In investigating the practices and techniques utilized by numerous modern Christian healers, the most frequently used include prayer, scripture reading, receiving sacraments and being an active participant in the Christian community which is believed to help the healing process by providing moral support. (Loewenthal & Cinnirella, 1999) The question in this case remains whether or not individuals residing within this community turn to their healers for assistance due to potential knowledge of the success rates various healers have obtained in regard to their curing methods or as a result of their distrust of the secular nature of psychotherapy. This matter becomes of phenomenal importance when discussing rigorous cases such as those of manic depression or severe schizophrenia which could not only become a danger to the patient but also threaten the lives of those around him. In order to gain recognition and tolerance in the religious community, psychologists must understand the fundamental workings of religious laws and their attributions to the sphere of mental illness.
The predominant view of the fundamentalist Protestant community is that mental health is synonymous with spiritual health and thus any suffering as a result of it is due to sin or moral failings. Therefore, any form of therapy utilized in order to cure this suffering should consist of confession and forgiveness. On the other side of the spectrum, liberal Protestants recognize that psychological disorders are separate from the spiritual dimension and thus it is inappropriate to presume that any problem can have a simple religious solution capable of fixing it. In a study conducted by John and Naomi Lederach in 1987, nursing students with strong Christian affiliations were tested for cognitive dissonance at the beginning of and eight weeks into their psychiatric nursing training. The nature of cognitive dissonance, as Leon Festinger (1956) originally described it in his book When Prophecy Fails, is a state of discomfort that takes places when an individual behaves in a manner than clashes with his value system. During the study, the researchers observed considerable conflict between the nursing students’ faith values and their beliefs about how these values did or didn’t fit with the mental-health principals they were being taught. Among the nursing students who indicated a greater dedication to their religious values there was also a trend of attribution claiming a higher responsibility to a divine intervention in the healing process while treating the psychiatric approach to healing as less significant. Due to the demands of their future careers in the fields of nursing and treating the mentally ill, a state of cognitive dissonance took over as the students knew that despite their devotion to their religious values, they had to practice in the ways they were taught otherwise they would lose their chances of advancing in the field of psychiatry.
In a 2001 study conducted by Marco Cinnirella, Kate Loewenthal, Georgina Evdoka, and Paula Murphy, the belief in the effectiveness of religious activity used for coping with depression was studied among a sample of 282 people in the United Kingdom which were members of either Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim communities or secular communities. By investigating the nature of perceived efficacy, researchers can discover the implications it carries in regard to seeking psychiatric assistance when necessary. For instance, in a previous interview study conducted by Loewenthal and Cinnirella, it was discovered that prayer was considered relatively effective in lessening the effects of depression more often than medication and psychotherapy. Thus if prayer and faith are perceived as being most helpful in the healing process, little motivation can exist within the depressed individual which would persuade him to seek professional help. As one can see, there is a strong association between the level of perceived efficacy in religious coping behavior and the implications for seeking psychiatric help.
In their more recent study, the researchers administered questionnaires to each participant of the differing religious backgrounds. The questionnaire was based on a 7-point Likert scale and the content reported on their individual beliefs about the efficacy of differing forms of help for depression and their intentions for seeking different forms of help if they were to suffer from depression. In regard to the notion of religious coping there were six predominant activities which included faith prayer, keeping up with religious practices, attending a place of worship, consulting religious leaders, and others praying for the sufferer. Interestingly, the results displayed that while medical and religious forms of coping were considered less effective, social and cognitive coping mechanisms such as those present in community support and the maintenance of goals were seen as most effective. However, it is important to note that the presence of atheist or secular participants could have played a part in the statistic of a lower perception of effectiveness in religious coping. The discrepancy became clear once the data of the non-religious respondents was removed and amongst those who claimed membership of a religious group there was a higher level of belief in the efficacy of the religious coping activities. In the question of which forms of religious activity are believed to be most effective, faith and prayer were identified. Following these was the maintaining of religious practices and attending religious worship while the concepts of consulting religious leaders and others praying for the sufferer were least effective. Even when the non-religious participant data was excluded, a similar trend was found.
In their investigations of the question of whether belief in the efficacy of religious coping relates to help-seeking intentions, they found that the intention to seek professional help was not closely related to the belief in the efficacy of religious help although the relationship was relatively positive. The participants who claimed to have experienced depressive symptoms in their lives were found to be more open to the idea of seeking help while those who have never experienced any form of depression were more reluctant. The results suggest an active style of coping which involves both religious coping activities and the use of social support resources. The overall feelings concerned medical and professional help were not completely rejected but they were perceived as being less effective when social and cognitive efforts were considered. However, one could also draw the conclusion that social and religious coping activities intertwine due to the fact that religious ideals preach of an oneness with the community as a whole.
After reviewing the literature available on this topic, it is clear that psychologists and psychiatrists alike must finds ways in which to implement spiritual aspects of healing into their practice. Whether or not a stigma is placed on those suffering from psychological disorders, a distinct distrust of secular healers exists in the minds of numerous religious communities. By accommodating the spiritual needs of religious patients, therapists can reach a degree of comfort and trust which can not only help their pursuits in curing the ailments of their patient but can also encourage others to seek professional help if they suffer from mental illnesses.
While religion and modern psychology attend to similar topics, significant discrepancies exist between the two domains in regard to their fundamental world views and the concepts used to explain and understand human well-being and mental illness. Psychologists and religious figures alike should incorporate elements of the contrasting fields in order to better help those who seek their assistance. Psychologists can offer their religious patients the support and cultural-sensitivity which can induce a level of trust which is more conducive to achieving a healing process. Religious figures can consult their followers to the best of their abilities but once they have observed that their methods are ineffective or that the ailment has developed into a form which is too severe for them to adequately treat it, they should encourage the individuals to seek professional help and by doing so, provide a secure framework from which a religious person can view the concept of psychiatric assistance. By demonstrating their approval of and tolerance for mental-health professionals, religious leaders can remove the historical stigma which has lingered among the mentally ill and prevented them from turning to the source which most likely has the most credibility and capability in alleviating the burdens of mental illness and enhancing each individual’s standard of life.
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