Spirituality and Wellbeing in the Context of a Study on Suicide Prevention in North India
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 6
Abstract
The connection between spirituality and wellbeing, including its benefits for physical and mental health, has been recognized in the Eastern cultures for a very long time, although the sharp division between science and religion has caused, for the most part, its neglect in Western cultures until recently. Nevertheless, limited efforts have been made to explore the impact of spirituality and religion on wellbeing, including the prevention of suicide. We begin with an overview of the literature on religiousness, spirituality, and health and wellbeing. Further, we present a novel study focused on a sample of 160 Indian students from a spiritually oriented university in North India with the aim to understand how spirituality affects their lives and wellbeing and their views about suicide. Our results show that spirituality, generally, has a positive impact on participants’ wellbeing with a potential protective effect against suicidal behavior, although more research on spiritual/religious beliefs as a source of difficulties is warranted.
Authors and Affiliations
Rekha Wagani and Erminia Colucci
Keywords
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- EP ID EP26044
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060183
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