An increased interest in the effects of religion and spirituality on health is apparent in the psychological and medical literature. Although religion in particular was thought, in the past, to have a predominantly negative influence on health, recent research suggests this relationship is more complex. This article reviews the literature on the impact of religion and spirituality on physical and mental health, concluding that the influence is largely beneficial. Mechanisms for the positive effect of religion and spirituality are proposed.
During the last two decades of the 20th century, psychological science rediscovered religiosity/spirituality (R/S) as a legitimate subject matter in understanding the human experience. In large measure, this renewed interest was motivated by the positive association between this variable and health (physical and mental) reported in much of the literature. If the described relationship between R/S and health is accurate, the question of how such an influence might be realized becomes important and subject to empirical investigation. The present paper develops a rationale for why such an outcome might be expected and describes various physiological mechanisms that could mediate the effect of R/S on health.
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