Use of Religious Resources in Psychotherapy from a Tradition-Sensitive Approach: Cases from Chinese in Malaysia

The role of religion and spirituality in coping with kidney disease and haemodialysis in Thailand

“…Religion has an important influence on how Thai people adapt to the burden of chronic illnesses. In particular, religion provides a philosophy and cognitive framework that can reduce suffering and help people find meaning in illness . The current study is consistent with previous studies from Western countries that found people receiving HD use religion and spirituality to manage/cope with their physical and psychosocial problems and improve their wellbeing and quality of life .…”

“…Buddhists in the current study believed their past sins contributed to their current illness, which is consistent with findings of research into other chronic illnesses in Thailand such as cancer , diabetes and stroke . Thai Buddhists believe committing sin in present or past lives will result in bad karma and different forms of suffering such as pain, disabilities and diseases .…”

“…Religion in all cultures is grounded in traditional practices such as festivals, storytelling, moral guidance, grieving rituals and developmental practice . Buddhism is a fundamental and significant aspect of Thai people's values and beliefs, perceptions and knowledge and provides guidance about how to live in the world .…”

“…Buddhism influences behaviour and affects how people make sense of and find meaning throughout their lives . Numerous studies suggest religion is important to the way Thai people cope with the burden of illness because it provides a cognitive framework that can minimise suffering, increase one's sense of purpose and help people find meaning in illness .…”

Views of young people in Malaysia on mental health, help‐seeking and unusual psychological experiences

“…Malaysia is an ethno-culturally diverse southeast Asian country of 32-million people with a high prevalence of mental health problems; estimated at 30%-40% among adults (Institute for Public Health, 2015; Khoo, 2017;Ting & Ng, 2012). Adolescence to young adulthood is associated with elevated mental ill-health worldwide (Kessler et al, 2005) and perhaps especially so in Malaysia, where the youth prevalence of 20% (Ahmad et al, 2015) exceeds the global youth prevalence of 13.4% (Polanczyk, Salum, Sugaya, Caye, & Rohde, 2015) yet access to mental health care is particularly limited by scarce resources and high stigma, especially for severe mental health problems (Hanafiah & Van Bortel, 2011;Institute for Public Health, 2015;Razali & Ismail, 2014;Shoesmith et al, 2017).…”