How Can Spirituality Help a Patient Alleviate the Symptoms of Depression - Literature review Example

How Can Spirituality Help A Patient Alleviate The Symptoms Of Depression? 31 March Introduction Depression is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in the world with more than 300 million people suffering from it (Nelson et al., 2009, p. 105). In the United States, the rates of depression among women range from 5% to 12%, while 2% to 3% for men (Nelson et al., 2009, p. 105). Studies showed that spirituality can relieve the symptoms of depression (Berry & York, 2011; Watlington & Murphy, 2006) for different cohorts, such as those who are in the stage of bereavement (Kelley & Chan, 2012; Wortmann & Park, 2009), suffering from substance abuse problems (Diaz et al., 2011), and victims of violence (Watlington & Murphy, 2006). This paper examines articles that study how spirituality affects depressive symptoms. Spirituality and How It Affects the Symptoms of Depression Religiousness may be correlated to attaining a sense of peace which affects the patients’ mood. Braam, Klinkenberg, and Deeg (2011) studied dimensions of religiousness influence mood in the last Week Of Life using data from surviving relatives of deceased members of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). They did not find any connection between religiousness and depression, although findings showed that the construct of peace of mind relieved depression. They believed that religiousness may produce a feeling of peace about one’s suffering, or finding meaning in death, which resulted to less depressive symptoms. Nelson et al. (2009) sought to create a theoretical framework of the relationship among religiosity, spirituality, and depression. After a cross-sectional study of 367 men with prostate cancer, findings showed that spirituality decreased symptoms of depression, where the meaning/peace subscale mediates the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and depression (Nelson et al., 2009, p. 111). They concluded that spirituality helped people find meaning or peace, which helped alleviate depression. Spirituality can reduce depression through increasing spiritual and social sources of support. Watlington and Murphy (2006) examined the roles of religion and spirituality in treating posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression symptoms among African American survivors of domestic violence. Findings showed that high spirituality resulted in lower reports of depression. Spiritual beliefs, which produced “connection with the transcendent, gratitude, compassion, and support from the transcendent,” are related with lower levels of depression symptoms (Watlington & Murphy, 2006, p. 850). Rajagopal et al. (2002) used a Prayer Wheel intervention for people with minor depression to determine the effects of spirituality on anxiety and depression. Findings showed that those who used the Prayer Wheel individually did not report changes in depression, while those in the Prayer Group cohort reported a significant decrease in depression. A six-week follow up showed that those who continued using the Prayer Wheel on their own were less depressed than those who stopped using it. Their study indicated the relevance of spiritual support in feeling less depressed. Wittink et al. (2009) examined the role of spirituality in how African Americans conceptualize depression, which also affected how they deal with it. Sampling included 47 older African American patients. The research has proven that loss of faith was a primary cause of depression and that renewing faith through greater spiritual activities could alleviate depression. These respondents believed that spirituality empowers them, specifically through prayer and spiritual activities. They also stressed that spirituality provides “strong coping skills and methods which can be either primary or adjunctive in depression treatment” (Wittink et al., 2009, p. 405). Rajagopal et al. (2002) underscored that spiritual interventions can enhance spiritual support through the social support means of the intervention they used (p. 163). They also cited Genia and Shaw (1991), whose findings showed that people with high intrinsic spirituality is less depressed than those who have low intrinsic spirituality (as cited in Rajagopal et al., 2002, p. 163). Berry and York (2011) studied the relationship between religiosity/ spirituality (R/S) and depression in a sampling of college students through an online survey with a longitudinal research design. They defined R/S as a commitment to what is sacred (Berry & York, 2011, p. 77). The multiple aspects of R/S are motivation, meaning, coping, behavior, and beliefs (Berry & York, 2011, p. 77). Findings showed that R/S did not affect the stress–depression relationship or changed the effect of cognitive vulnerability on the stress–depression relationship. Instead, R/S affected depression directly or through some mechanism that the study did not measure. R/S directly acted as a buffer for depression that affected different stress levels (Berry & York, 2011, p. 81). Berry and York (2011) suggested that the underlying mechanisms of depression may not be fully explained by existing psychological constructs because it may be dependent on an “irreducible” view of a transcendent being (p. 81). Spirituality can relieve depression through increasing positive emotions and decreasing negative feelings. Powers, Cramer, and Grubka (2007) studied role of life stress, spiritual life integration (SLI), and social justice commitment (SJC) in influencing affective well-being. Findings showed that spirituality can affect aspects of SJC which result to positive affective well-being. Spiritually-based reasons in helping others are related to positive feelings while feeling that they are serving God can also reduce depressive symptoms (Powers, Cramer, & Grubka, 2007, p. 240). Spiritual activities, such as praying, attending church, and reading the Bible, however, did not predict affective well-being. They indicated that spiritual activities may not decrease depression, but, instead, spirituality is related to beliefs in God resulting in positive affect that can directly reduce depression. Spirituality alleviates depressive symptoms by giving meaning to people’s experiences, especially their suffering and grief. Meaning presupposes having a sense of purpose and having an understanding of one’s life (Kelley & Chan, 2012, p. 203). Wortmann and Park (2009) reviewed the qualitative research regarding religion/spirituality and bereavement to study meaning from the phenomenological perspective of the bereaved. Findings showed that religious/spiritual meaning