Religious Beliefs Affect Mental Health

Study: Religious Beliefs Affect Mental Health

POSTED: 3:19 pm EDT August 11, 2011


BELMONT, Mass. -- In times of tragedy, people often turn to prayer. And according to a new study out of McLean Hospital, there may be something to that.
"There's a lot of data now to suggest a person's religious beliefs have some profound effects on how they deal with difficulties in general and illness in particular," said Dr. Timothy Johnson, WCVB's medical editor.
Researchers followed both Christian and Jewish patients to see how much faith affected their mental health. It turns out the answer is a lot more than doctors originally thought.
"Positive beliefs seem to buffer to some degree against anxiety," said Dr. David Rosmarin, assistant in psychology at McLean and lead author of the study. "People who have those positive beliefs seem better able to tolerate uncertainty. Conversely, negative beliefs seem to be associated with greater anxiety or worry."
Positive beliefs included trusting God was watching over them and cared about their lives. Anxiety significantly increased for those who believed just the opposite, that God was indifferent or even out to punish them.
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In 1999 I was finishing my book, For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle and looking for a publisher. There is a chapter addressing the soul and the love of God.

CHAPTER TWENTY GOING HOME

I thought about my father, my brother and all the others who are no longer here. At first I thought how sad it was for the ones left behind to grieve. Then the thoughts regarding their souls gave me comfort. There were so many people who were here, touching my life and my heart. I couldn’t settle for thinking about them only in the past tense. I needed to think about who they really were, and actually still are.

I closed my eyes and was carried away from the cares and worries of the world. I was no longer flesh and blood. I was a spirit. I remembered the peace that God gave me when I cried out in anguish to Him. It was God easing my troubled soul and embracing me as a parent would comfort a child. I saw it clearly.

Scientists are very interested in the power of prayer. They study the human brain in an attempt to understand the mystery, knowing there is unlimited power. Doctors have been unable to answer why people seem to heal themselves or why some die without reason. When the body dies, everything that is part of the body no longer functions. The heart stops beating. It doesn’t matter how many songs are written about the love it feels, the heart simply pumps blood throughout the body. The brain stops thinking and no longer remembers. It all stops as the lungs stop breathing. What is left? It is the soul. It is the soul that knows what science cannot prove or disprove, and that is the existence of God. It is the soul that calls out to the Creator of IT all. Prayer is food for the soul.

It is not the heart that loves, although we say, “She has a good heart.” It is not the brain that remembers the day a child was born, the first kiss, the wedding or the death of someone close. It is the soul that remembers all. We cannot explain why some prayers are answered and some seem to go unheard. We cannot explain why angels seem to be protecting some while turning their backs on others. We cannot because we are human. As much as it may hurt the ego, we are not meant to understand everything, we are only meant to try.

I attend a Greek Orthodox Church. The incense fills the air. It is not my brain that understands the meaning. It is my soul that feels the power and comfort. It feels the emotion of the choir and chanter’s voices crawling up my spine. It understands the priest’s message and knows that it is home. The service is a combination of Greek and English. I do not understand Greek. As a child my thoughts would wander, now I understand through osmosis or something. It is my soul that understands the meaning behind the procession carrying the bread and wine. It is a funeral for my Savior and dear friend. Every Sunday His sacrifice is remembered and the life He gave for us. The soul finds peace in the house of God. It understands the “good feeling” we have as we walk out the doors of the church carrying the peace with us. The same feeling we have after visiting someone who means a great deal to us while the warmth lingers. I have attended other services. It doesn’t seem to matter what denomination the attendants are, the message is the same, the emotion is the same and the beauty is the same.

We simple humans do not seem to understand that God created the soul and the soul lives in us all. The Holy Spirit lives in those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died for us to be forgiven for the sins of our days. To cry out to God is a cry of the soul. It is beyond the human brain’s ability to be in contact with God. Contact with Him is enabled by His Hand. There are human forms of love, and then there is the true love from the spirit of God. It enables us with the love that sets self aside to feel compassion for a stranger. It is the rush to help without one thought of self or the prayer offered for someone who had hurt us in the past. There is the ability to be transformed into a saint for a moment and return to our normal routine. It enables us to try, fail, and awake the next morning ready to try again. The soul communicates faith and by faith we pray and believe in the love of God for us to do what is best. By that, it is not what we ask Him to do, it is what is He deems to be right. Our ego, our sense of fairness, our needs and wants, may or may not be satisfied, however our soul knows that it is the will of God.

