Faith Matters: Exploring The Relationship Between Religion and The Mind - The Gloss Magazine

Faith Matters: Exploring The Relationship Between Religion and The Mind

Can religion change the brain and help with depression? Kate O’Brien investigates the intersection between spirituality and health…

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“We all have the neural wiring for awakened awareness,” believes Dr Lisa Miller, Columbia University’s clinical psychology professor. Drawing on decades of research for her latest book, The Awakened Brain, Dr Miller outlines how 25 years of research data is showing that having a spiritual core (believing in religion or some form of higher power) is the single most powerful factor for preventing the most debilitating mental health issues of our time. This is what Miller calls “awakened awareness” and while many of the scientific findings are relatively new, these inner spiritual paths have carried our ancestors through extremely challenging times in their own lives, but many have been lost to our generation.

Dr Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist specialising in neurotheology, has been studying the relationship between religion and the mind. In his book How God Changes our Brains: Breakthrough findings from a leading neuroscientist, he admits that while he is not even sure that God exists, “What we can prove is that believing that God exists is fundamentally good for you as a human being.” Dr Newberg is director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. His years of study have highlighted the impact of religious contemplation on the human brain, most notably that engaging in twelve minutes of personal reflection and prayer every day strengthens a unique neural circuit that enhances social awareness, empathy and a heightened sense of compassion, while also subduing negative emotion. “But,” he qualifies, “consistency is key and the more we focus on our inner values, the more we can take charge of our life.”

Newberg’s work also reinforces the idea that our brains do not slowly erode with age (as was once believed), but are nimble and malleable and continue to develop according to the experiences and behaviours we engage with through life – facts echoed by numerous other studies. What’s more, we now know that through neurogenesis the brain is able to replace neurons that have died and reorganise neural networks and their connections.

Mathieu Ricard, a Nepal-based Buddhist monk, author and advisor to the Dalai Lama, has long been at the forefront of groundbreaking experiments on the impact of meditation and mindfulness on neuroplasticity in the brain. “We know that the practice of meditation has an immediate impact on cerebral activity and, in the long term, on the very structure of the brain,” Ricard explains. You don’t have to be highly trained in meditation or to sit on your mat for hours on end to enjoy these benefits: “We have found remarkable results with long-term practitioners who did 50,000 rounds of meditation, but also with three weeks of 20 minutes a day, which of course is more applicable to our times,” he adds.

Humans are a deeply religious species with a strong desire for meaning and purpose in life and in most cultures religion has been, and continues to be, at the core of life’s great occasions, with the church, temple, mosque or equivalent, being the focal point for tragedy and triumph alike. 

“Meditation, music and prayer all benefit the brain, and the impact of practising as part of a community, being helped along by others, is incredibly powerful.”

“We know that religious participation is linked with greater wellbeing in older people, but what is not certain is whether this is a result of the social connection that comes with being part of a strong community, rather than from religion per se,” explains Ian Robertson, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Dublin’s Trinity College and author of How Confidence Works. His view is that although there has been less research done on the impact of prayer on the brain, it is entirely possible that it shares the same benefits as meditation and mindfulness. “There are many ways you can achieve greater meaning and belonging in life. Meditation, music and prayer all benefit the brain, and the impact of practising as part of a community, being helped along by others, is incredibly powerful.”

Dr Miller has worked closely with the US army to address the escalating rates of suicide within its ranks. Under her guidance soldiers were supported in basic training to be fit and ready in body, mind and in their spiritual core. If a soldier required treatment, spiritual support existed alongside mental health care to guide post-traumatic spiritual growth. This data-driven input coincided with a 28 per cent reduction in completed suicides over a one-year period (between 2021 and 2022), and a decrease of 20 per cent against the five-year average of completed suicide in the army. “Much like a muscle that grows more powerful, the spiritual response to suffering is neuroprotective against subsequent depression,” she adds.

Dr Miller believes that this is one of the most important scientific findings of our time especially as currently half of the American population say they are depressed. “Traditionally, depression hit us individually or in families, but now one by one we sit on the therapist’s chair. We are in this together and when we boil it down, without a shadow of a doubt, there is nothing as profoundly protective against these diseases as a strong spiritual core.”

If we are to glean one practical takeaway, it is that daily spiritual or religious practice simply makes life a little easier and better. It can help us all, and it’s free. As Dr Miller attests: “We can live chasing goals and rewards, lost in worries and regrets, or we can awaken to the true fabric of the world, an evolving tapestry in which every thread matters and no strand stands alone. We can live in isolation, or we can awaken to the common knowing and communication among all living beings, and to a deep felt alignment with the source of consciousness.”

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