Terminally ill people who have a sense of spirituality, regardless of religion, are less likely to feel hopeless, want to die or consider suicide, according to a new report.
To gauge whether spirituality combats depression, despair or hopelessness among terminally ill people, researchers interviewed 160 patients who had a life expectancy of less than three months.
Patients were questioned about several factors of their well-being, including depression, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, whether they felt they had social support, their symptoms and their physical abilities.
Spirituality was define by meaning, or the extent to which patients felt inner peace, and faith, or the comfort and strength the patients felt from their religious beliefs.
Patients who felt a strong sense of spirituality in either meaning or faith were less likely to display symptoms of despair, according to researchers.
Further, among patients who were depressed, those with a low sense of spirituality tended to want to die, while those with a strong sense of spirituality did not.
The findings suggest that helping patients to find a strong sense of spiritual well-being may keep them from feeling despair and make them better able to cope with death.
Previous studies have also found that spirituality can ease the emotional pain from a number of situations, such as a diagnosis of breast cancer, death of a loved one and arthritis.
Researchers noted that health workers should incorporate more psychological and spiritual elements into the care of terminally ill patients, as patients can find meaning and value from their lives even during their last few months.
The Lancet May 10, 2003;361:1603-1607
Since spirituality truly appears to promote health, it seems like medical malpractice to not incorporate a spiritual dimension into the practice of medicine.
Over 94 percent of Americans believe in some type of God or higher power and most report that religion is "fairly" or "very" important in their lives. However, only 64 percent of U.S. physicians reported a belief in God, according to one survey.
I am certainly not suggesting that doctors proselytize to patients about their own spiritual beliefs, however incorporating some type of spiritual dimension into health care would likely be beneficial.
There are many ways to do this, but I use EFT as a tool to facilitate the crossing of barriers that many people have put up as a result of past emotional traumas. Often, these traumas can lead a person to feel disconnected from their relationship with God due to anger or bitterness.
EFT can be incredibly useful as a practical mechanism to internalize the incredible healing power of God/spirituality into one's life. You can view my free 25-page EFT manual for instructions on how to perform EFT.
Journaling for 10 minutes every day is another powerful way to add spirituality to your life. It is especially helpful to burn the paper afterward or delete the file from your computer.
Knowing that no one will ever see what is written will allow you to be freer with what you are writing. Additionally, your pen should be constantly moving on the paper. Even if you are only drawing lines at first, words will eventually come out.
It is also helpful to journal on three separate occasions for each traumatic event or problem. This is particularly helpful for improving health or recovering from traumas.
Journaling in this way is a powerful method to activate spiritual resources for healing.
Related Articles:
Spirituality Important for Health Spirituality Improves Overall Health Spirituality Helps Ease Grieving Process
Spirituality Important for Health
Spirituality Improves Overall Health
Spirituality Helps Ease Grieving Process