It is the soul that acknowledges God in everything and releases power from “self” to the divine will of Him. It is not by weakness that the will is yielded to Him. It is by strength and courage that we trust Him to take over. It is honesty that admits we do not know it all. By human nature alone we are unable to have the wisdom or the foresight to be in control. How many times have we thought that someone does not like us, is mean or cruel, only to find out that the person is simply in need. Or we judge the actions of a neighbor only to find that we totally misunderstood. We think that we had a horrible day, only to find that it was also the day that something wonderful began as well. We worry about money and wonder how we can survive when reality sets in and the bills pile up, while across the country a check is being signed for our benefit. We cry over a sick loved one, feel alone and helpless, while someone is praying for us at the very moment and we are being brought to the attention of God. Imagine the power of prayer to be carried on the “wings of angels” to the ears of the living God. The soul understands the sudden calm in the middle of pain, the tears that stop or the tingle running up the spine while worrying. The soul knows why it suddenly feels that it will all turn out right.

Maybe it is time that scientists began to study the soul. To know that prayer and faith, belief, is a power that exists beyond the brain and human understanding. It is simply what it is, the soul that God gave us the day we were born, and the soul that will return to Him. The only mystery is why some follow what is inside of them and others turn from themselves?

Why some live out their lives in a quiet state of sainthood, holding onto the Hand of God, and others never reach out? What is the power behind prayer? It is God communicating with His creation, His children through the soul. The brain can be seen, studied, scanned and dissected. The soul is invisible. The effects of the soul can be studied in a thousand ways. All they have to do is look.

I have known the peace that washes away what the world dishes out. The calmness that fills, pushing away all the negative thoughts that the world drills into my brain. There is no power on earth that can compare with the power of God. A simply spoken prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, yields so much power in its simplistic message. “Our Father............” Can anything be more beautiful than the beginning? “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” By that we say that God is in control of what He created. We hope that He will take care of our materialistic needs, knowing that there are things necessary to survival. Yet what if we were rich? We may lack the sensitivity to appreciate simple things, like a sunset as purple splits the light from the looming dark. Or a quality that reaches out to someone else in need. We could be so involved in obtaining more that we don’t spend time with our children. We may find ourselves unable to forgive. Then Our Father would see that the need is not more money. Our need is to return to oneness with the soul. It is a state of bliss that we all hunger for. It is a state of bliss that can conquer illness, loneliness, stop anger, and obliterate judgment, yielding power with surrender. Bliss that can release negative energy to make room for the love and truth that God intended us to have. We can go blindly about our business, doing as the mood suits, or we can walk with God. We can understand that we are here for a reason, a reason of choice. We are not forced to love God or believe in Jesus.

The angels themselves were created with free will, as Lucifer was.

He made a free will choice to defy God and paid the price. He was forced out of Heaven. He had to leave the side of God and has been making humans suffer ever since, blaming us for his choice. It is easy to love someone who is good to you and you know that they care about you, listen to you, and hold you when you cry. It is hard to trust the love of God when you cannot feel His arms around you. To know He is there all the times when you cannot feel the touch of His hand or wiping away your tears. Yet trust, remembering past times when you were sure He was involved in your life is all the soul needs to work miracles in that moment.

We were taught that God loved the world, us, so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. He cares deeply for all His children. It is a sin against God and our very own soul to hate another. It is written in the Bible that God created all nations of one blood. Yet we see the color of skin and see the difference between us, not that which binds us to God. We may hate the actions of a person, yet we are to remember that the ones who fuel our anger and fire us up, is also a child of God and God still loves them.

We live searching for what the soul longs for, remembering the oneness with God and the love of Him. We search with our eyes, our minds, and our wallets. Yet we are empty. The soul knows the only love that can satisfy the need and fill us, the pure Holy love of God. If science truly wants to understand the power of prayer, they need look no further than within their own body to the soul that God placed within them.

Miracles do happen. Prayer changes lives. It is not a matter of changing the life style in the sense of worldly goods, but changing the life itself.We are not only shown by example the way to live out our days. A companion dwells within us, to guide, comfort and correct instantaneously. We call the soul our conscience. It is in communication with God and the laws He set forth thousands of years ago, placing them in the hand of Moses. Laws further explained and expanded by the mouth of Jesus. There is a peace within those laws. A sense of gentleness in the words of the “Rabbi from Nazareth” that we are all guilty of sin, yet forgiven by a love that knows no bounds. That all sin is equal in the eyes of God and as such we are all guilty.

