Spirituality and religion in pain and pain management

Abstract

Pain relief is a management problem for many patients, their families, and the medical professionals caring for them. Although everyone experiences pain to some degree, responses to it vary from one person to another. Recognizing and specifying someone else’s pain is clinically a well know challenge. Research on the biology and neurobiology of pain has given us a relationship between spirituality and pain. There is growing recognition that persistent pain is a complex and multidimensional experience stemming from the interrelations among biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors. Patients with pain use a number of cognitive and behavioral strategies to cope with their pain, including religious/spiritual factors, such as prayers, and seeking spiritual support to manage their pain. This article provides an overview of the complex phenomenon of pain, with a focus on spiritual and religious issues in pain management.

Narratives of Patients with Osteoarthritis from Yucatan: A Focus Group Interview Study

“…Various studies support that the presence and severity of neuropathic pain are associated with greater impairments in quality of life. However, as this impact varies somewhat as a function of the domain being considered (17), a finer analysis of quality of life domains must be considered in further studies.…”

Spırıtual needs and practıces among famıly caregıvers of patıents wıth cancer

“…Several studies demonstrated that many individuals rely on their spirituality and faith when coping with stres in most cultures. (16)(17)(18)(19)(20) Dedeli & Kaptan (13) indicated that people apply cognitive and behavioral strategies including religion/spirituality to cope with pain. Another study showed religious-spiritual coping can be very helpful when dealing with chronic disease.…”

“…In Islam, it can be punitive or Allah's will. (13) Being Muslims, they often believed that illness and injury are caused by a higher power (Allah) and they offered their illness, injury, pain, and suffering to Allah in thanks for the good fortune of being allowed the special medical or/and surgical treatments. (14) The sample in this study of spiritual practices consists of persons who were predominantly Muslim and had come from an Islamic background.…”

“…Family members would stay by the bedside reciting the Holy Quran (Koran) hoping to imbue peace and serenity into the heart of the loved one. (9,13,15) Spirituality is a distinctive, potentially creative and universal dimension, rising both within the inner subjective awareness of individuals and within communities. Several studies demonstrated that many individuals rely on their spirituality and faith when coping with stres in most cultures.…”

The Role of Religious Coping in Perception of Suffering among Patients Undergoing Dialysis

“…Ramirez showed that the positive religious coping was related to psychological health and quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis (15). Dedeli indicated that people apply cognitive and behavioral strategies including religion/ spirituality to cope with pain (16). Akbari demonstrated that religion creates hopefulness, compensates for negativism and increases happiness in people.…”