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The WPA position statement is a clear challenge for psychiatrists to recognize how religion/spirituality (R/S) is relevant to their work. North American psychiatry has shown progress related to each principle articulated in the statement, especially in the areas of research and scholarship. However, most advances are yet to be widely implemented or coordinated, so that the statement offers valuable encouragement and direction in moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines within a Muslim society the inte­rnal consistency reliability of an established IPIP measure of the Five Factor Model of personality drawing on the International Personality Item Pool. The specific hypothesis under investigation concerned the performance of the negatively-voiced items included within the measure, testing whether these items (that may imply disrespect for self) detract from the unidimensionality of the five factors. Data provided by 370 young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 years who were born in Punjab and who had lived there since their birth supported this hypothesis. The recommendation is that further work is now required to revisit the IPIP to source items to construct and test a new IPIP measure of the Five Factor Model of personality specifically designed for use in Muslim societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review examines research on Sufi spirituality and mental well-being. Earlier investigations have focused on general spiritual practice in mental health care and found a connection between spirituality and mental health. In this systematic review, we aimed to explore existing research specifically considering the relationship between Sufi spirituality and mental well-being and examine the quality of this research. We identified 49 papers published between the years 2007–2022. Our findings revealed a positive connection between Sufi spirituality and reducing anxiety and depression in patients. However, most studies were of low quality. This review highlights the need to provide more comprehensive and higher quality research to redress the methodological limitations of the current evidence base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uncovers the complexity of the term "Jian kang/health 健康" and "Fu/wellbeing (福)" by analysing their etymological origins and cultural connotations in the context of China. The paper introduces a Taoist philosophy of tradition to understand health and wellbeing. This paper argues that in Chinese cultural connotations, "Jian kang" (health) and "Fu" (wellbeing) entail the integration of human beings' physical and mental status and beyond. Notwithstanding the contextual and culturally specific philosophy and traditions of understanding health and wellbeing, this paper initiates intercultural epistemological dialogue, engages with contemporary psychotherapy, and argues that health and wellbeing is regarded and understood as a concept across cultural boundaries, while emphasising its pivotal features of being holistic, comprised of multifaceted and interrelated components of body, mind, and spirit, focusing on lifestyle behaviours, and recognising the interweaving relationship between human and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs the therapeutic landscape theory to explore how online religious services during lockdown restrictions shape experiences of well-being and intergenerational learning. We used qualitative data from in depth interviews and focus groups with older adults and pastors in five churches in Ghana to explore how online religious places are conceptualized as therapeutic landscapes for sustaining wellbeing goals amidst a global pandemic. We identified multiple pathways of meaning through which online religious services shape the lives of people in a faith community to sustain the experience of well-being in a difficult time. In addition, this paper reflects on the broader implications of COVID-19 in shaping a paradigm shift in digital religion and intergenerational learning experiences through a changing religious landscape precipitated by lockdown restrictions that have drastically altered traditional religious places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic literature review examines research on religiosity and happiness within the Muslim population. Earlier investigations predominantly focused on Christianity and happiness in Western countries and found a significant positive association. This literature review was conducted to investigate research exploring the relationship between religiosity and happiness among Muslims. A literature search identified 59 papers examining this relationship between the years 2000 and 2020. Standard quality assessment criteria were used to assess the quality of the selected papers. Each paper was scored by two independent researchers and several of the papers were excluded due to not meeting inclusion criteria or scoring below.55 in the quality assessment. Some 49 studies were included in this literature review, which found a positive correlation between happiness and religiosity within the Muslim population. Furthermore, most studies posited a significant relationship between the variables. This paper explores this suggested positive correlation further, highlights the limitations of the research, and discusses the implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in the use of online platforms for Christian worship and emphasised the need for a simple psychometric instrument that is sufficiently general to assess affect responses to a range worship services. This paper reports on the development of the six-item Scale of Perceived Affect Response to Online Worship (SPAROW) during the third UK pandemic lockdown in 2021. The scale items were included in an online survey completed from January to July 2021 by 2,017 Anglicans living in England and 1713 Roman Catholics from the UK or the Republic of Ireland. Exploratory Factor Analysis (principal components extraction and varimax rotation) in the Anglican sample indicated a single-dimensional scale that had excellent internal consistency reliability for those who accessed pre-recorded services (α =.90, n = 1238) and live-streamed services (α =.91, n = 1492). Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the Roman Catholic sample using a Structural Equation Model showed a good fit to a single-dimensional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the psychometric properties of the Short Dark Tetrad, presented for online administration, among a sample of 370 young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 who were born in the Punjab and who had lived there since their birth. With the omission of one item from each of the four scales (Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and sadism) the clear four factor structure was recovered with cross-loadings remaining on four items. All four scales recorded acceptable or good levels of internal consistency reliability (alpha). This Shorter Dark Tetrad (SD4-MS) is commended for further use within predominantly Muslim societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychology has an interest in the ways in which religion can aid coping with life's adverse events, as most, perhaps all, individuals will face trauma or adversity at some point in life. The COVID19 pandemic has created adversity for individuals and societies globally and has for many been the cause of traumatic events. Religious coping in the face of crisis is not merely a contemporary phenomenon. This paper argues that several religious coping mechanisms can be found within the texts of Psalms 90, 91 and 92 of the Hebrew Bible. These psalms may represent a community's attempt to cope with the aftermath of a society-wide traumatic event, such as the 6th Century BCE Exile to Babylon. This paper reads these psalms through the lens of coping theory, explores how a traumatic event may have influenced their composition, and considers ways in which they might be used in pastoral situations today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious leaders are often the first recourse for people facing mental health challenges. Efforts have been made to understand faith leaders' mental health literacy, but little is known about the extent to which faith leaders trust mental health professionals, which likely influences their referral practices. To address this gap, this paper examines faith leaders' perceptions of mental health professionals using data from interviews with leaders of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Sikh communities in Texas and the mid-Atlantic region conducted between 2017 and 2019 (n = 67). Analysis shows that when asked about the extent to which they would trust their members to the care of mental health professionals, faith leaders adopt one of four orientations (1) Unqualified trust; (2) Conditional trust; (3) Distrust and (4) Dismissal. The paper elaborates on each of these four orientations and leaders' rationales for them, followed by implications for faith leaders and mental health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construct of fragility of happiness, which is not a theory-driven construct, refers to the idea that happiness is fleeting and can simply turn into unhappiness. This study investigated for the first time the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Fragility of Happiness Scale (FOHS) among university students, focusing on its internal consistency, factor structure, discriminant validity, convergent validity and predictive validity. Data were collected from two student samples (online sample, n = 228; paper-pencil sample, n = 200). Participants completed measures of fragility of happiness, fear of happiness, externality of happiness and life satisfaction either as online questionnaires or a paper-pencil version of the questionnaires. FOHS demonstrated good internal consistency. Results of exploratory and confirmatory yielded a one-factor model. The results also supported convergent, divergent and predictive validity. These results suggest that the FOHS is a reliable and valid instrument among Turkish university students. It can be used for research purposes and in clinical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In seventeenth-century England, many religiously devout people believed they had an obligation to immediately stifle any sinful thought that entered their minds. As some prominent clerics during the time period recognised, however, the effort to subdue unwelcome thoughts often can increase the thoughts. Indeed, recent cognitive science research bears out the counterintuitive phenomenon that trying to suppress an undesired thought can boomerang. With this in mind, just how effective was the endeavour in seventeenth-century England to purify thoughts? The paper argues that it was frequently counterproductive. The paper also explores a disagreement among mental health professionals, historians, and literary scholars regarding how to interpret the numerous seventeenth-century English autobiographical descriptions of tormenting, uncontrollable sinful thoughts. For instance, were the ungovernable blasphemous thoughts that Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan (1628-1688) recounted experiencing the product of a bodily illness equivalent to obsessive-compulsive disorder? The question presents methodological challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the psychometric properties of Kenny’s 55-item Parental Attachment Questionnaire (PAQ), formatted for online administration, among a sample of 370 young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 who were born in the Punjab and had lived there since their birth, and tested the hypothesis that the negatively-voiced items would detract from the unidimensionality of the scales. The data identified the problematic nature within Muslim societies of many (but not all) of the negatively-voiced items concerning parents. The proposed 30-item short-form Parental Attachment Questionnaire for Muslim Societies (PAQ-MS), containing fewer negatively-voiced items, reported good qualities of internal consistency reliability and construct validity across the three domains of Affective Quality of Relationship with Mother/Father, Mother/Father as