To know that we are loved with the knowledge of everything that we have done in every moment of our lives brings it all into perspective. It does not matter what others may think of me, what matters more is what God thinks of me. When I question what I am doing, I think about what I have been taught that God wants. When I do something wrong, others may not know it, but He does and He is the one I am sorry to. It is His forgiveness I want first and others second. It is hard to accept that there is anyone who could love me knowing everything, and I do mean everything, about me. He does! He understands when I am afraid, confused or acting like a real jerk. I may get Him angry or disappointed with what I have done, but He loves me anyway. He doesn’t let me get away with it but He does forgive me. He reminds me when things happen that are horrible, hard or unfair, that He isn’t doing it to me, or anyone else. He is there to give me what I need to get through it, not alone, but with Him.

Prayer is a wonderful thing. When it is yielded to God’s will, it is beyond human words. If we pray and the prayer is answered the way we want, we call it a miracle. If it is answered the way God wants, it is hard to accept. It is never easy to hear “no” for an answer. That is where the will of God should be taken without question and when it is the hardest to do. I question all the time and hope a day will come when I will simply understand. I am not sinless. I am only forgiven. I am not a saint. I am only a child of God with the soul that He gave me. I have searched in a vain attempt to replace what was lost from my youngest days. The innocent bliss and wonder at God’s creation. I tried to fill the vacant “heart” with everything and anything, while remembering that once there was something wonderful there. I was separated from my first love, only I didn’t know it. Call it stress, or call it divine intervention. I was finally at a point in my life where the only answer came in the pages of the Bible. There was a power in the pages that transforms and slowly fills the void the soul longs for. It had lived within me for so many years starving to be fed by the word of God and Jesus. It existed on a diet of weekly church service with crumbs as dictated by the length of the church service. I was starving my soul.

Time began to take its toll on me and faith was hard to find. I picked up the Bible out of
desperation and frustration. Soon I began to understand that the power of the Bible is the same as the power Jesus held over the people who heard His voice. His words, from God, transformed the Man to pure Holy Spirit, stretching out His hands to reach to soul. He was poor, dressed in simple clothes. He had no public relations firm working for Him or broadcasting commercials in prime time, or on a WEB page. He was a poor man speaking a simple message of God’s love for His children. He did not hold Himself above those who heard His words. He connected. He became one of them. Reading the accounts of His lifetime here made me long to hear His voice. What a beautiful voice He must have had, gentle yet strong, loving and compassionate. He did so much without expensive clothes or a bank account. What would have happened if He walked the earth today? I know His hand reached out to me while my soul was being fed, yet there was sadness in me that I could not feel His hand. The outcomes of things that are placed in God’s hands are in God’s hands and out of my control.

I know He was in control, yet I dearly wished that I could have been more reassured. As time went on I realized that it wasn’t as I expected. I thought that this return to my “innocent faith” would make my life easier. It didn’t. The problems in my life got worse. It was inconceivable the peace that I retained despite what was happening. My soul took over and gave control to the one who knew best, God. Faith is a wonderful thing, fed by prayer and trust that follows, filling the soul that lives within us all. Even scientists! Isn’t it wonderful?
Job knew God. He knew what God expected of him, yet he suffered. He suffered because he knew he didn’t do anything “wrong” but God took everything away from him. Everything vanished except his faith. Sure, he questioned why God had dealt with him so harshly. Still it was his friend’s attitude that made him suffer more. No matter how hard he tried to explain that he was innocent, they wouldn’t listen. They judged him according to their own knowledge of God and found him guilty of some secret sin. How many times have we all judged the suffering of another? They must not be listening to God. They must be doing something wrong. It is beyond our human ability to stop judging and start seeing that God’s purpose in our lives is not the same as ours. He has a reason for all He does and does not do. Job’s friends thought that he was wrong. In my own life, simply knowing that I am doing what is in accordance with my soul and spirit brings heated debates. It makes it harder to explain what I am doing when I do not know the reason, or the intended goal. I only know it is what is right. I suffered and cry out to God out of desperation, then found peace without reason. I feel like a child when asked, “Why did you do that?” and I must admit, “I don’t know.” I do not suggest that we compare ourselves to someone like Job. He is a good example because he did know so much about God, more than we may ever know. His knowledge and tremendous faith demonstrate the level of human “connection” with God. We should all seek that same connection and thereby grow to be what we were intended to be. Then maybe we would have what God intended us to have out of the love only He can have for us. To stay attached to that love while suffering is a miracle.

