Exploring the Relationship between Spirituality, Coping, and Pain

Abstract

There is growing recognition that persistent pain is a complex and multidimensional experience stemming from the interrelationship among biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors. Chronic pain patients use a number of cognitive and behavioral strategies to cope with their pain, including religious/spiritual forms of coping, such as prayer, and seeking spiritual support to manage their pain. This article will explore the relationship between the experience of pain and religion/spirituality with the aim of understanding not only why some people rely on their faith to cope with pain, but also how religion/spirituality may impact the experience of pain and help or hinder the coping process. We will also identify future research priorities that may provide fruitful research in illuminating the relationship between religion/spirituality and pain.

Pain experience, pain management strategies and satisfaction of hospitalized trauma patients in Indonesia

“…These strategies were rated high effective level by most of the patients because they resulted in the distraction effect and helped the patients to accept their pain. [28] This result is different from previous studies that found that trauma patients used heat and cold compresses, [17] avoidance of thinking about pain and movement and pain tolerance. [6] In addition, the patients reported that they performed SDB because they wanted to relax their body and reduce the tension from nursing or medical procedures.…”

'He said he loved me. I wanted to be loved': Young women's experiences of coping with violence in intimate relationships.

“…In the current study, young women's use of religious and spiritual coping led to an acceptance -not an approval -of the violence and abuse in their relationship, much like religious and spiritual coping has allowed chronic pain patients to cope with physical pain (Wachholtz et al, 2007), college students survive bereavement of a loved one (Park, 2005), college students mediate their reasons for living and suicidal ideation (Wang et al, 2007), and individuals cope with mental distress (Bhui et al, 2007). The present findings demonstrate that young women's use of religiousness and spirituality related to their use of hope, which was a link Arnette, Mascaro, Santana, Davis, and Kaslow (2007) reported for their study of 74 black women who survived IPV relationships.…”

“…Meaning-focused coping research also has similarities to religious and spiritual studies on dealing with adversity and evil (Vroom, 2007). Religious and spiritual coping strategies, such as labelling God as caring, have emerged in recent literature on coping as part of meaning-focused coping, also acknowledging that adversity and suffering are part of human existence (Ano & Vasconcelles, 2005;Bhui, King, Dein, & O'Connor, 2007;Fallot & Heckman, 2005;Greenway, Phelan, Turnbull, & Milne, 2007;Park, 2005;Tyson & Pongruengphant, 2007;Vroom, 2007;Wachholtz, Pearce, & Koenig, 2007). The general assumption within meaning-focused coping is the more positive meaning taken from a stressor, the more effective it is as a coping strategy and the less distress the individual experiences (Ano & Vasconcelles, 2005;Greenway et al, 2007;Utsey et al, 2007;Wachholtz et al, 2007;Wang, Lightsey, Pietruszka, Uruk, & Wells, 2007).…”

“…Previous researchers focused on the use of religious and spiritual coping as a method to reduce negative emotions regarding a situation and as a source of explanation for suffering. Many researchers have recently studied the role of religious and spiritual coping with the experiences of determining purpose and quality of life (Greenway et al, 2007;Utsey et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2007), dealing with stress and distress (Ano & Vasconcelles, 2005;Bhui et al, 2007;Park, 2005;Tyson & Pongruengphant, 2007), struggling with evil (Vroom, 2007), and managing pain (Wachholtz et al, 2007). Fallot and Heckman (2005) studied the use of religious and spiritual coping among women survivors of trauma and presented similar findings to this study regarding relying more on using religion and spirituality to provide a purpose and understanding to suffering; the women in Fallot and Heckman's study and the young women in the present study identified suffering as strengthening their will and determination.…”

Resiliência, depressão, qualidade de vida, capacidade funcional e religiosidade em idosos com dor crônica

“…Idosos chineses da comunidade quando avaliados quanto a resiliência, sintomas depressivos e eventos estressantes da vida, mostraram que o maior número de eventos estressantes na vida e menores níveis de resiliência estiveram associados com maiores níveis de sintomatologia depressiva (Lin et al, 2015 (Wachholtz et al, 2007;Anderson, 2008;Chapman et al, 2008;Johnstone et al, 2008), independentemente da religião em si (Oliveira et al, 2008 É garantida a liberdade da retirada do seu consentimento a qualquer momento e deixar de participar do estudo, sem qualquer prejuízo à continuidade de seu tratamento na Instituição. As informações obtidas serão analisadas em conjunto com a de outros pacientes, não sendo divulgada a identidade de nenhum paciente.…”