Facilitators of Independence, and Mother/Father as Source of Support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the psychometric properties of the short (18-item) form of the Ryff Scales of Psychological Wellbeing, presented for online administration, among a sample of 370 young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 years who were born in Punjab and who had lived there since their birth, and tested the two hypotheses that the negatively-voiced items would detract from the unidimensionality of the scale and that, with the removal of the negatively-voiced items, the remaining 10 items would generate a unidimensional and reliable measure of psychological wellbeing embracing all six of the proposed components of wellbeing (self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth). The data supported both hypotheses, and commended the resulting 10-item Psychological Wellbeing Scale for Muslim Societies (PWS-MS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burnout has been recognised as an occupational risk but also an indicator of organisational conditions and adjustment. This paper explores the role of personal, psychological, and professional experience factors in pastoral burnout compared to burnout in other caring professions. Using a set of questionnaires, data were collected from 64 pastoral ministry members, 192 elder care assistants and 258 teachers. Pastoral ministry members showed lower exhaustion and higher satisfaction with future security. Additionally, burnout symptoms were related to depression and stress. When compared with other groups, pastoral ministry members revealed lower levels of burnout. The results are discussed, and suggestions for further studies are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper makes accessible to an English-speaking readership recent research published in Polish designed to provide and to test a Polish adaptation of the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS) and the Francis Psychological Type and Emotional Temperament Scales (FPTETS). The process of development involved studies reported among 53 Catholic clerics, 87 Catholic clerics, 119 university students, 134 university students, 240 final grade secondary school students, 133 university students, and 75 university students. The four-factor structure of the FPTS was recovered by confirmatory factor analysis, with 10 items loading on each factor, and producing the following Cronbach alpha coefficients:.81 for Extraversion vs. Introversion,.66 for Sensing vs. Intuition,.77 for Thinking vs. Feeling, and.80 for Judging vs. Perceiving. For the additional ten-item scale of Emotional Temperament (Volatile vs. Calm), α =.75. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how a group of mosque-practicing Muslim women in Denmark cope with personal discriminating actions and confrontations with stigmatising stereotypical discourses related to their religion and gender. Based on qualitative interviews with 33 mosque-practicing Muslim women, we provide examples of various experiences with discrimination related to their religion and gender. The study demonstrates how mosques support women by providing a strong sense of belonging and a religious language of advocacy. Hence, this study empirically highlights an aspect of the relationship between religious belonging and individuals' mental health and contributes to the knowledge of Muslim minorities by providing insights into women's experiences of victimisation. Additionally, we clarify misconceptions about the meaning of Muslim practices, such as the wearing of a veil and gender division in mosques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how religious beliefs influence meaning-making and prosocial action among community responders. Fourteen non-professional rescue and relief volunteers were interviewed post the 2018-19 floods in Kerala, India. The study adopts Braun and Clarke's Thematic Analysis with a critical realist approach. Several participants viewed the disaster as an act of God but simultaneously engaged in scientific sense-making; religious meaning-making offers a means of coming to terms, while rational causal attributions promote mitigation measures. Suffering was seen as a test of faith. Many volunteers experienced the disaster as a reminder that re-oriented them to piety and iterated human vulnerability. Although the disaster evoked a lack of control, they found meaning in the service of others and viewed their actions with humility and gratitude. Service was often both intrinsically meaningful and religiously motivated. The findings underscore the role of religious meaning-making in promoting prosocial action and community resilience post disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated whether perceived God support would mediate the negative relationship between religiosity and psychological distress. 253 Evangelical Christians completed the Patient Health Questionnaire for Anxiety and Depression, the Religiosity Inventory, and the Religious Support Scale. Mediation analyses revealed that perceived God support partially mediated the negative relationship between Evangelical religiosity and psychological distress. This meant that perceived God support could explain some of the negative religiosity-distress relationship. As such, Evangelical religiosity may be related to health benefits through adherents' sense of support from God, corroborating a divine attachment theory of religion. We argue that God support should be considered as one of the theoretical mechanisms through which religions may be associated with better psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptually anchored on lived religion, this paper explores the meanings and experiences of health, illness, and healing among Filipino migrant women in Japan as they intersect with their religion. Likewise, it explores the functions and limitations of religion as migrant women face physical and mental health problems caused by work, marital status, and/or dislocation. Using biographical interviews and ethnography, this paper suggests that religion serves as a material and symbolic resource for making sense of health, illness