How Spirituality May Mitigate Against Stress and Related Mental Disorders: a Review and Preliminary Neurobiological Evidence

Purpose of Review This article aims to review recent research on the relationship between spirituality and stress and how spirituality may protect against stress-related mental disorders. Preliminary data on neural mechanisms by which spirituality may influence stress processing are also presented....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current behavioral neuroscience reports 2019-12, Vol.6 (4), p.253-262
Main Authors: McClintock, Clayton H., Worhunsky, Patrick D., Balodis, Iris M., Sinha, Rajita, Miller, Lisa, Potenza, Marc N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Behavioral Therapy
Brain research
Hot Topic
Hypothalamus
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Nervous system
Neurobiology
Neurology
Neurosciences
Pediatrics
Post traumatic stress disorder
Psychiatry
Psychopathology
Religion
Spirituality
Threats
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Summary:Purpose of Review This article aims to review recent research on the relationship between spirituality and stress and how spirituality may protect against stress-related mental disorders. Preliminary data on neural mechanisms by which spirituality may influence stress processing are also presented. Recent Findings Recent neuroscientific research on stress implicates widespread corticostriatal-limbic neural circuitry that includes the salience and the default-mode networks. Acute and chronic stress represents a significant etiological factor for a range of mental disorders, and research suggests that specific brain mechanisms of acute stress in healthy states overlap with mechanisms of psychopathology. Recent studies also indicate that spirituality protects against stress and its adverse consequences. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data are presented in a proof-of-concept manner that suggest potential brain mechanisms for how spirituality may influence stress processing. Brain regions identified have been implicated in stress responsiveness, emotional and cognitive processing, and self-referential processing. Summary Research indicates that spirituality represents an important resilience factor for stress and its sequelae. Furthermore, preliminary fMRI data suggest a role for how spirituality may operate to attenuate neural responses to stress responsivity, regulate emotion during exposure to stress, and prevent and reduce stress-related psychopathology.
ISSN:2196-2979
2196-2979
DOI:10.1007/s40473-019-00195-0