Religion And Health Essay

First and foremost, perspectives that follow spirituality, religion, and prayer related to treatment and medicine can be viewed from a historical approach. This view has been known to weigh heavily on chronic patients when it comes to their understanding of pain and decisions about pain management (Unruh, 2007). For example, psychicans of the Middle Ages strongly believed in managing pain and disease through religious rituals, sacrificial offering, and/or prayer (Unruh 2007; Castiglioni, 1975). Focusing in on prayer, evidence supports that prayer can be used as a coping mechanism for health concerns. Positive forms of religious coping have had explicit effects on both mental and physical health. Therefore, resulting in more overall positive

Pargament (2013) states that “many groups dealing with major life stressors such as natural disaster, illness, loss of loved ones, divorce, and serious mental illness” has shown that religion and spirituality are helpful to use as a type of coping technique. It is especially useful for people who have fewer resources and those who face problems that are more likely to be uncontrolled. However, the reasons for these associations are unclear. The essential question then becomes “what is it about religion and spirituality that accounts for their link to health?” (Hill & Paragment,

Regardless of the lack of evidence, spiritual views have been intertwined with beliefs about pain and suffering (Unruh, 2007). The use of prayer as a religious coping strategy is widespread and is often believed to have positive effects on physical disorders, including pain. A recent review of the literature on religion and spirituality n chronic pain populations revealed that in three different survey studies, prayer was either the primary or second most frequently used coping strategy used to deal with physical pain (Koenig 2001; Rippentrop 2005). It is noteworthy that the potential pain-relieving effects of prayer have never been tested in a controlled experimental setting (Jegindo, Vase, Skewes, Terkelsen, Hansen, Geertz, Roepstorff & Jensen, 2012). Religious beliefs and practices are complex phenomena and the use of prayer may be mediated by psychological factors known to be related to pain experience (Jegindo, Vase, Skewes, Terkelsen, Hansen, Geertz, Roepstorff & Jensen,