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Spiritual Struggles

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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion
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Spirituality

Many empirical studies provide evidence of the enormous relevance of spirituality in people’s lives and deaths. While research in psychology of religion has largely focused on spirituality as a resource or coping aid and on the salutogenetic and resilience-strengthening aspects of spiritual experience, the emphasis on disease-favoring and damaging (pathological) influences of certain forms of spirituality is also increasing. It is becoming apparent that spirituality, like religiosity, is not per se either beneficial or harmful but must always be perceived in its ambivalence. Inherently, the term spiritual struggles refers to the fact that spirituality itself can be the cause of an individual’s inner conflict. The terminological clarification of the demarcation between spirituality and religiosity is essential.

  • “(…) people call themselves religious and spiritual, religious but not spiritual, spiritual but not religious, neither spiritual nor religious, and, very...

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Correspondence to Isabelle Noth .

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Noth, I., Lampe, J. (2019). Spiritual Struggles. In: Leeming, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200232-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200232-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27771-9

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