systems may incorporate loss through evaluations and attributions that are aligned with existing spiritual beliefs. The bereavement process induced people to use spirituality in order to make sense of their grief and suffering (Wortmann & Park, 2009, p. 29). Sorajjakool et al. (2008) examined the role of spirituality and meaning for 15 participants suffering from severe depression. Findings showed that spirituality helped them find meaning in their depression. The more they made sense of their depression in spiritual terms, the less depressed they were. Kelley and Chan (2012) explored the roles of attachment to God, meaning and religious coping as mediating variables in the grief experience for 93 individuals who experienced a significant death in the past year. Religious coping refers to using religious sources, such as believing that God is a source of strength, religious activities, such as praying, and connection to faith organizations or communities (Kelley & Chan, 2012, p. 202). The research showed that a secure style of attachment to God was statistically significant in decreasing depression and grief, while also enhancing meaning and positive religious coping. An attachment to God helped people find meaning in their grief and develop positive religious coping strategies (Kelley & Chan, 2012, p. 217). This may be based on a belief that a benevolent God is always available and helpful to people who ask for help (Kelley & Chan, 2012, p. 217). This kind of orientation can produce positive religious coping measures which reveal their belief in a supportive, benevolent God (Kelley & Chan, 2012, p. 217). Spirituality reduces depressive symptoms because it gives meaning to people’s experiences which can also motivate self-agency. Daaleman and Kaufman (2006) studied the association between spirituality and symptoms of depression in primary care outpatients. The results cofirmed that after bivariate analyses greater spirituality was connected with less reported depressive symptoms. In a model that was modified for covariates, spirituality remained independently associated with less depressive symptoms. Respondents believed that spirituality helped them understand the meaning of their experiences which made them less depressed. Finding meaning in their experiences also improved self-agency and self-efficacy. Existential meaning provided motivation for self-agency and self-efficacy, which means that people develop self-care approaches (Daaleman & Kaufman, 2006, p. 1342). Diaz et al. (2011) highlighted from their study on people with substance abuse problems that hope is crucial to motivating them to change their outlook in life which changed their behaviors toward harmful substances. The examples they mentioned are alcoholics who are seeking help from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other treatments that offer 12-steps of escaping substance addictions. These people used spirituality to find meaning in their life which gave them hope to cope with their depression and continue their treatment. These articles showed that spirituality gives hope which protects against psychological and physical illnesses and helps human adaptation and development, especially during life transitions and challenges (Diaz et al., 2011, p. 51). Conclusion These studies showed that various aspects of spirituality can reduce depression for different groups. Different aspects of spirituality or religiousness can have different outcomes for different people as well. Some people may find hope in spiritual resources or discover meaning in their grief. In general, spirituality alleviates depression through developing a sense of peace increasing spiritual and social sources of support, enhancing positive emotions while reducing negative feelings, helping find meaning in experiences and feelings, and motivating self-agency. Spirituality can directly impact depression or act as a buffer for negative emotions and behaviors. Hence, mental health practitioners should consider using spirituality as a means of relieving depression for different cohorts. References Berry, D. M. & York, K. (2011). Depression and religiosity and/or spirituality in college: A longitudinal survey of students in the USA. Nursing & Health Sciences, 13 (1), 76-83. Braam, A. W., Klinkenberg, M., & Deeg, D. J. H. (2011). Religiousness and mood in the last week of life: An explorative approach based on after-death proxy interviews. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 14 (1), 31-37. Daaleman, T. P., & Kaufman, J. S. (2006). Spirituality and depressive symptoms in primary care outpatients. Southern Medical Journal, 99 (12), 1340-1345. Diaz, N., Horton, E. G., Green, D., McIlveen, J., Weiner, M., & Mullaney, D. (2011). Relationship between spirituality and depressive symptoms among inpatient individuals who abuse substances. Counseling & Values, 56 (1/2), 43-56. Kelley, M. M., & Chan, K.T. (2012). Assessing the role of attachment to God, meaning, and religious coping as mediators in the grief experience. Death Studies, 36 (3), 199-227. Nelson, C., Jacobson, C., Weinberger, M., Bhaskaran, V., Rosenfeld, B., Breitbart, W., & Roth, A. (2009). The role of spirituality in the relationship between religiosity and depression in prostate cancer patients. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 38 (2), 105-114. Powers, D. V., Cramer, R. J., & Grubka, J. M. (2007). Spirituality, life stress, and affective well-being. Journal of Psychology & Theology, 35 (3), 235-243. Rajagopal, D., Mackenzie, E., Bailey, C., & Lavizzo-Mourey, R. (2002). The effectiveness of a spiritually-based intervention to alleviate subsyndromal anxiety and minor depression among older adults. Journal of Religion & Health, 41 (2), 153-166. Sorajjakool, S., Aja, V., Chilson, B., Ramirez-Johnson, J., & Earll, A. (2008). Disconnection, depression, and spirituality: A study of the role of spirituality and meaning in the lives of individuals with severe depression. Pastoral Psychology, 56 (5), 521-532. Watlington, C. G. & Murphy, C. M. (2006). The roles of religion and spirituality among African American survivors of domestic violence. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62 (7), 837-857. Wittink, M. N., Joo, J. H., Lewis, L. M., & Barg, F. K. (2009). Losing faith and using faith: Older African Americans discuss spirituality, religious activities, and depression. JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24 (3), 402-407. Wortmann, J. H., & Park, C. L. (2009). Religion/spirituality and change in meaning after bereavement: Qualitative evidence for the meaning making model. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 14 (1), 17-34. Read More