Hope and the Numinous: Psychological Concepts for Promoting Wellness in a Medical Context A secular model for understanding spiritual outcomes
Main Article Content
Abstract
Hope is an indispensable component for living a life of meaning, value, and well-being. Hope enables us to manage stressors, threats, failures, and personal doubts while helping us to stay focused on our goals and strivings. The purpose of this paper is to understand the construct of hope within a new dimension of personality termed the Numinous. The Numinous represents those underlying motivations that address our existential engagement with life centering around our needs to find value for our efforts, construct meaning and purpose for our strivings, and to create a sense of personal worthiness for our being. Hope is particularly relevant to the Numinous dimension of meaning. The Numinous model provides a multidimensional approach to understanding the various elements of meaning and how they combine to create various meaning orientations. Hope’s full range of expression is outlined across four different meaning types. The value of the Numinous for healthcare providers and its role in managing patients is overviewed.
Article Details
How to Cite
PIEDMONT, Ralph L; FOX, Jesse.
Hope and the Numinous: Psychological Concepts for Promoting Wellness in a Medical Context.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 11, nov. 2023.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/4667>. Date accessed: 16 may 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i11.4667.
Section
Research Articles
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
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[34] Schiavon, C. C., Marchetti, E., Gurgel, L. G., Busnello, F. M., & Reppold, C. T. (2016). Optimism and hope in chronic disease: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02022
[35] Broadhurst, K., & Harrington, A. (2016). A mixed method thematic review: The importance of hope to the dying patient. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(1), 18–32.” https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12765
[36] Olsman, E. (2020). Hope in healthcare: A synthesis of review studies. In S. C. van den Heuvel (Ed.). Historical and multidisciplinary perspective on hope (pp. 197-214). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
[37] Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011). Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps. Contemporary Buddhism, 12, 281–306. doi:10.1080/14639947.2011.564844
[38] Surmitis, K., Fox, J., & Gutierrez, D. (2018). Meditation and appropriation. Counseling and Values: Spirituality, Ethics, and Religion in Counseling, 63(1), 4-16.
[39] Dorais S, Gutierrez D. (2021). The Effectiveness of a Centering Meditation Intervention on College Stress and Mindfulness: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Frontiers of Psychology, Oct 21;12:720824. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720824. PMID: 34744885; PMCID: PMC8567013.
[40] Wachholtz A.B., Pargament K. I. (2005). Is spirituality a critical ingredient of meditation? Comparing the effects of spiritual meditation, secular meditation, and relaxation on spiritual, psychological, cardiac, and pain outcomes. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28(4), 369-384. doi: 10.1007/s10865-005-9008-5. PMID: 16049627.
[41] Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
[2] Frank, J. D., & Frank, J. B. (1991). Persuasion and healing (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University.
[3] Norcross, J. C., & Lambert, M. J. (2019). What works in the psychotherapy relationship: Results, conclusions, and practices. In J. C. Norcross & M. J. Lambert (Eds.), Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based therapist contributions (pp. 631–646). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190843953.003.0018
[4] Scioli, A. (2020). The Psychology of Hope: A Diagnostic and Prescriptive Account. In Steven C. van den Huvel (Ed.), Historical and multidisciplinary perspectives on hope (pp. 137-164). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
[5] Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L. (1974). The measurement of pessimism: The hopelessness scale. Journal of Clinical and Counseling Psychology, 42, 861–865.
[6] American Psychiatric Association. The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition-text revision (DSM-5-TR). American Psychiatric Association.
[7] Snyder, C. R. (1994). The psychology of hope. Free Press.
[8] Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. Norton.
[9] Allport, G. W. (1950). The Individual and His Religion. MacMillan.
[10] Frankl, V. E. (1959). From death camp to existentialism. Beacon Press.
[11] Tillich, P. 2000. The Courage to Be, 2nd ed. Yale University Press.
[12] Heideggar, M. (2000). Introduction to metaphysics (G. Fried & R. Polt, Trans). Yale Nota Bene. (Original work published in 1959)
[13] James, W. (1994). Varieties of religious experience. New York, NY: Random House. (Original work published 1902)
[14] Jung, C. G. (1963). Memories, dreams, reflections. New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
[15] Maslow, A. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York, NY: Viking Press.
