected practitioners -- including William James, Gordon Allport, Erich Fromm, Viktor Frankl, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May -- have utilized spirituality as a cornerstone of their work. The renowned Carl Jung even acknowledged that spirituality was such a vital component of psychological health and wellbeing that he was only capable of healing those who had already adopted a spiritual or religious outlook upon life.
Like their predecessors, today's psychologists' attitudes toward religion and spirituality don't always completely mesh. However, they all acknowledge that religion and spirituality have significant roles in their patients' mental health.
This stance was further reinforced in 1990, when Edward P. Shafranske, PhD, of Pepperdine University and H. Newton Maloney, PhD, of Fuller Theological Seminary, surveyed 409 American Psychological Association members regarding their attitude toward both religion and psychology. The results were striking. The members had almost unanimously analyzed patients' religious backgrounds, while 57 percent had used religious phrases or concepts with their patients, 36 percent recommended that their patients participate in some form of religion, 32 percent referred their patients to religious or spiritual books, 24 percent had privately prayed for a patient, and 7 percent had even prayed with a patient.
There is a growing body of research supporting the health-related advantages of spirituality. The Harvard Medical School of Continuing Education even offers a course called "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" that unites religious scholars and medical leaders from around the world to discuss spirituality's importance when treating physical illness, mental illness and pain. Yearly, the course draws approximately 1,000 doctors, psychologists, nurses, clergy members, social workers and various health care administrators.
Instructors that teach the course attest that about 60 other medical schools now provide similar classes -- a remarkable jump, considering only three schools offered such education several years ago. And in a 1996 survey of 269 family doctors, 99 percent believed that religious and spiritual practices, including prayer and meditation, have medical benefits. More than half of these physicians currently encourage their patients to use prayer or meditation techniques in the quest for physical and mental health.
Spiritual interventions succeed because they draw upon the healing power of the life force placed within us by God -- the body, mind and soul's innate penchant for survival. Research in the area of body/mind medicine underscores that we can either support or hinder our life force through our emotions, behavior -- and especially, our beliefs.
When traditional psychotherapy fails, spiritual interventions have the power to heal because they dissolve the mental and emotional burdens that obstruct the life force from exerting its full power. But because investigation into the healing powers of religion and spirituality are only in their infancy, more research needs to be conducted to persuade HMOs, therapists and patients to recognize the value of spiritual growth that fosters mental health and wellbeing by connecting us to the ultimate healer -- God, Himself.
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