Spiritual Warfare in the Fight Against COVID-19: Faith Based Practices and Beliefs that Promote Self-Resiliency Among Physicians from Across the World
Dale Sebastian, MD, Assistant Professor, Yale University
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the loss of lives of nearly five million people and has widened the already prevalent socio-economic and health disparities across the globe. Healthcare workers were reassigned out of their specialty areas and faced unprecedented levels of death and dying. Around 80 percent of front-line health care workers in NYC experienced moral distress from witnessing patients dying in isolation, perceived lack of training or experience, prioritizing life-saving resources and having to make life and death decisions. (1)
Due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic, there is a lack of evidence of proven factors that are contributing to burnout. Self-awareness and mindfulness have been shown to reduce burnout (2) Social supports from family, friends and a special caring loved one were each independently associated with greater resilience. Faith and spirituality have found to act positively in stressful situations from an immunological, physical and psychological point of view. Spiritual health and more frequent prayer were associated with greater resilience along with social support from family and friends. (3)
In this session, we will provide narrative-based accounts of the implementation of faith and spiritually based practices among physicians from different parts of the world during the pandemic. We will also investigate cultural and historical origins of different practices that promote self- resilience in these extraordinary times. Participants will then be led though a structured exercise through guided questions that will include 1) self-reflection 2) identifying causes of moral injury 3) self-examination of traditional, spiritual and faith-based practices that fostered self- resiliency among our community.
References -
1. Norman, S. B., Feingold, J. H., Kaye-Kauderer, H., Kaplan, C. A., Hurtado, A., Kachadourian, L., Feder, A., Murrough, J. W., Charney, D., Southwick, S. M., Ripp, J., Peccoralo, L., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2021). Moral distress in frontline healthcare workers in the initial epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: Relationship to PTSD symptoms, burnout, and psychosocial functioning. Depression and anxiety, 10.1002/da.23205. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23205
2.Krasner et al
Krasner, M. Association of An Educational Program in Mindful Communication with Burnout, Empathy,
And Attitudes Among Primary Care Physicians. JAMA 2009, 302, 1284.
3. Coppola, I., Rania, N., Parisi, R., & Lagomarsino, F. (2021). Spiritual Well-Being and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 626944. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.626944
4.Killgore, W., Taylor, E. C., Cloonan, S. A., & Dailey, N. S. (2020). Psychological resilience during the COVID-19 lockdown. Psychiatry research, 291, 113216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113216
5. Curlin, F. A., Odell, S. V., Lawrence, R. E., Chin, M. H., Lantos, J. D., Meador, K. G., & Koenig, H. G. (2007). The relationship between psychiatry and religion among U.S. physicians. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 58(9), 1193–1198. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2007.58.9.1193
Due to the ongoing nature of the pandemic, there is a lack of evidence of proven factors that are contributing to burnout. Self-awareness and mindfulness have been shown to reduce burnout (2) Social supports from family, friends and a special caring loved one were each independently associated with greater resilience. Faith and spirituality have found to act positively in stressful situations from an immunological, physical and psychological point of view. Spiritual health and more frequent prayer were associated with greater resilience along with social support from family and friends. (3)
In this session, we will provide narrative-based accounts of the implementation of faith and spiritually based practices among physicians from different parts of the world during the pandemic. We will also investigate cultural and historical origins of different practices that promote self- resilience in these extraordinary times. Participants will then be led though a structured exercise through guided questions that will include 1) self-reflection 2) identifying causes of moral injury 3) self-examination of traditional, spiritual and faith-based practices that fostered self- resiliency among our community.
References -
1. Norman, S. B., Feingold, J. H., Kaye-Kauderer, H., Kaplan, C. A., Hurtado, A., Kachadourian, L., Feder, A., Murrough, J. W., Charney, D., Southwick, S. M., Ripp, J., Peccoralo, L., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2021). Moral distress in frontline healthcare workers in the initial epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: Relationship to PTSD symptoms, burnout, and psychosocial functioning. Depression and anxiety, 10.1002/da.23205. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23205
2.Krasner et al
Krasner, M. Association of An Educational Program in Mindful Communication with Burnout, Empathy,
And Attitudes Among Primary Care Physicians. JAMA 2009, 302, 1284.
3. Coppola, I., Rania, N., Parisi, R., & Lagomarsino, F. (2021). Spiritual Well-Being and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 626944. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.626944
4.Killgore, W., Taylor, E. C., Cloonan, S. A., & Dailey, N. S. (2020). Psychological resilience during the COVID-19 lockdown. Psychiatry research, 291, 113216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113216
5. Curlin, F. A., Odell, S. V., Lawrence, R. E., Chin, M. H., Lantos, J. D., Meador, K. G., & Koenig, H. G. (2007). The relationship between psychiatry and religion among U.S. physicians. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 58(9), 1193–1198. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2007.58.9.1193