Spirituality and suicidal behavior: The mediating role of self-forgiveness and psychache.

Abstract

Growing evidence for the salubrious association of spirituality with physical and mental health related outcomes has led to the consideration of spirituality as a protective factor against suicidal behavior. Although support for this basic association is robust, particularly in the context of religious belief and attendance, spirituality has yet to be explored as it relates to psychache-intense, unrelenting psychological pain. Additionally, self-forgiveness has emerged as an important protective factor against suicidal behavior, but has not been explored in the context of psychache. Following a model developed by Webb, Hirsch, and Toussaint (2015), we examine the protective role of spirituality on suicidal behavior, based on three dimensions of spirituality: ritualistic, theistic, and existential. Cross-sectional data were collected from the self-report surveys of 262 individuals drawn from the larger U.S. community. Results suggest that existential spirituality may be the dimension of spirituality most robustly associated with suicidal behavior. Further, self-forgiveness and psychache were found to be mediators of the relationship between existential spirituality and suicidal behavior. Synthesis of the findings from this study, and the implications thereof, are discussed.

Willingness to Self-forgive as a Predictor of the Well-being of Young Students

“…Our results are confirmed by the results of research by other scholars. Hall et al (2020) confirm that self-forgiveness is correlated positively with life satisfaction, while Thompson et al (2005) have shown that willingness to self-forgive plays an important role in turning a negative experience into a positive one.…”

“…The results of an empirical study by Levi-Belz and Gilo (2020) showed that a low level of self-forgiveness is associated with the highest degree of suicidal behavior. Finally, Hall, Webb and Hirsch (2020) believe that self-forgiveness is the most important protective factor when it comes to suicidal behavior.…”

The relationship among spirituality, self-compassion, and body satisfaction in college students.

“…Similarly, Dangel and Webb (2017) further found that all three dimensions of spirituality were associated with lower psychache (psychological pain) in college students. While Hall et al (2020) found that higher existential spirituality was associated with lower suicidal behaviors in a community sample, they did not find a significant relationship between ritualistic and theistic spirituality and suicidal behaviors.…”

“…Webb et al (2014) suggested the intentional framing of spirituality as having those different dimensions as useful in reducing the problem of having a religious versus spiritual dichotomy. They also suggested that using the term “ritualistic spirituality” instead of “religious spirituality” helped separate negative feelings toward the term “religion.” This multidimensional assessment of spirituality has been utilized in multiple studies in the U.S. (Chang et al, 2016; Dangel & Webb, 2017; Hall et al, 2020). For example, Chang et al (2016) found that higher ritualistic, theistic, and existential spirituality were associated with lower depressive symptoms in college students.…”

Spirituality in Adults During a COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Spirituality and selfcare that connect individuals to themselves as well as activities that connect individuals to others and their physical environment, such as caregiving and housekeeping, may reduce negative mood symptoms and fatigue during a COVID lockdown. Spirituality Spirituality has been a protective factor against mental health problems including anger (Sigurvinsdottir et al, 2021), anxiety (Tolentino et al, 2022), suicidal behaviors (Hall et al, 2020), and demoralization (Ghiggia et al, 2021). Public Affairs Research reported that 12% of U.S. residents polled in October 2021 claimed to be religious and spiritual and 28% identified as spiritual but not religious (Brady, 2021).…”