On one hand we may believe that “God so loved the world...” and in truth, us, that He loves us individually. We rationalize that if He loves us than He would eliminate whatever suffering comes our way. Our brain wants to make sense out of it. Our minds know that when we love someone we do not want them to suffer. We want them to be happy. We want to help them. That is what love is. Yet as a parent, we want all that and more. We can see beyond the moment and the current “need” to tomorrow. We know that if we give a child everything he or she wants they will become greedy, spoiled and ungrateful. They will not develop good work habits, a strong work ethic and a true sense of gratitude. Perhaps God looks at us the same way as His children. If He gives us what we “think” we really need, then maybe we will not develop to our full potential. Stop and think about something that you have done that was really wonderful. What made you do it? I am sure you would find a series of events that led to the outcome. Maybe you helped someone? Maybe you changed something that was wrong or made someone think a way that they wouldn’t have unless you gave your input. An input based on your experiences. Maybe you helped someone connect with God again.

There are countless stories of doctors and scientists that dedicated their lives to curing an illness because someone they loved suffered. Writers, artists and composers have achieved greatness because of suffering, their own or someone else’s that touched them greatly. While suffering we have a choice to make. We can change what is wrong and blame God for it all. We can remember that loving us, He knows what is best, and try to use the pain for a greater good. Perhaps it will all leave us with a soft spot in our “heart”, our soul that feels a little more than it would have if we had it all our way. Maybe Mother Teresa would not have helped so many of the outcast and poor if she had not been poor herself. Maybe Princess Diana would not have gotten so involved with charity work if she had been happy in her life and as the Princess. It could be part nature, the basic foundation of our soul and part life that makes us who we are, and thereby affecting what we do. It is these reasons and the choices that we make on our journey through life back to God, that affect the world and all we come into contact with. No man lives alone. We each touch someone and if we hold onto our faith, the hand of God, we are stronger to not only carry our own “cross” but the “cross” of another as well. Somewhere along the way we become what we started out as, a child of God, nurtured by His love and fed on the richest diet in existence, prayer.

I find myself wondering what God was thinking as Jesus was dying on the cross. I am sure that He was proud of Him, having lived thirty-three years knowing that it would all end at that moment on the cross. Did God cry? Can anyone imagine the pain He must have felt watching a part of Himself suffer? Knowing that this was the only way to reach His other children who had been so lost and far from Him. One so beautiful had to pay the price for such an ugly world our deeds created. It makes me sure that the God/Jesus/Holy Spirit loved us. It doesn’t matter if we totally understand how it worked when the world was created or why there are so few women in the Bible, or fill in all the missing pieces. I don’t think that the mind can hold, sort and retain everything there is to know. I don’t think there are enough brain cells. What really matters is what we believe. I cannot believe that God loves yet brings disaster. He sent Jesus to be the New Covenant. So why do we still hear people blame God when we just don’t have the answers? I heard “God only gives me what I can handle.” repeated over and over when people are asked how they got through something terrible. God gives us what we need to handle it, deal with what we face each day. God does not make us ill or send our lives out of control, we do. There are too many variables and life dishes out some heavy doses of reality when we are least able to cope. Yet we survive and go on.

Maybe if we were not so apt to disregard the power our soul has, we would be able to heal the illnesses that our actions produce. Maybe we would see suffering and want to help heal instead of condemning the souls suffering. Maybe we would realize that one day we will meet up with the same souls we turned our backs on here on earth.

That's how important faith was in all of this and still is according to many experts dealing with trauma and healing.

If we believe God loves us even knowing everything about us, then we are more able to know we are not all wrong and God is not doing things "to us" instead of "for us." If you still have a problem with this thought, think of it this way. If you deserved to suffer, then why did God send you so many other people to help you? He doesn't want you to suffer. He does not, as the saying goes, "gives us only what we can handle" as if He sends bad things into our lives. Bad things happen to good people as well as "bad people" just as good things happen. The difference is, when you believe in Him, you are not going through any of it alone. Faith matters. There were studies done on the healing power of prayer but there is another overlooked study when a group of patients were prayed for and another group was not prayed for. The group of patients being prayed for, healed better and faster.

There have been so many posts on this blog, it's hard to pick out one that expresses this better than the following. It was published in 2009.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Combat:
Shattering of the soul
How can there be a loving God when He allows all of this? This is what they wonder when they have not only witnessed the worst humanity is capable of, they were participants in it. The ability to feel anything sprung from the depth of their souls is an indication that God was right there with them, but they didn't see Him. They stopped looking for Him in the midst of carnage.

To translate the aftermath of combat with what humans have been told about God, never seems to make any sense at all. They fail to see that humans have been provided with freewill and some will use that freewill for good while others use it for evil. Those with the ability to care, to feel compassion and grieve are what is best of mankind. They have the best of what God created within their soul but if they have the wrong image of God, the wrong understanding or a weak understanding of Him, they think it's more of a curse and God is not good. The goodness inside of them came from a loving God. Yet this same goodness is the root of all the pain they feel especially when they do not understand it. The gift of compassion allows them to feel more but they were also enabled with great courage so they could act on that compassion.

