Prayer and Mental Health
Is Prayer Perfect for Your Mental Health?
In the early years of psychology, particularly during the era of Freud, prayer and other spiritual disciplines were viewed negatively and were largely scoffed at by those who work in the field of mental health.
Freud, associated with well known work, The way forward for an Illusion, described religion as a “universal obsessional neurosis” and possibly a “psychopathologic phenomena.” However, within the last decade there has been a plethora of studies that have proved Freud wrong; these studies reveal that spiritual disciplines are not liabilities but assets where emotional welbeing is alarmed.
In a great study In 2008, Claire Hollywell and Jan Walker critically analyzed 26 published studies for a use of private prayer, and came on the following positive conclusions about prayer:
1. “Prayer, measured by frequency, frequently associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety.”
The study showed people today who prayed and had existing faith in God, tended to accomplish lower quantities of depression and anxiety compared to those who just didn’t make utilization of prayer.
2. “Prayer is a coping action that mediates between religious faith and welbeing.”
Researchers found that prayer was an effective coping mechanism and that religious because they came from used prayer when faced with adversity pertaining to instance failing health, coped better than those who did not make involving prayer.
3. “Prayer takes different forms, some beneficial, others possibly truly.
(a) Devotional prayers that take the sort of an intimate dialogue with a supportive God are using improved optimism, welbeing and performance.
(b) Prayers that involve only pleas for help extremis may, in the lack of a pre-existing faith, be associated to learn distress and possibly poorer perform well.”
The study found that prayers which were devotional, and involved intimate conversations with God about one’s circumstances, seemed to guide to improved wellbeing and much better coping.However researchers also figured people who did have never preexisting faith in God, and used prayer being a plea when highly stressful events entered their lives, did not benefit from prayer and tended to become even more distressed.
From the above scientific research by Hollywell and Walker, one can conclude that devotional prayer is an effectual coping mechanism when by simply those with “pre-existing faith” towards God, and that there is strong evidence that devotional prayer can and ought to used by people of faith while tackling the challenges of life style.
Hollywell, Claire and Walker, Jan.(2008). Private Prayer as being a Suitable Intervention for Hospitalized Patient: A vital Review belonging to the Literature. Journal of Clinical Nursing. Vol. 18, 635-651.
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