and healing. As a material resource, it offered tangible, informational, and emotional support. It can however become limiting when personalised meanings and practices of religion frame illness based on morality, promote health misinformation, and delay healing and other health-seeking behaviours. Nonetheless, healing as perceived and experienced by Filipino migrant women involves lived religion in their complex meaning making and negotiated in terms of its physiological, spiritual and emotional effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the internal structure of the Readiness to Engage in Interreligious Dialogue Test (REIDT). The definition of a dialogue in a democratic society forms the theoretical framework for the test construction. The readiness to engage in interreligious dialogue was defined as a mental readiness to exchange views on religious topics, based on a symmetrical exchange of thoughts, aimed at creation of mutual understanding by people with different religious affiliations, involved in cooperation to meet this objective. The REIDT consists of 36 items, factor analysis revealed four dimensions of interreligious dialogue: readiness to exchange views on religious topics, readiness to seek mutual understanding, internal barriers for the symmetry of a dialogue, and readiness to communicate with representatives of other religions. The paper includes a brief description of the stages of work on the structure of the method and the reliability and validity indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the rich extant research in the field of mental health in acculturation, it is calling to identify religion as one of the meditative variables of the relationship between acculturation and mental health. In addition, little knowledge exists about the detailed religious experience of Chinese migrants in Ireland. This research adopted classic grounded theory to guide data collection and analysis. The findings show that Christian faith plays a significant role as a mediator in the cross-cultural adaptation of the participants with two aspects of the mental impacts: helping to cope with mental stress and providing spiritual satisfaction. The results in this paper are part of the findings from an investigation of the religious experience of the participants during their cross-cultural adaptation in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Ruskin was a Victorian polymath who developed severe mental health problems from late middle age. This paper focuses on one of his many areas of interest and expertise, visual aesthetics. It traces the relationship between his theories and practices in this area and the nature of his mental health condition, which was dominated by visual symptoms. It argues that Ruskin's aesthetic theory is part of a broader spiritual visionary quest, firmly framed within the Christian theological tradition, and that it valorises certain habits of perception and attention that are now recognised to be a feature of cognition in psychosis. It suggests that there is continuity, if not a causal relationship, between Ruskin's lifelong adoption of these practices and the psychological symptoms he displayed as his (probably neuropsychiatric) illness progressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with the notion of universality by critically exploring the concepts of trauma and post-traumatic growth from a cultural perspective. Drawing on the indigenous Māori model of wellbeing "Te Whare Tapa Whā", the inter-relationships between family relationships, physical wellbeing, mental and emotional health, and spirituality are examined as a holistic model. Spirituality is a key component of this holistic approach and arguably an inseparable aspect of holistic wellness and can be defined as "a broad universal construct associated with individuals' ways of making meaning of their lives and the acknowledgment of the presence of a higher being". Within the cultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand, we make a case for the value of holistic interventions to support people who have experienced trauma that prioritise spirituality alongside other aspects of wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores consumers' understanding and perception of the etiology of mental illness in community-based residential facilities in Ghana. Qualitative data involving in-depth interviews were used to collect data from 15 consumers of mental health services from two residential facilities. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The study showed that mental illness is generally constructed within the medical and religious-cultural notion. The religious-cultural construction aligned mental illness to Ghanaian belief systems (supernatural forces, spirituality and traditional belief) and cultural practices (social norms and values) whilst the medical construction ascribed the etiology to biological, emotional and substance abuse issues. Although consumers had a positive perception of mental illness, they were doubtful about the presence of illness. The study concludes that the combination of medical, social and religious-cultural constructs and understanding of mental illness should be integrated into advocacy and awareness programmes to better educate consumers and clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultivation of equanimity has been emphasized in various indigenous philosophies and contemplative practices. This paper aims to develop an expansive understanding of equanimity as a distinct psychological construct. Thirty experts from various traditions such as Buddhism, Vedic studies, meditation, and yoga were interviewed on their understanding and insights into equanimity. The findings suggest equanimity as an even-mindedness towards the varied hedonic and affective experiences. The cognitive, affective, and conative mechanisms of equanimity such as increased distress tolerance, hedonic neutrality, and reduced reactivity are outlined. At the interpersonal level, equanimity entails impartiality and reduced bias towards others. The challenges one may face during the cultivation of equanimity have been suggested by the experts. The implications of cultivating equanimity have been examined in the context of adaptive coping and holistic wellbeing in the current pandemic situation, dealing with compassion fatigue, and the development of indigenous leadership practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion and spirituality (R/S) tend to be associated with emotional wellbeing, but less is known about how they function in the lives of people with mental illness. This paper presents an analysis of in-depth interviews with 26 adults who self-identified as working professionals with a mental illness. Four themes emerged regarding how R/S was experienced as beneficial to mental health, and three themes regarding how it was problematic. The benefits included providing a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, supportive relationships with R/S figures, and therapeutic R/S practices, whereas problematic aspects included religion as a risky refuge, religious struggles, and abuse in religious settings. In addition, 21 of 26 reported transitions related to their mental illness including switching between religions, leaving religion, and becoming more spiritual, leaving R/S altogether, and religious conversion. The results are discussed, and implications are drawn for R/S practitioners as well as for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three reviewers have reviewed the book Religiosity and Subjective Well-being in the Arab Context. These reviewers have raised specific important points. The present paper aims to address, extend and comment on the main points in their review. As an extension of the research papers in that book, other co-authored studies are summarised. Then, the Arabic and international results on the religiosity-well-being (WB) association are compared. Since the use of the single-item self-rating scales was frequently criticised, the merits of their use in this book was successfully demonstrated. The mechanisms and pathways between religiosity-WB have discussed. Then, future research has suggested. It was concluded that the Arabic studies provide sound evidence to support the positive association between religiosity and both health and WB. Religiosity can help individuals reduce the pain of loss, and it may serve in the prevention and amelioration of disease and intervention for augmenting WB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voice-hearing occurs in clinical and non-clinical samples, and the role of spiritual and cultural frameworks of understanding for percipients has received increased attention. This review aimed to identify and synthesise the existing qualitative literature relating to positive aspects of voice-hearing experiences, and to make recommendations based on these findings for clinical practice and future research. Qualitative papers that included positive aspects of voice-hearing were identified by undertaking a systematic search of six electronic databases, resulting in 22 papers. The quality of each paper was assessed and the meta-ethnographic approach was used to extract and synthesise the data. Six themes were identified relating to voices providing safety and protection, guidance, creating psychological and emotional well-being, providing companionship, facilitating personal growth and development, and connecting hearers to religious or spiritual belief systems. The findings suggest positive aspects of voicehearing that may have clinical and research implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the application of the four noble truths based problem solving (FNTBPS) approach to supplement the contemporary and traditional Thai Theravada Buddhism literature on psychological healing. This paper outlines the core concept of FNTBPS, its key components and application, using an illustrated case example of Tom (ต้อ ม), a 50-year-old Thai man facing psychological problems due to his worsening eyesight. Lastly, this paper outlines the therapeutic implications of how an understanding of psychological healing via the knowledge of FNTBPS can be used for case formulation and treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological type of 1032 students of Dhammakāya meditation at Buddhist centres in the UK and US was surveyed using the 50-question Francis Psychological Type Scales and compared with their respective normative populations. Meditators' psychological type generally showed significantly higher proportions of INFJ (5-8x higher), INTJ (6-8x higher), IN (2-3½x higher), NJ (3-5x higher), NF (2x higher) and N (2x higher). Although these meditators did not self-identify as Buddhist, they showed psychological type profiles similar to UK and US convert Buddhist attendants of temples and meditation centres. Further analysis of meditators opting specifically for the Dhammakāya method of meditation showed a tendency towards dominant sensing (Dt.S) and the ISFJ type, indicating the predisposition for visualization (that is the hallmark of this method). Based on this evidence, the paper proposes a possible mechanism for individuation through meditation practice that differs between introverts and extraverts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a "faith-based community", the ultra-Orthodox society is a differentiated minority group, which has recently recognised intimate partner violence as a social problem. The members of this conservative, patriarchal society keep themselves in a secluded sphere, apart from the modern, secular Western society. The aim of this paper is to explore the experience of ultra-Orthodox women coping with intimate partner violence. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 ultra-Orthodox women coping with intimate partner violence in Israel, 27–49 years of age, all clients of the social services. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: The experience of not being able to build a "faithful Jewish home"; strengthening one's faith as a means to survival; and the meaning of "tikun" and choice. The impact of these findings is examined in the context of culture-sensitive interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the connection between psychological type and personal wellbeing among a sample of 95 Catholic priests serving in Italy. Personal wellbeing was assessed by two measures: the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and the Purpose in Life Scale. Psychological type was assessed by the Francis Psychological Type Scales that draw on the development of Jung's classic model that distinguishes between two orientations (extraversion and introversion), two perceiving functions (sensing and intuition), two judging functions (thinking and feeling), and two attitudes (judging and perceiving). The data demonstrated that lower levels of personal wellbeing were experienced by introverts than by extraverts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the psychometric properties of the seven-item Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith among Muslim secondary school students (N = 1,146) in England, surveyed alongside Christian (N = 575) and religiously unaffiliated (N = 361) students, in a sample in which Muslim students comprise the majority. The data demonstrated a satisfactory level of internal consistency reliability among all three groups, although less good among the Muslim students: Muslim (α =.79), Christian (α =.92), and religious unaffiliated (α =.86). The shorter five-item Astley-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Theistic Faith Revised provided a higher level of internal consistency reliability across all three groups: Muslim (α =.85), Christian (α =.94), and religiously unaffiliated (α =.95) and is commended for further use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirituality has a significant role in the individuals' physical and mental health, nevertheless health care professionals neglect these needs. This study was aimed at developing a package for the provision of spiritual services in healthcare centers. The study was conducted in two sections. In the review section, the papers related to the topic were selected among accredited scientific sites. In the qualitative section, the data were collected through Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) and individual interviews, and was analyzed using content analysis. The package was designed at two levels: basic and specialized. At basic services, teaching spiritual life style and at the level of specialized services, evaluation and spiritual history, spiritual counselling, and care and spiritual support were envisaged. For implementation of spiritual interventions, an "Implementation Steering Committee" is suggested to be established while the main stakeholders in the healthcare system and experts from the seminary are in attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines conversion from "Hinduism" to Christianity in India and in the UK. To date work in this area has focused upon Hindu–Christian conversion among Hindus in India largely focusing upon Dalits. It explores the experience of Hindu Christian conversion through five case studies and focuses upon antecedents and consequences of conversion. It stresses the central role of profound religious experiences in those converting and the resultant disharmony among families and the wider Hindu community. While structural factors may be important for some of these individuals, all have undergone a form of metaphysical and intellectual conversion. The conversion narratives cited suggest that conversion experiences are beneficial psychologically in terms of providing a new sense of meaning, facilitating coping and increasing contentment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evangelical Christians consistently endorse spiritual aetiologies for mental distress, which include the belief that mental distress can be treated solely through spiritual intervention (prayer, fasting and deliverance). The present survey examined the beliefs and experiences of 446 self-identified evangelical Christians considering growing public awareness of mental distress. The paper focuses on the extent to which church teaching represents mental distress as caused by "spiritual" factors, and how this affects beliefs about "secular" treatments and resulting interactions within communities of faith. Thirty-one percent of respondents reported experiencing teaching which exclusively spiritualised their mental distress. However, 94% endorsed secular interventions (psychological therapy) as effective. Additionally, 73% of respondents endorsed non-spiritual causal attributions (biological/neurological or traumatic/lived experiences) for mental distress. Overall, 56% indicated positive engagement within their faith communities. That respondents endorsed positive interactions within their churches, despite the presence of spiritualised teaching, highlights the limitations of anti-spiritualisation narratives. We argue for an approach to mental distress that is culturally sensitive and psychologically framed, and yet responds to individual and collective meaning-making regarding the interface between spiritual and psychological dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islam shows that because the materialistic and hedonistic life currently characterising modernity only emphasises the physical aspects of life, spiritual aridity, moral decadence and stress will become a commonplace phenomena in human life. At a saturation point of hedonism, humans will seek spiritual freshness to satisfy their spiritual thirst and happiness. Many of them may look into the world of mysticism. Hence, this paper attempts to provide a new approach to deal with stress in the workplace inspired by a Sufist idea. This idea arises from the belief that spiritual values and habits as therapeutic elements play a significant role in shaping adolescent psychology and more intact personalities. The authors recommend the use of Sufistic psychotherapy for enhancing mental health or dealing with psycho-somatic conditions such as stress and anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health is a public health challenge with lack of understanding, great institutional neglect and widespread stigma in Nigeria. There is also a dearth of secondary review studies exploring knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes towards persons