Believing in “Karma” or that your God is punishing you for being a bad person can ramp up your pain levels and make your general physical and mental health a whole lot worse. Scientists call this way of thinking “negative spiritual belief”, and a new study by University of Missouri (MU) researchers found it really was bad news for body and mind.
The MU team thinks this research could help in the development of “targeted interventions” to counteract such negative spiritual beliefs, lowering an individual’s pain and boosting their overall health.
Even the smallest degree of negative spirituality is bad for you
“In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense,” said Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions. “But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality, basically, when individuals believe they’re ill because they’ve done something wrong and God is punishing them, their health is worse.”
Johnstone and his colleagues studied nearly 200 individuals to find out how their spiritual beliefs affected their health outcomes. Some participants in the study were in good health, but others suffered from a wide range of illnesses, including cancer, traumatic brain injury, and chronic pain.
Participants were split into two groups. The first “negative spirituality group” was made up of those who reported feeling abandoned or punished by a higher power. The second group reported no negative spirituality feelings.
All those taking part in the study answered questions about their emotional and physical health, including physical pain.
The negative spirituality group reported significantly worse pain as well as worse physical and mental health. The “positive spirituality” group reported better mental health. However, even if individuals reported positive spiritual beliefs, having any degree of negative spiritual belief contributed to poorer health outcomes.
“Previous research has shown that about 10 percent of people have negative spiritual beliefs; for example, believing that if they don’t do something right, God won’t love them,” Johnstone said. “That’s a negative aspect of religion when people believe, ‘God is not supportive of me. What kind of hope do I have?’ However, when people firmly believe God loves and forgives them despite their shortcomings, they had significantly better mental health.”
Individuals with negative spiritual beliefs participated less often in religious practices and had lower levels of positive spirituality and forgiveness.
Finding interventions to combat negative spiritual beliefs and promote positive spiritual beliefs could be a real benefit for some individuals, improving their pain and mental health, said Johnstone.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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