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Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy – Dr. Kenneth Pargament
The topic of religion has elicited powerful, passionate responses throughout history. So it’s not surprising that Dr. Kenneth Pargament’s latest study, which suggests that religious anxiety could increase the risk of death in the elderly, has garnered international attention.
Pargament, a professor of psychology who has taught at Bowling Green State University since 1979, has been interviewed by the Washington Post, New York Times, BBC and media from Norway and Japan since the controversial study was published in August.
“A number of studies have shown that religious involvement can help extend life expectancy,” says Pargament, who is also an adjunct professor at Boston University.
“This is the first one that found certain types can be a risk factor for health and mortality. This just kind of shows the other side of religion, that religion can raise fundamental questions for people and pose difficulty for people who get stuck in their struggle.”
Pargament was among the researchers who surveyed 596 elderly hospitalized patients in 1996. Patients who wondered if God had abandoned them, questioned God’s love or thought the devil had a role in their illness were more likely two years later to have died than patients who did not hold such beliefs.
“Having questions about God is not an automatic death sentence,” Pargament says, reiterating a point he has made in all those interviews with the media.
As a psychiatrist himself, Aging Gratefully’s co-host, Dr. Peter Brill, studied at one of the best universities with the one of the broadest perspectives in the country. However, nowhere in his training was spirituality ever mentioned or accepted. And yet there were clear sacred moments that occurred when souls touched in therapy. Often these were the most important moments of all. Subsequently, it has become clear that spirituality is essential to life in the Third Age. Dr. Kenneth Pargament has spent his career working to integrate spirituality and psychotherapy. His new book is called Spirituality Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred.
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By David Debin and Dr. Peter BrillThe topic of religion has elicited powerful, passionate responses throughout history. So it’s not surprising that Dr. Kenneth Pargament’s latest study, which suggests that religious anxiety could increase the risk of death in the elderly, has garnered international attention.
Pargament, a professor of psychology who has taught at Bowling Green State University since 1979, has been interviewed by the Washington Post, New York Times, BBC and media from Norway and Japan since the controversial study was published in August.
“A number of studies have shown that religious involvement can help extend life expectancy,” says Pargament, who is also an adjunct professor at Boston University.
“This is the first one that found certain types can be a risk factor for health and mortality. This just kind of shows the other side of religion, that religion can raise fundamental questions for people and pose difficulty for people who get stuck in their struggle.”
Pargament was among the researchers who surveyed 596 elderly hospitalized patients in 1996. Patients who wondered if God had abandoned them, questioned God’s love or thought the devil had a role in their illness were more likely two years later to have died than patients who did not hold such beliefs.
“Having questions about God is not an automatic death sentence,” Pargament says, reiterating a point he has made in all those interviews with the media.
As a psychiatrist himself, Aging Gratefully’s co-host, Dr. Peter Brill, studied at one of the best universities with the one of the broadest perspectives in the country. However, nowhere in his training was spirituality ever mentioned or accepted. And yet there were clear sacred moments that occurred when souls touched in therapy. Often these were the most important moments of all. Subsequently, it has become clear that spirituality is essential to life in the Third Age. Dr. Kenneth Pargament has spent his career working to integrate spirituality and psychotherapy. His new book is called Spirituality Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred.