Article - Recent
Spirituality
and Mental Health
In the Journal of Mental and Nervous Disorders, 1998 - Duke University Study, 577 people were hospitalized for physical illnesses. The more patients that used positive spiritual coping strategies, (spiritual support from family, religious leaders, faith in God, prayer) the lower level of their depressive symptoms.
How does Spirituality promote health? It promotes it in may different ways such as through feeling the Quality of Divine Love as well as other Qualities such as compassion, mercy, forgiveness, majesty and holiness. It helps us find purpose in life and gives us something to trust in. It opens us up to beauty through art, nature and children. It also renews us and helps honor the temple of our own human body. Through spirituality, we can overcome obstacles, difficulties, and the wear-and-tear of life. With spirituality we can connect with the ultimate Hope and Unity.
In my own practice, my client was off his antidepressent in just four weeks. Why? He came in searching to reconnect with his own spirituality. He knew God existed in an obscure way but he couldn't access it, feel it, nor feel connected to it. It was idea lodged in his mind yet his heart urged him on to search for this connection. It was a "Kodak Moment" when he found what he was looking for within his own heart. My teacher says that we should listen with the ear of our heart because this is the voice of God speaking with you, trying to help you to know Him. For my client, God was "out there somewhere: but what he needed was to feel the Presence in his own heart and know that he wasn't disconnected after all. This is a spiritual healing.
Ann Bruckelmeyer / www.healaheart.com