with mental health disorders in Nigeria. The aim of this scoping review was to explore the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of Nigerians towards mental health issues. Sixty-four articles were identified as meeting the eligibility criteria. The most common determinants of mental health disorders as perceived by Nigerians were supernatural causes such as possession of evil spirits, sorcery, witchcraft, and divine punishment. In addition, a significant number of articles attributed the cause to drug or alcohol misuse. Social distancing and avoidance were expressed in all papers that looked at attitudes towards people with mental disorders. The research showed that Nigerians held supernatural belief as the cause of mental disorders and religion is a significant cultural aspect for Nigerians. Therefore, collaboration with religious and traditional institutions could help improve knowledge and awareness. Further qualitative studies are needed to explore the experiences of Nigerians particularly, in the northern regions of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to recount the phenomenological experiences of an individual with cannabis dependence and psychosis. The transformations of the participant's "self" interwoven in a nexus of culture, religion, and ethnicity are captured scrupulously. Components like self-concept, body image, homosexual identity, and religious identity are examined to understand substance use and psychosis in a new light. Data were collected and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The main themes that emerged are "Self as a burden", "Conflictual experience of identity", and "Emergence of a new unifying self". The role of intra-psychic and socio-cultural factors in substance use disorders is emphasised to implicate better treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the construction of the Athwal-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Sikhism, working in the tradition of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity, the Sahin-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Islam, the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism, and the Santosh-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Hinduism. Drawing on data provided by 90 self-assigned 13- to 15-year-old Sikh students attending year-nine and year-ten classes in a state-maintained school in England with a Sikh foundation, the 24 items selected from a larger pool of items to comprise the Athwal-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Sikhism displayed good properties of internal consistency reliability and construct validity. No significant difference in mean scale scores was found between male students and female students, or between year-nine students and year-ten students. The instrument is commended for further use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been reported in various studies that music in general andsatsang(singing folk sings in a group) in particular has a positive effect on well-being. The present paper focuses on an analysis of what the rural women sing in these songs that form the repertoire of asatsang. The study area is Haryana, a state in India. Sample songs have been analysed to present the religious/spiritual messages that these folk songs convey. Content analysis of these songs has been done after categorising them broadly into three categories: songs that sing praises of Gods and Goddesses, sing about the incidences from scriptures and songs that convey spiritual or religious messages. Through this, the paper has explored the ways to disseminate spiritual/religious knowledge through folk songs in the local rural community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

John Hick (1922–2012) was an influential analytical philosopher of religion and liberal Christian philosophical theologian who taught in Britain and the United States. His work on religious epistemology, the theology of religions and, to some extent, eschatology has close links with his understanding of the philosophy of religious experience. This paper offers a detailed analysis and critical evaluation of these significant elements of Hick’s philosophical and theological thought, focusing in particular on his theory of religious knowledge and the role played by religious concepts within religious experience, and the relevance of these reflections for his pluralistic account of the variety of religions and his criterion of religious truth. Hick’s response to the challenges of contemporary neuroscience and the philosophy of mind is also reviewed. The paper reflects on the relevance of these views to accounts of an experience of transcendent reality collected through the empirical psychology of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Orthodox Jews are a distinct subgroup with specific beliefs and values towards sexuality, reproduction, modesty, and openness to mental health treatment. This paper reviews the treatment of 41 Orthodox Jewish couples who presented for sex therapy. Most couples were referred by a rabbinical leader. The most common presenting problem was an unconsummated relationship; present in 27 couples. In 34 couples the initial presenting complaint was a male sexual problem yet in 20 of 41 couples both partners described having some sexual problem. Almost 50 per cent of both men and women were also diagnosed with a comorbid psychiatric disorder, which was almost always previously undiagnosed. The most common presenting problems were vaginismus, male inhibited arousal, and/or inhibited male orgasm. Two case examples illustrate some adaptations to assessment and treatment that can be helpful in treating sexual problems in Orthodox Jewish couples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to develop a culturally sensitive approach assessment instrument that measures cognitive beliefs related to Iranian Muslim salient fear of death. This paper discusses the development and validation of Avicenna Fear of Death Scale (AFDS). The results of confirmatory factor analysis resulted in an instrument (AFDS) consisting of five cognitive concerns related to the fear of death including complete