Spirituality and Mental Health

By Miriam Keith
January 2003
Reprinted from the Marietta Times

Lily Tomlin once quipped, “Why is it that when I talk to God its called prayer, and when God talks to me its called schizophrenia?”  Until the late nineteenth century there was an intimate relationship between spirituality and health, yet the topic has been taboo in the field of psychiatry for the last century. Researcher Nancy Kehoe, Ph.D., says, “One hundred years later, we are coming back to a place where we were before. We are again beginning to look at the relationship between religion, spirituality, and mental health.”  Harvard, Baylor and Georgetown are among the more than 30 psychiatric residency programs that have introduced focused training on addressing patients’ spiritual beliefs.

Many studies have underscored the relevancy of spirituality and religious commitment to mental health. Lindgren and Coursey (1995) reported that 83 percent of psychiatric patients felt that spiritual belief had a positive impact on their illness and Stack (1983) found rates of church attendance predicted suicide rates more effectively than any other evaluated factor, including unemployment. According to a Gallup poll, Americans who were identified through scores on key questions as being high in spiritual commitment were twice as likely to report being “very happy” as those identified as being low in spiritual commitment.

The term spirituality encompasses beliefs, values, and practices that may be part of an organized religion or highly individual. Spirituality is a state of seeking a relationship to something divine and transcendent. It is the human search for meaning which cannot easily be scientifically measured or explained.

Perhaps the best explanation of factors that underlie the connection between spirituality and mental health is given by Dr. David Myers in his book, “The Pursuit of Happiness.”

• Benefits of community. We all benefit from a sense of being connected to a caring community. Membership in a spiritual community helps people to better cope with losses and provides a framework of hope. Puritan leader John Winthrop urged his spiritual community to “delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, always having before our eyes our community as members of the same body.”  He recognized the importance of a shared spiritual commitment that upholds and supports people in times of struggle.
• A deep sense of purpose. Eminent psychologist Martin Seligman notes that lack of meaning and purpose in society has reached epidemic proportions and he believes that to be a leading cause of depression. He emphasizes that finding meaning requires “an attachment to something larger than oneself.”  Spirituality leads us to a broader sense of purpose by allowing us to understand that all of our experiences, whether tragic or joyful, can affect positive person growth and impact the lives of others.
• Ultimate acceptance. Knowing that one is unconditionally loved and accepted affords a powerful freedom to an individual. A Buddhist proverb tells us, “If you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep walking.”  A spiritual focus guides one in the direction of what is loving, honest, and enlightening. We do not fall slaves to the need for personal achievements, material goods, or the approval of others; although these may accompany us on the path, they are not essential to our sense of self-worth or our well-being.
• Giving to others. Catholic theologians Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos explain, “Paradoxically, personal fulfillment means abandoning ourselves and putting others first.”  While it is imperative to tend to our own needs, self-absorption is a sure recipe for unhappiness. Offering love, encouragement and support to others is a time-honored spiritual value that enhances self-esteem.
• Faith and hope. In “A Miracle on 34^th Street,” Kris Kringle explains faith to a little girl:  “Faith is believing in things which common sense tells you not to.”  None of us can prove that the faith and hope intrinsic to spirituality is not a farce, an invention to keep us from futility and despair. And yet it has not been abandoned through the ages. In civilization after civilization, faith and hope have allowed us to be bold, take chances, and follow dreams that seem impossible to others.

In a paper presented at the Wayne E. Oates Institute, Dr. John Swinton said, “The primary problem seems to be that in our quest for professional/scientific credibility and our growing dependence on physical and psychological technology, we have forgotten what it means to be human. We have lost sight of the fullness of human beings and have locked into a one-dimensional approach that does little justice to the richness and diversity that is a primary mark of human existence.”

How do people make their lives meaningful? What are they interpreting from what is happening to them? Have their spiritual beliefs been a source of comfort or conflict? How do they feel about forgiveness? How do they come to some sense of peace?  Dr. Nancy Kehoe believes that these questions, among others, regarding the person’s spiritual perspective need to be asked. Far from influencing or placing judgment on the health of the person’s belief system, these questions allow the practitioner to glean personal and clinical information that is important in treatment.

The purpose is to know more about the person. To ignore his or her spirituality may be to ignore the wealthiest resource for renewal and recovery.