Spiritual Phenomena Occurring in Everybody and Health
Authors:
M. Kršiak
Authors‘ workplace:
Ústav farmakologie 3. LF UK, Praha
Published in:
Čas. Lék. čes. 2008; 147: 148-154
Category:
Review Article
Overview
The past several years have seen an explosion of research in the area of spirituality and health. However, confusion and incomprehension of the conception of spirituality (e.g. confounding spirituality with various conventional views on religiousness) hampers better understanding in this area. The present paper proposes definition of spiritual phenomena in man based on natural epistemological and instrumental criteria (whether a certain phenomenon can be objectively known and evoked): spiritual phenomena in man are those, which cannot be objectively known nor evoked, but which act (e.g., love, idea). Spiritual phenomena can be really known only in the self („in spirit“). Objectively known can be only manifestations of spiritual phenomena. Some attributes of love (e.g. its personal uniqueness) or ideas (e.g. sense of own life) whose satisfaction appears to be important for health are briefly outlined. A review of some frequently cited recent papers investigating the role of spirituality in health and discussion of frequent pitfalls in this area is given. Spirituality is a universal human phenomenon. All human beings, secular or religious, encounter with spiritual phenomena. Although the present conception of spirituality distances from some conventional views on religiousness, it is not atheistic. On the contrary, it accommodates the basic religious concept „God is love“. Conceptual clarification is essential for further progress in the study of impact of spirituality on health.
Key words:
spirituality – health, epistemology, physical, psychic and spiritual phenomena, love, attachment, close relationship, marital and family ties, sense of life, belief, religion, intercessory prayer, doctor – patient relationship.
Sources
1. Sloan, R. P., Bagiella, E., Powell, T.: Religion, spirituality, and medicine. Lancet, 1999, 353, s. 664–667.
2. Benson, H., Dusek, J. A., Sherwood, J. B. et al.: Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: A multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer. American Heart Journal, 2006, 151, s. 934–942.
3. Sulmasy, D. P.: Spiritual issues in the care of dying patients “... it’s okay between me and God”. Jama-Journal of the American Medical Association, 2006, 296, s. 1385–1392.
4. Roberts, L., Ahmed, I., Hall, S.: Intercessory prayer for the alleviation of ill health. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2007,
5. Kratochvíl, Z.: Filosofie živé přírody. Praha, Herrmann a synové, 1994, 222 s. Viz též: http://fysis.cz/texty/FilZive Prir.rtf
6. Anon.: Wirklichkeit In: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirklich keit2007
7. Jan (Evangelista): 1 Jana. In: Bible, Český ekumenický překlad. Praha, 1979, s. 962 (1 J 4:8)
8. Dawkins, R.: The God Delusion, Bantam Press, 2006, 416 s.
9. Kršiak, M.: Ethology, human lifestyle and health. In: Ethology and Psychopharmacology, Cooper, S. J., Hendrie, C. (eds.), Chichester, England, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 1994, s. 341–347.
10. Bretherton, I.: The Origins of Attachment Theory – Bowlby,John and Ainsworth, Mary. Developmental Psychology, 1992, 28, s. 759–775.
11. Matouš (Evangelista): Matouš. In: Bible, Český ekumenický překlad, Praha, 1979, s. 782 (Mt 4:4).
12. Křivohlavý, J.: Psychologie smysluplnosti existence. Praha, Grada Publishing, 2006, 204 s.
13. Russek, L. G., Schwartz, G. E.: Perceptions of parental caing predict health status in midlife: A 35-year follow-up of the Harvard mastery of stress study. Psychosomatic Med., 1997, 59, s. 144–149.
14. Matějček, Z., Bubleová, V., Kovařík, J.: Late consequences of psychological deprivation and subdeprivation.1. Children from children’s homes in their forties. Čes.-slov. Psychol., 1995, 39, s. 481–495.
15. Meaney, M. J.: Maternal care, gene expression, and the transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity across generations. Ann. Rev. Neur., 2001, 24, s. 1161-1192.
16. Sorlie, P. D., Backlund, E., Keller, J. B.: US Mortality by Economic, Demographic, and Social Characteristics – the National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Am. J. Public Health, 1995, 85, s. 949–956.
17. Kawachi, I., Colditz, G. A., Ascherio, A. et al.: A prospective study of social networks in relation to total mortality and cardiovascular disease in men in the USA. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1996, 50, s. 245–251.
18. Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Newton, T. L.: Marriage and health: His and hers. Psychological Bulletin, 2001, 127, s. 472–503.
19. Berry, J. W., Worthington, E. L.: Forgivingness, relationship quality, stress while imagining relationship events, and physical and mental health. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2001, 48, s. 447–455.
20. Carter, C. S.: Neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 1998, 23, s. 779–818.
21. Esch, T., Stefano, G. B.: Love promotes health. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 2005, 26, s. 264–267.
22. Esch, T., Stefano, G. B.: The neurobiology of love. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 2005, 26, s. 175–192.
23. McCullough, M. E., Hoyt, W. T., Larson, D. B. et al.: Religious involvement and mortality: A meta-analytic review. Health Psychology, 2000, 19, s. 211–222.
