A recent article in the Scientific American, co-authored by Sarah Estes Graham and Jesse Graham, considers a scholarly article in the July 2011 edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychology written by a group that includes professors from Harvard Medical School. The research found:
Studying hundreds of devoutly religious Jews and Christians, the researchers explored what religious cognitions can lead to more or less worry. Specifically, they found that mistrust in God . . . was associated with nearly clinical levels of worry, while trust in God . . . was associated with less worry. Interestingly, trust and mistrust in God were not just opposite ends of one attitudinal dimension; it’s possible for believers to have high levels of both simultaneously.
Across two studies – one of which measured changes in worry and religious cognitions over a two-week intervention period – the researchers also found that the effects of trust and mistrust in God on worry took place via the mechanism of tolerance of uncertainty. Mistrust in God led to less tolerance of uncertainty . . . , which in turn led to increased levels of worry. Increasing trust in God, however, led to more tolerance of uncertainty, decreasing levels of worry.
So What?
This research is significant in that it is “among the first to integrate explicitly spiritual beliefs into psychological models of mental illness and anxiety.” Additionally, it suggests the possibility of psychological intervention within a client’s own religious worldview that would have both spiritual and psychological benefit relative to worry.
- There are many varied understandings of the best relationship between psychology and religion. How would you define your own perspective?
- Are you surprised to learn, at least among the research population of Jews and Christians, that mistrust in God was so strongly linked to worry? Why or why not?