4 ms·
Being told to pray is pretty much the antithesis of good therapy.
by japhyr 11y ago
Being told to pray is pretty much the antithesis of good therapy.
- Dylan16807 11y agoHow so? Seriously praying is an involved, focused mental state. It's not flippantly wishing.
- clsec 11y agoBeing asked to pray is not the right way to go. But, gaining a spiritul practice of some sort and learning/practicing mindfulness can be a tremendous help to someone suffering from major depressive disorder, such as myself. It has helped me quite a bit. Though I am still depressed, as I have been my entire life. It's a good tool in my toolbox of things that I have to help myself.
- learnstats2 11y agoI am not religious but I can see the value of prayer. In this case, the therapist could have understood that prayer was not a helpful suggestion - but in general, it's a valuable tool.
- hessenwolf 11y agoWhen used with caution, perhaps. Separation from a god-belief coincided with the start of my depression, so prayer would be super-not-helpful.
- judk 11y agoThis is why prayer is better as a preventive measure, not a treatment. Keeping faith feels healthier than trying yo regain it.
- a3n 11y agoNot necessarily. I haven't researched it beyond what my doctor told me, but "studies have shown" that for people who have prayer as part of their life to begin with, prayer can be very helpful. Not for the GP commenter, so that suggestion wasn't helpful, but certainly for people already open to it. And doesn't that make sense? We're not merely bodies and brains, a biological machine built to specification, arriving at a particular day exactly like each other and exactly like we were born. Besides differences in brain mechanics and chemistry from each other and from our birth, we are also each the various experiences of our history. We have as much in difference as in common with each other. Quite apart from the question of whether prayer and what's prayed to is reality or not, people do believe in prayer and what's prayed to. If that's an effective part of their therapy, I see no reason to question it. If it lifts them out of the horror of depression and keeps them alive, I'm very happy for them, and for me if they're in my life. -- Signed: a non-partisan, small "a" atheist.
- ak39 11y agoI see (religious) prayer as simply a form of deliberate enunciation or vocalisation of hope. One would likely only pray if there was even the smallest glimmer of hope to begin with! Doesn't matter if it's a call for a miracle, there's still some dopamine activity there. The idea of encouraging the hopeless to pray as a method of bootstrapping themselves out of depression may simply be an appeal to a more cognitive self-realisation process. This simply by the act of vocalising what the individual hopes for.
- cwp 11y agoDepends why the therapist is suggesting it. If he thinks that praying in and of itself will be valuable, eg, because the patient is religious and a calm, focussed mental state would be valuable, then it is good therapy. If the therapist is suggesting that the patient ask God to cure him... well, that's not good therapy.