reported on a study done at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, titled: Less Worry, Better Coping Seen Among Religious Folks. Well. I'm a "religious folk" and mostly depressed, so I was intrigued.
The religious folk in the study comprise Christians and Jews. They concluded, in part, that "certain spiritual beliefs are tied to intolerance of uncertainty and worry for some individuals." I assume that the participants in the study noted that their answers to certain questions were based on their religious beliefs, so I wondered what this meant.
Intolerance of uncertainty. Is this doubt? turning toward oneself and/or the world? rejection of a truth of the faith? sin? hopelessness? despondency? distrust in God? Or does the average Christian or Jew only feel intolerant of the uncertainties of the things of the earth? Is this "coping" in general?
What about worry? Are we worrying about others' salvation? our own? What about the Jews? (what? me worry?) Or, is the subject just worry, worry, worry?
The researchers "found that the positive beliefs of trust in God were associated with less worry and that this relationship was partially mediated by lower levels of intolerance of uncertainty." This was a fantastic statement! Not only do they finally conclude that they "will now take patient's spirituality more seriously than they used to," but they see that there is a relationship between patient and God. They found that trust in our Good God (beautiful words) were positive in the participants' lives.
The psychiatric world has been embracing "spirituality" for some years now. It can only get better. I wonder what the old guard would say about mixing religion and psychiatry for the good? If I were to join the poll and answer the question of this article, I would say yes, The Benevolent God helps me daily to worry less and cope...better.
really interesting yeah God help us in all the moment his a wonderful God although of our sins!
ReplyDelete