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Table of Contents Book Introduction Reviews Autoimmune Risks/Symptoms Checklist |
Author: Mary J. Shomon
ISBN number: 0060938196
List price: $14.95 (US dollars)
Published by: HarperCollins, HarperResource
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Can Spirituality Make You Feel Better? (May 2002)
According to a Johns Hopkins study presented May 10, 2002 at the American Geriatrics Society's annual meeting, people who are more spiritual are better able to deal with the discomforts and limitations of chronic disease than those who are less spiritual. While past studies have found that people who had acute illnesses would recuperate more quickly, or survive longer if they had strong religious faith, or an optimistic approach, the study at Hopkins was looking at the connections in those with chronic disease.
The researchers looked at a total of 77 patients over the age of 30 who had rheumatoid arthritis for at least 2 years. For the purposes of the study, spirituality was defined as "the capacity of an individual to stand outside of his/her immediate sense of time and place and to view life from a larger, more detached perspective."
The researchers found that while being spiritual did not reduce the effects of the arthritis, reduce pain or improve mobility, the people who were more “spiritual” were happier and feel better about health overall.
In the book Living Well With Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You...That You Need to Know, Dr. Christina Puchalski, Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health in Washington, DC, talks about how attitude and spirit can have a profound impact on health.
"It’s important to go to a deeper level, to look at things that you're grateful for, look at the positive side. Some people actually have a mantra, some will reach out to others. Having an illness can make people self-focused, so on the spiritual side, it’s important to look at what you can do with your life in spite of the fact of your illness. Think about volunteerism, your work, church, family, how you can step outside of yourself and look to others to help you and for you to help them."
Living Well With Autoimmune Disease also features Harvard physician Herbert Benson, MD, the nation’s foremost mind-body expert. Benson has said:
“We have found that when people regularly go into a quiet state, a large percentage of them feel the presence of a power, a force, an energy, God if you will, and they feel that presence is close to them, within them, then these people have fewer medical symptoms. Now, whether or not this is a physiological reaction independent of an external belief system, or whether or not there is indeed something out there, we cannot answer, but from the patient's point of view, they feel better…”
There are so many different ways to achieve these objectives, from guided imagery to meditation to writing therapy to yoga, so how do you choose? Both Dr. Puchalski and Dr. Benson offer a variety of other suggestions, and the concept of spirituality, mind-body approaches, and the role of attitude are all explored in greater depth in Living Well With Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You…That You Need to Know.
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