24. Levin, J. S.: Religion and Health – Is There An Association, Is It Valid, and Is It Causal. Social Science & Medicine, 1994, 38, s. 1475–1482.
25. Strawbridge, W. J., Cohen, R. D., Shema, S. J., Kaplan, G. A.: Frequent attendance at religious services and mortality over 28 years. American Journal of Public Health, 1997, 87, s. 957–961.
26. Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., Perez, L. M.: The many methods of religious coping: Development anl initial validation of the RCOPE. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2000, 56, s. 519–543.
27. Smith, T. B., McCullough, M. E., Poll, J.: Religiousness and depression: Evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence of stressful life events. Psychological Bulletin, 2003, 129, s. 614–636.
28. Vinař, O.: Mýtus o propasti mezi duší a tělem. Psychiatrie, 2007, 11, s. 101–103.
29. Palmer, R. F., Katerndahl, D., Morgan-Kidd, J.: A randomized trial of the effects of remote intercessory prayer: Interactions with personal beliefs on problem-specific outcomes and functional status. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2004, 10, s. 438–448.
30. Balint, M.: The doctor, his patient and the illness. Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 2000, 416 s.
31. Anon.: Zvířata v domovech nejen pro seniory. Praha, HESTIA, 1999, podle: http://www.hest.cz/ruzne/zvirata.DOC,
32. Zasloff, R. L., Kidd, A. H.: Attachment to Feline Companions. Psychological Reports, 1994, 74, s. 747–752.
33. Thompson, N. J., Coker, J., Krause, J. S., Henry, E.: Purpose in life as a mediator of adjustment after spinal cord injury. Rehabilitation Psychology, 2003, 48, s. 100–108.
34. Carroll, S.: Spirituality and Purpose in Life in Alcoholism Recovery. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 1993, 54, s. 297–301.
35. Avants, S. K., Marcotte, D., Arnold, R., Margolin, A.: Spiritual beliefs, world assumptions, and HIV risk behavior among heroin and cocaine users. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2003, 17, s. 159–162.
36. Šimek, J.: Některé humanitní a psychosomatické aspekty bolesti. In: Bolest. Rokyta, R., Kršiak, M., Kozák, J., (eds), Praha, Tigis 2006, s. 27–34.
37. Murray, S. A., Kendall, M., Boyd, K. et al.: Exploring the spiritual needs of people dying of lung cancer or heart failure: a prospective qualitative interview study of patients and their carers. Palliative Medicine, 2004, 18, s. 39–45.
38. Opatrný, A.: Malá příručka pastorační péče o nemocné. 2007, podle http://www.knihovna.net/KNIHA/0051_t.htm
39. Coyle, J.: Spirituality and health: towards a framework for exploring the relationship between spirituality and health. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2002, 37, s. 589–597.
40. Tanyi, R. A.: Towards clarification of the meaning of spirituality. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2002, 39, s. 500–509.
41. Hall, D. E., Koenig, H. G., Meador, K. G.: Conceptualizing „religion” – how language shapes and constrains knowledge in the study of religion and health. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 2004, 47, s. 386–401.
42. Gall, T. L., Charbonneau, C., Clarke, N. H. et al.: Understanding the nature and role of spirituality in relation to coping and health: A conceptual framework. Canadian Psychology-Psychologie Canadienne, 2005, 46, s. 88–104.
43. Grygar, J.: Templetonova cena za sblížení vědy a náboženství. Vesmír, 2005, 84, s. 578.
44. Astrow, A. B., Puchalski, C. M., Sulmasy, D. P.: Religion, spirituality, and health care: Social, ethical, and practical considerations. American Journal of Medicine, 2001, 110, s. 283–287.
45. Sinclair, S., Pereira, J., Raffin, S.: A thematic review of the spirituality literature within palliative care. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 2006, 9, s. 464–479.
46. Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., George, L. K. et al.: Modeling the cross-sectional relationships between religion, physical health, social support, and depressive symptoms. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1997, 5, s. 131–144.
47. Nelson, C. J., Rosenfeld, B., Breitbart, W., Galietta, M.: Spirituality, religion, and depression in the terminally ill. Psychosomatics, 2002, 43, s. 213–220.
48. Ellis, M. R., Vinson, D. C., Ewigman, B.: Addressing spiritual concerns of patients family - Physicians’ attitudes and practices. Journal of Family Practice, 1999, 48, s. 105–109.
Labels
Addictology Allergology and clinical immunology Angiology Audiology Clinical biochemistry Dermatology & STDs Paediatric gastroenterology Paediatric surgery Paediatric cardiology Paediatric neurology Paediatric ENT Paediatric psychiatry Paediatric rheumatology Diabetology Pharmacy Vascular surgery Pain management Dental HygienistArticle was published in
Journal of Czech Physicians
Most read in this issue
- The Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome Or a Broad Thumb-Hallux Syndrome
- The Use of PET/CT in the Diagnostics of Lung Cancer
- Spiritual Phenomena Occurring in Everybody and Health
- Kawasaki Disease and Its Ocular Manifestations