[Spirituality in schizophrenic diseases]

Religiosity/Spirituality and Mental Health: A Meta-analysis of Studies from the German-Speaking Area

The meta-analysis presented here investigates the relationship between religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and mental health based on 67 studies from the German-speaking area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). The weighted average correlation is .03 (95% CI [.01, .05]), indicating that a greater R/S is minimally but significantly associated with better mental health. The results are moderated by the type of R/S measure: negative R/S types correlate - .20 with mental health, whereas other R/S measures exhibit small positive associations. In comparison with US-American meta-analyses, the average effect size is lower, and the associations between negative R/S types and lower mental health are particularly strong.

[Spirituality - Value of the relationship]

Nowadays, issues of religiosity and spirituality are viewed differently than 50 years ago. Social upheaval, migration and secularization have changed the interpretation of religious meaning but have not made religion obsolete. This article describes the differences between a religious and a secular global view and defines spirituality as attachment to a larger entirety. The resources of spirituality are described and the dangers of fanaticism and fundamentalism should not be neglected. Criteria for healthy belief are compared to religious delusion. In the context of attachment theory and the concept of self-transcendence, the value of spirituality is explained by connectedness and relationship.