Mind Your Head Co-op

I have been asked why I speak so freely about my experience with faith and about praying for others. The bottom line answer is I am a Catholic deacon and it is integral to how I approach everything, including TBI support, both here and elsewhere through the decades. However imperfectly, I express my faith, and welcome others to do the some of theirs.

I encourage you to do a web search for: – faith mental healing study, and; – faith study tbi mental health

There are various studies from recent decades exploring the effect of faith and prayer. Among these studies findings:

• Significantly better mental health among those active in their faith; the more active in one's faith, the better one's mental health.

One study put it this way in its abstract:

Increased spirituality occurring after acquired brain injury is a part of post traumatic growth (PTG). Participants were asked about their spirituality, and their responses were analyzed. Eighty-one percent exhibited a moderate spiritual impact on their recovery. Studies suggest that patients’ spiritual needs are not being met, and chaplains are being underutilized. Trust and a sense of presence are essential to encouraging PTG, and, by fully utilizing the skills of our chaplain colleagues, could improve PTG. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1542305019853588)

Talking about faith and praying for each other is a legitimate, healthy, and helpful aspect of life with brain injury and supporting others living with brain injury.

I did find this fascinating:

Specifically, we find that praying with others and positive emotions felt during prayer are correlated with greater overall mental health and more positive self-concepts. However, we also find that petitionary prayer topics, belief that God is impersonal, and negative emotions felt during prayer coincide with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and a lack of control. Generally, these conclusions hold after controlling for basic demographics, religious tradition, and church attendance, which confirms that mental well-being is related to the practice of prayer in both beneficial and detrimental ways. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-024-02121-5)

In other words, what one believes matters. How one answers questions such as who we are, who God is, why we are here impacts how we handle the many and various challenges and sufferings of life.

I believe faith is an important aspect of how we face life, and it become more important when facing challenges and suffering ... as we do with brain injury.

Other links I found in those searches: – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2765488 – https://www.nicabm.com/can-spirituality-improve-outcomes-for-traumatic-brain-injury-patients/ – https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/512216/religion-spirituality-tools-better-wellbeing.aspx – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328521978_Reaching_Resolution_The_Effect_of_Prayer_on_Psychological_Perspective_and_Emotional_Acceptance – https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/the-science-of-prayer-2.html

May Christ startle you with joy!

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