Spirituality is often mistakenly equated with religion but is in fact a far broader concept. The aim of this integrative review was to describe experiences of the positive impact of spirituality and spiritual values in the context of nursing. The analysis was guided by Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review method. The findings revealed seven themes: 'Being part of a greater wholeness', 'Tog...

Rationale Although psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes, little is known scientifically about its acute and persisting effects. Objectives This double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions. Materials and methods The partici...

After Christians, Muslims represent the largest religious grouping in the UK. According to census statistics, there are approximately 1.6 million Muslims in the UK, approximately 54% of who were born outside of the UK. There has been emerging interest in the use of traditional healers by South Asians in the UK. Early studies by Aslam3 and Healey & Aslam4 focused upon health seeking behaviour am...

RATIONALE The austere setting of the intensive care unit (ICU) can suppress expressions of spirituality. OBJECTIVES To describe how family members and clinicians experience and express spirituality during the dying process in a 21-bed medical-surgical ICU. METHODS Reflecting the care of 70 dying patients, we conducted 208 semistructured qualitative interviews with 76 family members and 150 ...

Religiousness is a potentially important way of facing and coping with life’s difficulties. Spirituality has been found to be associated with feelings of hope, lower levels of depression, and improved social interaction, well-being, and quality of life. Nevertheless, psychiatrists often underestimate the importance of their patients’ spiritual experiences and beliefs, by either considering them...

My goal is to outline an evolutionary neuropsychological foundation for spiritual and religious experiences. Central to this account are concepts from archetypal psychology, which, on the one hand, explain the structure of common religious experiences, but, on the other, are grounded in ethology and evolutionary biology. From this it follows that certain religious phenomena are objective, in th...

Purpose: To explore the level of and the experiences with spiritual care by nurses in curative cancer care. Methods: In this mixed-method study, nurses were recruited in eight hospitals in The Netherlands. Questionnaire scores were quantitatively analyzed (n=57), and concerned a spirituality and a competence scale, and five questions about spiritual care. Because of data saturation, qualitativ...

The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) is a 16-item self-report measure designed to assess ordinary experiences of connection with the transcendent in daily life. It includes constructs such as awe, gratitude, mercy, sense of connection with the transcendent and compassionate love. It also includes measures of awareness of discernment/inspiration and a sense of deep inner peace. Originally...