Examining the links between spiritual struggles and symptoms of psychopathology in a national sample

✍ Scribed by Kelly M. McConnell; Kenneth I. Pargament; Christopher G. Ellison; Kevin J. Flannelly

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 128 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20325

✦ Synopsis

The present study investigated the relationship between spiritual struggles and various types of psychopathology symptoms in individuals who had and had not suffered from a recent illness. Participants completed self-report measures of religious variables and symptoms of psychopathology. Spiritual struggles were assessed by a measure of negative religious coping. As predicted, negative religious coping was significantly linked to various forms of psychopathology, including anxiety, phobic anxiety, depression, paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsiveness, and somatization, after controlling for demographic and religious variables. In addition, the relationship between negative religious coping and anxiety and phobic anxiety was stronger for individuals who had experienced a recent illness. These results have implications for assessments and interventions targeting spiritual struggles, especially in medical settings.