annihilation, severe pain of death, consequences of sins, interpersonal attachment, and attachment to estate. Twenty-two statements overall were offered using a Likert scale to measure related cognitive beliefs. Results from a convenience sample of 291 college students, showed the AFDS to have favourable psychometric properties (e.g., adequate reliability and validity). The total alpha coefficient was.85, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency and the item-total correlation between.28 and.63 (p<.001) indicates that the items are discriminating well. Overall, results suggest that cross-cultural differences render a culturally sensitive approach to assessment and diagnosis essential, and therefore a culture-based scale like Avicenna AFDS might be fruitful extensions of the current death anxiety scales like Templer Death Anxiety Scale within the context of Iranian-Islamic culture. This diagnostic tool can help in the cognitive treatment of fear of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenting is a dynamic process, influenced by socio-cultural factors. It is an important contributing factor to child development and childhood psychopathology. Research investigating association between parenting styles and child outcome are limited in India. This paper aims to review studies conducted in West and in India in order to study cultural differences in parenting styles and its outcome. We found that despite hypothesized cultural differences between the West and India, the effect of parenting styles on children appear to be similar across culture, and culture did not serve as a moderator for parenting style and child outcome. An Authoritative parenting styles was associated with better outcome than authoritarian and neglectful/uninvolved parenting style in both Western countries and in India. Findings on indulgent/permissive parenting style were mixed in both Western countries and in India. The article discusses cultural shift in the parenting styles, and its implications for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the PTSD literature, moral injury represents dissonance between a person's beliefs about how they and the world should function, and the trauma event(s) they experienced. Given the association of moral injury with the assumptive world, it is not surprising the concept is closely intertwined with spiritual concerns. This paper reports on a spiritually integrated group intervention designed to help veterans with PTSD in the process of moral and spiritual repair. Qualitative findings are shared from interviews conducted with 18 participants who completed the intervention. Themes are centred around participants' overall response to their experience in the group; where they are at regarding feelings such as guilt, shame, anger, trust, sense of betrayal, and desire for forgiveness; changes in religious/spiritual beliefs and practices and the experience of moral injury; and if they now find meaning in the trauma. The findings support the need for additional treatment options that address the moral and spiritual aspects of trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western mental health profession has included Buddhist practices in its clinical applications, and Buddhisms' contribution to mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) could be considered as one of its main inputs. However, MBIs appear to depart in some key ways from their Buddhist origins whereby it may reduce its psychotherapeutic value and affect the accurate dissemination of the Buddhas' teachings. This paper reflects on some of these departures, by firstly discussing the term mindfulness, which, as used in the MBIs, has a more restrictive meaning than that meant by the Buddha. Secondly, this paper discusses the usefulness of MBI therapists being knowledgeable in a range of meditation techniques, rather than in only a few. And thirdly, this paper discusses the usefulness of MBI therapists having a personal mindfulness practice of ones' own, and concludes by suggesting that an explicit acknowledgement of the Buddha in the formation of the MBIs be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The therapeutic outcomes gained through engaging with the art making process are well documented. Somewhat less probed are the auxiliary and sometimes enigmatic experiences of art making that impact on the sense of mental wellbeing; experiences which, by their nature, can be difficult to capture. This paper discusses such experiences, described by a group of art makers with histories of mental illness, as being spiritual in nature. A phenomenological approach using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology was used, with Heideggerian concepts of ‘Dasein’ (There-being) and ‘Mitsein’ (With-being) informing an interpretation of the intersubjective. Such experiences were felt to be profound, and were often claimed to be accessible exclusively through an art practice that was sustained over a number of years of regular activity. The paper concludes by pointing out the difficulty in capturing evidence of sustained, non-clinical strategies for wellbeing such as those developed as an inherent part of the experiences reported here, due to their nuanced nature and the reluctance with which they may be narrated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the effectiveness of religious healing by focusing on one important factor that has been much neglected – the stay within the shrine. Drawing on qualitative research in Mahanubhav temples in India, this paper emphasises that the central part of religious healing is the process of being in the temple and becoming familiar with shrine culture. At the same time, I argue that the social space of the shrine is important not only for the benefits of a soothing environment or support system. It is argued that temporary residence within the shrine enables individuals to develop long-term associations with the religious community and sect. Through discussion of indicative cases, this paper elaborates on the process of “becoming a Mahanubhav pilgrim” that is at the heart of temple healing practices in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]