A high level of spirituality appears to be associated with better health among individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and could also help them cope with their illness more effectively.
Spirituality may be a type of psychological resource that allows individuals to adjust better to living with a chronic illness.
Investigators studied 77 people, all of whom had rheumatoid arthritis for more than 2 years. The female study participants reported an average of 12 swollen and tender joints while the males had 7 swollen and tender joints, on average. One in four study participants reported clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms.
In general, people with a high level of spirituality -- who were also more likely to attend church, pray and read the Bible -- rated themselves as healthier and less disabled than their less spiritual peers, and also reported having more positive thoughts.
Greater spirituality was also associated with more overall adaptive coping, meaning that in the face of a serious challenge -- like having a chronic illness -- folks who are higher in spirituality 'rise to the challenge' more easily.
The more spiritual individuals were also less passive, showed greater restraint, had more faith in others and drew strength from others more than did their less spiritual peers. The findings held true even after the researchers took the participants' level of disease activity, age, education, fatigue and ability to function independently into account.
Several factors could explain the link between spirituality and well-being.
People's perceptions of themselves and how they are doing play a major role in their happiness.
If you perceive having a chronic illness as having meaning and providing an opportunity to learn and grow as a person, it may be much easier to reformulate life priorities and adapt to living with an illness.
Also, having a spiritual meaning gives a sense of connectedness to others. Social support is a well-known buffer against stress and emotional problems.
The researcher pointed out that relatively little work has been done on spirituality, per se, and most that is available has failed to distinguish between spirituality and religiousness.
Researchers distinguish between the two by describing spirituality as a belief in a power outside oneself and one's own existence" and religiousness as the outward practice of a particular spiritual understanding.
More scientific work in this area is clearly needed to help us understand how spirituality may facilitate adjustment to living with chronic illness.
Annual Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals January 2002
The results of this study are not surprising since I have posted on the relationship between spirituality and rheumatoid arthritis previously.
Patients who used religion or spirituality to cope with the chronic pain of rheumatoid arthritis reduced their pain and boosted their sense of well-being.
Religion appears to promote health, and therefore physicians should consider attending to their patients' spiritual beliefs.
Over 94 percent of the American public believes in a God or a "higher power," and most claim that religion is "fairly" or "very" important in their lives.
However, American physicians tend to be less likely than their patients to believe in God--only 64 percent compared to 91 percent, respectively, one survey found.
Of previous reviews examining the effects of religious commitment on health care outcomes:
It really seems medical malpractice to not incorporate a spiritual dimension into the practice of medicine. However, I am clearly not referring to doctors proselytizing to patients about their own spiritual beliefs.
I have also found journaling for 10 minutes every day to be very helpful, especially if you either burn the paper afterward or do not save the file on if you are typing.
Knowing that no one will ever see what is written really allows you to be freer with what you are writing down. The trick here is to not stop typing or writing at all during the 10 minutes and to just write continuously. It is a very powerful form of prayer and is particularly helpful for improving health or recovering from traumas.
If you are interested in the strong connection between spiritual health and physical health, you may want to check out the Web site of The National Institute for Healthcare Research, a privately funded, nonprofit organization, which is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the connection between spirituality and health.
Recently, I have begun to use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) as a tool to facilitate crossing through the barriers that many people have from past emotional traumas, which has resulted in their disconnection from their relationship with God due to anger or bitterness.
You might want to consider purchasing my EFT workshops on video or DVD, which will provide you with a basic foundation in EFT. The videos are risk free. They have a full one-year money-back guarantee. If you are not absolutely satisfied that the techniques you learn from viewing the workshops are not worth it, you can return the video or DVD for a full refund.
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