What good does it do a man to feel compassion for someone else, but have no courage to act?

A child standing in the middle of a road with a truck heading right for the child needs someone to want to save them. A man with compassion sees this, feels compassion but without the courage to do anything, they will just stand there. With the courage, they rush to save the child without any thought for themselves. Courage and compassion work in conjunction for good. They need to be reminded of this because some think if they have compassion, they are weak instead of the most courageous of all.

When they see this, they see God differently and see themselves differently. When their souls heal and the understand God's love as love instead of a curse, they are transformed and heal.

This is not about one denomination over another, nor is it about one faith over another. It is our own personal relationship with God that we thrive with or suffer from.


'Shattering of the soul'
By
Published: Apr 02, 2006 12:00 am
By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer
More combat veterans seek help as counselors try to redefine post-traumatic stress disorder.

Take people 6,000 miles from home. Shoot at them. Blow stuff up. Hide the bad guys among the good.

Even normal men and women - brave and strong American soldiers - feel their emotions fray when they return home.

It seems easy to understand, until doctors put it in a medical book, label it "post-traumatic stress disorder" and try treating folks.

After years of clinical study of the way the brain changes under stress, doctors and psychologists have built a vocabulary around the issue. Symptoms are classified. Levels of anxiety are measured. Signs of "disassociation" are determined. Healing is marked by phases.

Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, Maine's adjutant general, issued orders this year for every National Guard member who returns from Iraq or Afghanistan to talk one on one with a counselor.

"We are all Type A's," Libby said. "Lots of us don't like talking about our feelings. We'd rather do something."

However, Libby knows the emotional healing needs to happen.

"These men and women have been forever changed by their experiences," said Libby, a veteran of the Vietnam War. "Thirty-eight years later, I am still struggling with my experiences."

read more here

The more that is understood about PTSD, especially combat PTSD, the more faith is shown to help with healing.

There is an Iraq veteran in these videos. He was a Staff Sgt. and came home deeply troubled by what he experienced. In the video, he talks about putting the gun in his mouth, being saved, forgiven and eventually forgiving himself. He is an Outpost Leader of Point Man Ministries in Vancouver.





If there is spiritual healing coupled with physical and psychological treatment, there is true healing of these veterans. Faith offers hope and hope reduces suicides. It is as simple as that. If they have no hope, they do not want to live. Would you want to live with this depth of suffering and have no hope of tomorrow being any better than today? If they believe God has done this to them, what hope do they have of His help and mercy?

People of faith need to share the love of God with them and help them find the way back to His arms. If you are a combat veteran knowing how to get them there, please consider working with Point Man Ministries in your own back yard. You don't have to live near a military installation to serve them. There are National Guards and Reservists coming back all over the country reporting with half of them suffering from PTSD. Active duty military folks retire and return back to their home towns, so they need you there as well. Families across the country are wondering what they can do to help as well as looking for help for themselves.

Faith does matter in all of this. It always has and it always will.

Jackson Memorial’s chaplain focuses on healing the spirit


A military chaplain and church pastor brings her philosophy and goodwill to Jackson Memorial, comforting patients at one of the nation’s busiest hospitals.
BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH

ABURCH@MIAMIHERALD.COM

The patient says he had never prayed before.

Not after he was hit by a car, or in the moments as he lay broken in the street, or in the days after, as he waited for a series of medical tests.

But when the chaplain walked into the hospital room offering a certain kind of healing, he opened up for the first time. He cried as Patricia Wilson-Cone, the exuberant director of pastoral care at Jackson Health System, talked about faith and moving forward. He clasped her hands as she assured him he would not die today. He hugged her as she prayed for him.

“I am here to try to meet people where they are, not where I want them to be. I don’t push religion or a particular denomination,” said Wilson-Cone, 57, of Pembroke Pines. “I walk in the room, hopefully full of light and energy. I listen. I care. And I tell them that I am there for them.’’

Which, at the time, was precisely what Christian Zacarias needed.

“I feel broken both physically and emotionally ,’’ said Zacarias, 27, while being treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital. “I needed someone to go through this hurt with me.’’

The commanding woman with the short hair and vibrant smile is in the business of health and healing and helping patients find their way to a place of solace. It’s a mission she practices day after day at Jackson, one of the nation’s largest and busiest medical centers, and at military hospitals as a U.S. Army reserve chaplain.
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