Addressing physical pain with religion and spirituality during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Addressing physical pain with religion and spirituality during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
 
Creator Oberholzer, Annemarie E.
 
Subject Religion; Spirituality; Healthcare religion; spirituality; health; physical pain; spiritual pain; social pain
Description The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is associated with various painful symptoms and could potentially lead to a significant increase in patients experiencing chronic pain. While churches had to close their doors during the pandemic, emerging scientific data suggest that, when our spiritual needs are not met, our well-being can be in jeopardy, and it could also increase the experience of physical pain. The aim of this article is, therefore, to explore the role that spirituality and religion could play in addressing physical pain. An interdisciplinary approach is used with the goal of integrating different insights so as to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the problem. Literature in the disciplines of humanities, health sciences, as well as social sciences is explored to identify the concepts of physical, social and spiritual pain and to explore the link between the different dimensions of pain. It became clear that physical, social, and spiritual pain can influence one another, and addressing one kind of pain can also improve pain in another dimension. Several spiritual and religious interventions were found in the literature and confirmed to be valuable in helping patients cope with physical pain, such as accepting and giving meaning to pain, prayer, meditation, scripture, music, support from the religious community and helping others.Contribution: This article highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates religion and/or spirituality to address physical pain during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-08-04
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v78i4.7393
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 78, No 4 (2022); 6 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7393/22839 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7393/22840 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7393/22841 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/7393/22842
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Annemarie E. Oberholzer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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