Re: Religious and nonreligious coping methods among persons with RA

[Guest guest]

What is a negative use of religion as a coping method? Wonder who came up with

this study? Sounds like Norman Peale still makes sense - a positive

attitude and belief in something beyond onself is a great way of self healing.

Sorry... can't help myself. What happened to plain English ( this coming from a

lawyer). Drove by an insurance agency today with a sign outside. It said

" Inclement weather ahead. Be cautious. " I found myself mentally rewriting...Bad

weather coming. Be careful. I think docs are worse than lawyers and insurance

companies...and that is saying something.

Hugs,

> Arthritis Rheum. 2004 Feb 15;51(1):49-55.

>

> Religious and nonreligious coping methods among persons with rheumatoid

> arthritis.

>

> VandeCreek L, Paget S, Horton R, Robbins L, Oettinger M, Tai K.

>

> The HealthCare Chaplaincy, New York, New York.

>

> OBJECTIVE: To examine religious and nonreligious coping methods among

> persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To identify positive and

> negative religious coping methods and personal characteristics

> associated with them. METHODS: Persons with RA (n = 181) completed a

> religious coping questionnaire, 6 subscales from a nonreligious coping

> inventory, and a depression scale. RESULTS: Religious and nonreligious

> coping were moderately correlated. The scores of all positive religious

> coping subscales were positively related to the importance persons

> attributed to religion. Scores of all negative religious coping

> subscales were positively associated with self-reported depressive

> symptoms.

>

> CONCLUSIONS: Correlations of religious and nonreligious coping methods

> were neither completely independent of each other nor functionally

> redundant, suggesting that each made unique contributions to coping with

> RA. Persons with no (or few) depressive symptoms who reported that

> religion was important to them tended to make positive use of their

> religion as they coped with the emotional stress of RA. A significant

> number of self-reported depressive symptoms were correlated with a

> negative use of religion.

>

> PMID: 14872455

>

>

>

>

> I'll tell you where to go!

>

> Mayo Clinic in Rochester

> http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

>

> s Hopkins Medicine

> http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

LOL, ! Unfortunately for me, I've read so many of these studies

that the language doesn't bother me anymore. Resistance is futile ...

The way one " copes " with a difficult situation or challenge is how one

deals with it, comes to terms with it, or makes peace with it. But the

way one chooses to do so may be a positive way or negative way, good or

bad, optimistic or pessimistic, constructive or destructive (of

course, these are loaded terms and there is much room for argument).

I don't have access to the full text of this particular study, but I've

read others like it.

An example of someone who employs positive religious coping methods

would be a person who says things to herself like, " I'm not happy about

my RA diagnosis, but my faith in God is strong. Together, God and I will

get through this. "

A person who employs negative religious coping strategies might, for

example, think, " I'm angry about my RA diagnosis. I must have gotten

this disease because God is punishing me for something I did. Why me? "

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org

Re: [ ] Religious and nonreligious coping methods

among persons with RA

> What is a negative use of religion as a coping method? Wonder who came

up with this study? Sounds like Norman Peale still makes sense -

a positive attitude and belief in something beyond onself is a great way

of self healing. Sorry... can't help myself. What happened to plain

English ( this coming from a lawyer). Drove by an insurance agency today

with a sign outside. It said " Inclement weather ahead. Be cautious. " I

found myself mentally rewriting...Bad weather coming. Be careful. I

think docs are worse than lawyers and insurance companies...and that is

saying something.

>

> Hugs,

> > Arthritis Rheum. 2004 Feb 15;51(1):49-55.

> >

> > Religious and nonreligious coping methods among persons with

rheumatoid

> > arthritis.

> >

> > VandeCreek L, Paget S, Horton R, Robbins L, Oettinger M, Tai K.

> >

> > The HealthCare Chaplaincy, New York, New York.

> >

> > OBJECTIVE: To examine religious and nonreligious coping methods

among

> > persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). To identify positive and

> > negative religious coping methods and personal characteristics

> > associated with them. METHODS: Persons with RA (n = 181) completed a

> > religious coping questionnaire, 6 subscales from a nonreligious

coping

> > inventory, and a depression scale. RESULTS: Religious and

nonreligious

> > coping were moderately correlated. The scores of all positive

religious

> > coping subscales were positively related to the importance persons

> > attributed to religion. Scores of all negative religious coping

> > subscales were positively associated with self-reported depressive

> > symptoms.

> >

> > CONCLUSIONS: Correlations of religious and nonreligious coping

methods

> > were neither completely independent of each other nor functionally

> > redundant, suggesting that each made unique contributions to coping

with

> > RA. Persons with no (or few) depressive symptoms who reported that

> > religion was important to them tended to make positive use of their

> > religion as they coped with the emotional stress of RA. A

significant

> > number of self-reported depressive symptoms were correlated with a

> > negative use of religion.

> >

> > PMID: 14872455