What is the relationship of spirituality and mental health?
February 22, 2004
Does a discussion of spirituality belong on a behavioral health blog? I believe that it does.
Paul Pearsall, a psychoneuroimmunologist, says that no real therapy can begin until the therapist understands how the client will answer three ultimate questions. These three questions are, why was I born, what is the purpose of my life, and what will happen to me when I die?
Pearsall’s argument, as I understand it, is that a therapist must know the answers to these questions in order to enter into the client’s world view. And until the therapist can enter into the client’s world view, the therapist can’t really understand where the client is coming from.
This makes perfect sense to me, and while I don’t ask my clients these questions right up front, I am listening for information as we go along that would help me understand how the client might answer these questions. When the time seems right in the course of our therapeutic conversations, I ask these questions directly.
Many clients seem pleased that I am interested and would directly ask them about these questions, because they have never had an opportunity to discuss candidly their thoughts and feelings about these questions before.
These questions are very intimate questions, in the sense that they are very private. We don’t discuss “religion” in polite company. In our current society we discuss just about anything when it comes to scatological activities or sex, but we do not bring up our own death, money, or personally held religious beliefs unless someone is proselytizing.
In Alcoholics Anonymous there is a long history of acknowledgement of one’s higher power whatever or whoever the member of AA wishes to conceptualize this power to be. The idea in AA is that there is something transcendent, something more than oneself. The member of AA has to come to recognize that their navel is not the center of the universe, that there is a heck of a lot more going on in the universe than is going on with just me. AA members are encouraged to “surrender” to their higher power, to turn it over. In doing so, the AA member experiences a liberation from having to control and can start to take things “one day at a time” by “letting go and letting God”. Some people believe that it is in this turning over, this surrender, that the miracle of AA occurs for people.
My favorite paragraphy from the Desiderata says:
“Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
It seems to me that a great deal of our strength, our resilience, our courage, our happiness, our peace and contentment comes from our sense of spirituality. This spirituality gives us meaning and a sense of belonging in the universe. It helps us maintain perspective and equanimity in times of stress, turmoil, fear, and grief. Increasingly, there are studies which show that people with a robust spirituality live healthier, happier lives.
The next article in this series will be discussing the distinction between religion and spirituality.
Yes!! I agree on those three questions. I cannot imagine therapy without considering the spiritual. I've been enjoying your recent posts on spirituality. :)
Posted by: Kathryn | February 23, 2004 at 10:34 PM