Summary
Spirituality and religion. The association with mental and physical health
This article discusses spirituality and religion in relation to somatic and mental health and health care. It emphasizes mental health, because it is assumed that the effects on somatic health are mediated or modulated via improvements of mental health (including a better coping with stressful situations). The term ‘spirituality’ refers to the subjective, inner journey – eventually the encounter with God. It is also the category that summarizes modern – New Age-related – movements. The term ‘religion’ is especially related to the common organization of that journey; religion is concerned with the attributes of the journey and the travel books. The structure of this article is as follows: in the first part religion and spirituality will be defined. This paragraph is the overture to the second paragraph that discusses the outcomes of scientific research on the relationships between spirituality and/or religion and (mental) health. The third paragraph presents the explanations that are proposed by researchers regarding the health-related effects of religion and spirituality – it discusses also some theoretical contributions from the neurosciences. The article ends with a paragraph that discusses the consequences of some research findings for clinical practice.
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Notes
Bovendien kunnen ook andere sociaal-culturele bronnen bijdragen aan de genoemde persoonlijkheidsfactoren.
Deze onderzoekers sloten bevindingen over ‘spiritualiteit’ overigens uit, omdat er ten tijde van hun onderzoek (i) weinig wetenschappelijke consensus bestond over de definitie van spiritualiteit, er (ii) nog nauwelijks instrumenten bestonden om spiritualiteit te meten en (iii) er mede hierdoor nog weinig onderzoeksbevindingen beschikbaar waren die de moeite van het samenvatten waard waren. Inmiddels is er een keur aan bruikbare instrumenten om religiositeit of spiritualiteit te ‘meten’. Zie voor een recent overzicht: Ramondetta en Sills (2004).
De meeste onderzoekingen hebben betrekking op volwassenen en ouderen. Miller en Gur (2002) onderzochten bij meer dan 3000 adolescente meisjes in hoeverre religiositeit gerelateerd was aan depressie. De onderzoekers stelden vast dat religiositeit (de onderzoekers maakten geen onderscheid met spiritualiteit) invers geassocieerd was aan depressie. Dit verband was des te sterker naarmate er sprake was van fysieke rijpheid (gemeten aan het optreden van secundaire seksuele kenmerken).
Een voorbeeld: Cohen, Magai, Yaffee en Walcott-Brown (2004) stelden in een onderzoek naar paranoïde gedachtevorming en psychoses vast dat er in dit opzicht significante verschillen waren tussen zwarten en blanken. Paranoïde ideeën en psychotische symptomen traden bij zwarten vaker op. Dit verschil is, aldus de onderzoekers, mogelijk niet het gevolg van de ernst van de psychiatrische symptomatologie. Volgens hen hangt het samen met de omstandigheid dat onder de zwarte populatie andere, meer spiritueleopvattingen vigeren.
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Jaap C. van der Stel is als senior onderzoeker werkzaam bij De Geestgronden, instelling voor geestelijke gezondheidszorg. Correspondentieadres: Postbus 5, 2120 BA Bennebroek.
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van der Stel, J. Spiritualiteit en religie. GEGE 33, 74–86 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03087892
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03087892