In 1990, Edward P. Shafranske, Ph.D., of Pepperdine University, and H. Newton Maloney, Ph.D., of Fuller Theological Seminary, surveyed 409 members of the American Psychological Association about their approach toward religion and psychology. Nearly all respondents said they have assessed patients' religious backgrounds; 57% have used religious language or concepts with patients; 36% have recommended participation in religion; 32% have recommended religious or spiritual books; 24% have prayed privately for a patient; and 7% even prayed with a client.
From the rain dances of Native Americans to the celebratory dances of Hasidic Jews, from the whirling dervishes of Islam to the meditating monks of Zen Buddhism, from the ecstatic worship services of charismatic churches to the solemn, silent meetings of the Quakers, spirituality takes on many expressions.
The word spirituality comes from the Latin root spiritus, which means "breath"--referring to the breath of life. It involves opening our hearts and cultivating our capacity to experience awe, reverence and gratitude. It is the ability to see the sacred in the ordinary, to feel the poignancy of life, to know the passion of existence and to give ourselves over to that which is greater than ourselves.
Its aim: to bring about compassion. Its effect: good physical and mental health.
Supporting health benefits of spirituality is a growing body of research. The Harvard Medical School of Continuing Education presents a course, "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine," that brings together religious scholars and medical leaders from around the world to discuss the role of spirituality in the treatment of illness and pain.
Now in its fifth year, the course, under the direction of Herbert Benson, M.D., chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, attracts approximately 1,000 physicians, psychologists, nurses, clergy, social workers and health care administrators.
According to the professors who teach the course, approximately 60 medical schools now offer related classes--five years ago there were only three. And in 1996, a survey of 269 family physicians found that 99% believed prayer, meditation or other spiritual and religious practice can be helpful in medical treatment; more than half said they currently incorporate relaxation or meditation techniques into treatment of patients.
Herbert Benson has demonstrated in his research that while chronic stress is harmful to the body, daily meditation (a form of spirituality) can reduce stress and promote relaxation and overall well-being.
Today's research may be cutting edge, but the idea that spirituality heals is nothing new.
For thousands of years, long before the advent of modern medicine, people looked to spirituality for cures. Early animistic cultures believed spirits controlled everything, including sickness and health. In this system, the shaman--a person attuned to the spiritual world--was the archetypal healer.
When members of a tribe fell ill, the shaman used spiritual interventions to bring the patient back into harmony with the sacred world, to bring back their health. Cultures around the world today still depend on shamans for most of their health care.
Modern doctors don't give shamans much credit because they fail to subject their healing procedures to scientific verification. However, according to Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco and a leading expert on shamanism, the fact that shamans have survived over the millennia suggests that "they are doing something useful."
Not only do they use herbal preparations, such as Echinacea, that many of us now rely on, but they also use rituals and procedures that surprisingly resemble contemporary psychotherapies: Shamans establish rapport; they diagnose the problem; they initiate a healing process that often involves sophisticated use of imagery, dream interpretation, self-regulation and group support, says Krippner.
There are many explanations for the shamans' success rate. Most of us don't believe that shamanic ritual actually drives away evil spirits, along with our germs and diseases. The more palatable but cynical explanation is the placebo effect: If patients really believe they will get well by going through a shamanic ritual, then a certain percentage of those individuals will improve simply because of their positive expectations.
But shamanism may succeed for reasons beyond our current understanding, and without scientific inquiry, its healing power remains an enigma.
The best explanation for the effectiveness of spiritual interventions, whether performed by ancient shamans or modem day therapists, is that they draw upon the healing power of our "life force": our body's natural inclination to survive. Research in body/mind medicine is showing that we can either support or obstruct the life force by our beliefs, emotions and behavior.
Spiritual interventions heal--sometimes when traditional psychotherapy fails--because they untie the mental and emotional knots that prevent the life force from doing its work.
We have only recently begun to investigate the healing powers of religion and spirituality. We obviously need a lot more research in order to encourage HMOs, therapists and patients to see the value of spiritual growth for one's mental health.
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