A beautiful morning

The festive season has its own grace. I wonder what has been keeping me in high spirits for the last two weeks; is it the cool early morning breeze? Or my job? Or having people around? As I walked to the bus stop today to take my usual bus to work I thought to myself that though the year has come to an end, the festive mood hasn't. It is the smaller joys of life that I am concentrating on - a squirrel running up a tree, candles lit outside a church, whiff of fresh air and rays of sun penetrating through the clouds and making the road ahead look magical. Do festivals do this to you or is it just an aftertaste of a week well spent? I wonder.....

Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health

  ‘Most of what we take as being important is not material but they're vitally important to us.’  Our thoughts and notions build our perspective towards everything around us and our perspectives in turn determine our behavior. Beliefs have profound influence on health as well.

Religion came into being in order to structure beliefs of people and place them into an external power which they could depend on. Religious beliefs and practices always seemed to have tangible benefits. Having faith, believing that they will be punished for their sins and rewarded for their deeds by a power superior to them helped people rationalize their behavior. It helped form conscience - a sense of what is right, what is wrong and what is acceptable. Though religion, then, was associated with idolization, believing in deities, relating to Gods and spirits, worshiping temples, it brought a structure to the thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. The cults and idols allowed people to place their faith into something larger that is worshiped by many others similar to them.

The concept evolved over the years; however the underlying theme of finding solace remained the same. The method adopted was different. People with different temperaments chose to follow different ways to meet their goal of finding inner peace and tranquility. Spirituality, like religion, is commonly misconstrued as the search for absolute power. It focuses on finding meaning within oneself. If viewed objectively, the end goal of both the concepts is identical; both strive for mental resilience. While religion strives to do so by leaving it to divine intervention, spirituality intends to help individuals realize their potential. Therefore, concepts of religion, spirituality and mental health which seem to be mutually exclusive, in reality, are intertwined.

The path to attain mental peace differs as per choices of people and varies across different strata’s of the society. Commoners choose the conventional, religious approach whereas those with an intellectual bent of mind opt for the spiritual approach. The core belief of both these groups is that their preferred practices are means which will help them get through life.

Study of thoughts and behaviors in order to achieve mental soundness has been prevalent since ancient times. Mental health has also been an important aspect of teachings and epics and suggests how psychology has its roots in every religious concept across cultures. Research shows that after World War I, the clergy in conjunction with the church helped the emotional distressed by providing a number of major services relevant to both the care of the mentally ill and the promotion of mental health.

 The history of Indian spirituality is vast. The sermons in Bhagwat Gita, the central Hindu tenet, impart knowledge about thoughts, actions, behaviors and its consequences. It speaks about being truthful to ones abilities and realizing ones roles which is the crux of spirituality as well. It speaks about how emotions produce counter emotions, of feelings of belongingness.  The Vedas, Gita, Upanishads provide insight into personality types, causation of mental illnesses and their treatments. Vipassana introduces the concept of meditation which involves self exploration in order to refine ones way of life. Preksha Dhyan, a Jain adaptation of Vipassana, is a profound perception of the subtle innate phenomena of consciousness. Saint Ramdas’ Dasabodh and Manache Shlok talk about how human beings quest to understand them and achieve happiness is possible only through introspection. It can be seen that the science behind behavior, cognitive functioning and mental health has its roots in ancient transcripts and religious literature as well.

Spirituality and religious activity have been a source of comfort and relief from stress for multitudes of people. According to a study, older adults use prayer more than any other alternative therapy for health; 96% of study participants use prayer specifically to cope with stress. Prayers have thus been linked to better mental health, less depression, ability to cope, and generation of positive feelings. It wouldn’t be incorrect to assume that spiritual strategies could be used to form therapeutic interventions.

Hardships befall everyone. They cause a lot of discomfort and distress. The spiritual approach fosters hope and positive feelings and encourages people to tap, understand, and control their feelings of anxiety and dealing with their problems. An interesting phenomenon that catches attention here is how being connected with people around and something that is bigger than yourself can generate positive feelings, reduces apprehension and brings about psychological well-being. Subscribing to such groups create a sense of belonging which serves as a support system. People with identical goals or are like-minded tend to associate increasingly with each other. Therefore, a process of mutual reinforcement takes place. Groups are most therapeutic in dealing with emotional disturbances. They allow transference of thoughts creating an environment that is conducive to self exploration and understanding others perspectives.   

Spiritual groups, if constructed in an appropriate manner, can help individuals delve deeper into their subconscious to detect the causal factors of their emotional distress and provide opportunities for rehabilitation if required. Spiritual awareness can add a powerful and much-needed dimension whenever our human limits are reached.  Some psychologists have devised a Spiritually Augmented Cognitive Behavior Therapy (SCABT) which is a meaning based therapy. It helps in developing an overall consciousness.

Religion is made by man in order to depend, belong and trust and it is within oneself that one can find the support that one needs, the strength to face problems and the belief to be able to go on. Hope, faith and compassion seem to play a crucial role in overall healing and religion or spirituality can contribute heavily to holistic healing. We know ourselves the best and thus could be our own healers. Sound mental health is possible if people are made to realize the power and will that they hold which can counter any disturbances faced. It has been correctly said that “The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion”