Spirituality and Covid-19

[Gentenz]

Spirituality, a source of comfort, support and meaning, instills the idea of a sense of belonging and existential interconnectedness, promoting mental health. In the literature, in fact, the accent has been placed on the association that exists between having spirituality and having a greater perception of well-being, physical and mental health. A particularly important aspect is related to coping, or the function performed by spiritual well-being in the management of stressful events. Spiritual coping can be understood as cognitive and behavioral efforts to find or maintain meaning, purpose and connection in the face of difficult situations.

Especially in stressful situations, faith and spirituality seem to also act positively on the immune system, particularly for older people who are also those most involved in religious and/or spiritual activities. Furthermore, spiritual well-being is defined as a state that connects the mind and body of the individual, society, intelligence and health, supporting the individual in his/her attitudes and life goals.

In this period of the COVID-19 pandemic they seem to assume a role and an even deeper meaning in relation to the bewilderment that people are confronted with when faced with such a pervasive, disruptive event, creating daily fragility, fear and uncertainty. In particular, the spiritual distress in those people going through adverse situations, such as that caused by COVID-19, should not be underestimated. By spiritual distress we mean suffering connected to the impossibility of feeling meaning in life, a state of anguish that occurs when an individual experience suffering that in some way undermines their personal identity, for example by raising existential questions about the reason for that particular suffering.

What are your thoughts?