Unit 4

1.    What are the four reasons for exploring psychospiritual flourishing?       (Dacher p. 59) Describe each reason. Why are they important considerations for health and wellness professionals?

1. Most underdeveloped aspect of human life – We spend so much time and energy developing our physical lives, whether it be our intellect, our relationships, careers, etc., we often forget that it is important to develop our inner lives.
2. It is the main source of mental anguish – Often we are so detached from our emotional wellness that we are unable to see warning signs, leading to illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and anger-management issues.
3. It is the area that will most likely help develop other aspects of our lives more fully – A person with a fully developed inner life will be much more at peace, and the bright light will shine from within, enriching every other aspect of their lives, and often the lives of those they choose to surround themselves with.
4. The inner-self needs to be considered a gift and an opportunity for us to share – In this life, we are more than what we can do or give materially to others; often our greatest gift to others is simply being a good, caring, loving person. This can only come from first giving yourself the gift of a full, rich, developed inner self.

As a health and wellness professional this is important in understanding, because this can be the foundation of understanding an individual and gaining insight. Building and developing from the inside at the inner core of a person will shine through to the outside. For an individual to portray strong and healthy outside behavior, working from the inside first is necessary (Dacher M.D., 2006, p.59).

2.    What are Dacher’s four levels of psychospiritual development? Describe each. How have you seen these manifested in your life?

The four levels of psychospiritual development affect each other in order starting with primal unity, psychological life, spiritual life, and conscious unity. Primal unity is in comparison to how an infant would view the world around them. This is a very basic and instinctual sense of viewing one’s surroundings. Psychological life is also called “witnessing consciousness”. This is learning from what we see and our reactions to new experiences. I would look at this development as simply growing up. This is when an individual learns from their mistakes and makes the best choices out of their experiences. Spiritual life is a development deeper and more mature than psychological life. Spiritual life takes the experiences and knowledge gained within the psychological life development and refines them. This development allows for reflection and growth within the mind, body, and spirit. This is when an individual is most confident and at peace with who them are. This is the phase in life that I feel that I am within. I have much more to learn and many more experiences to go through. Although with that said I have gone through many experiences that I have reflected on and grow from as well. The last developmental phase is conscious unity. This phase is awareness of oneself and of all others. Having developed a mature outlook on life, this can allow for continued improvement on oneself and on others surrounding (Dacher M.D., 2006, p.61-2).

 

3.    Describe the Randolph Byrd prayer study (p.317). Why is it considered a landmark study in the correlation between spiritual practices and healing?

In 1988, a prayer study was conducted by a physician named Randolph Byrd. Byrd, a cardiologist at UC San Francisco School of Medicine, carried out a double blind study in which random patients from the coronary unit participated. The control group was asked to pray as a part of the study. They were not directed to pray continuously, but they were informed that intercessory prayer was offered to them outside of the hospital. The results had shown that there were fewer deaths from the control group or the prayer group. This can be considered a landmark study in regards to spiritual insight and healing, due to the fact that a correlation has been discovered. Becoming spiritual can develop positive feelings within an individual, which from other studies has proven to positively affect physical aspects as a result (Schlitz & Amorok & Micozzi, 2005, p.317).

4.    What is meant by the statement;” stress is not what you do, it is how you react to what you do.” (Ornish, p. 307) How it can be applied in your life?

“Stress is not just what you do, it’s how you react to what you do” (Schlitz et al., 2005, p.307). This is such a great phrase to keep in mind when you begin to feel stressed. There are particular situations that I am involved in and become stressed out, especially being a single parent of three young boys and with my fiancé being deployed. What does stressing help? It does not help anything. By learning tools to aide in stress management, this can set people apart in similar situations that. Counting to ten, breathing exercises, disconnecting from a stressful situation are all ways in which stress can be handled.

5.    Describe the studies conducted by Dean Ornish (p.305) published in the American Journal of the American Medical Association. What important findings occurred related to mind-body-spirit wellness and heart disease?

The studies conducted by Dean Ornish included developing a control group of involving diet, stress management, and other lifestyle changes. This randomized control group studied heart patients. Those involved in the control group improved in comparison to the group that did not incorporate these changes (Schlitz et al., 2005, p.305). I found this study quite amazing. All of these studies that we are reading about that show improvements physically when there are changes put in place mentally or spiritually cease to amaze me. There is an interconnection among the mind, body, and spirit.