[16] Piedmont, R.L. (1999). Does spirituality represent the sixth factor of personality? Spiritual transcendence and the five-factor model. Journal of Personality, 67, 985-1013. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.00080
[17] Piedmont, R. L., & Wilkins, T. A. (2020). Understanding the psychological soul of spirituality: A guidebook for research and practice. New York, NY: Routledge.
[18] Piedmont, R. L., Fox, J., & Toscano, M. E. (2020). Spiritual crisis as a unique predictor of emotional and characterological impairment in atheists and agnostics: Numinous motivations as universal psychological qualities. Religions. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/11/551/pdf
[19] Funder, D. C. (2002). Why study religion? Psychological Inquiry, 13, 213-214. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449329
[20] Piedmont, R. L. (2014). Looking back and finding our way forward: An editorial call to action. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 4, 265-267. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rel0000014265
[21] Sloane, R. P., Bagiella, E., & Powell, T. (2001). Without a prayer: Methodological problems, ethical challenges, and the misrepresentations in the study of religion, spirituality, and medicine. In T. G. Plante & A. C. Sherman (Eds.). Faith and health: Psychological perspectives (pp. 339-354). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
[22] Boyd, J. N., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2006). Constructing time after death: The transcendental-future time perspective. In L. Strom & M. A. Thalbourne (Eds.). The survival of human consciousness: Essays on the possibility of life after death. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
[23] de Raad, B, & Mlačić, B. (2017). The lexical foundation of the Big Five Factor Model. In T. A. Widiger (Ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Five Factor Model (pp.191-216). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
[24] Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417-440. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.41.020190.002221
[25] Baumeister, R. F., Bauer, I. M., & Lloyd, S. A. (2010). Choice, free will, and religion, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2, 67-82. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018455
[26] Piedmont, R. L. (2004). The logoplex as a paradigm for understanding spiritual transcendence. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 15, 263-284.
[27] Frankl, V. E. (1966). Self-transcendence as a human phenomenon. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 6,97-106.
[28] Hart, D. B. (2019). That all shall be saved: Heaven, hell and universal salvation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
[29] Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unravelling the mystery of healthy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
[30] Vliet, J. V. (2020). An Ontology of Human Flourishing: Economic Development and Epistemologies of Faith, Hope, and Love. In Steven C. van den Huvel (Ed.), Historical and multidisciplinary perspectives on hope (pp. 239-261). New York, NY: Springer.
[31] Prip, A., Møller, K. A., Nielsen, D. L., Jarden, M., Olsen, M. H., & Danielsen, A. K. (2018). The patient-healthcare professional relationship and communication in the oncology outpatient setting. Cancer Nursing, 41(5), E11–E22. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCC.0000000000000533
[32] Mostofsky, D. I., & Piedmont, R. L. (1984). Therapeutic practice in behavioral medicine. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
[33] Forcina, V., Vakeesan, B., Paulo, C., Mitchell, L., Bell, J. A. H., Tam, S., Wang, K., Gupta, A. A., & Lewin, J. (2018). Perceptions and attitudes toward clinical trials in adolescent and young adults with cancer: A systematic review. Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, 9, 87–94. https://doi.org/10.2147/AHMT.S163121
[34] Schiavon, C. C., Marchetti, E., Gurgel, L. G., Busnello, F. M., & Reppold, C. T. (2016). Optimism and hope in chronic disease: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02022
[35] Broadhurst, K., & Harrington, A. (2016). A mixed method thematic review: The importance of hope to the dying patient. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(1), 18–32.” https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12765
[36] Olsman, E. (2020). Hope in healthcare: A synthesis of review studies. In S. C. van den Heuvel (Ed.). Historical and multidisciplinary perspective on hope (pp. 197-214). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
[37] Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011). Some reflections on the origins of MBSR, skillful means, and the trouble with maps. Contemporary Buddhism, 12, 281–306. doi:10.1080/14639947.2011.564844
[38] Surmitis, K., Fox, J., & Gutierrez, D. (2018). Meditation and appropriation. Counseling and Values: Spirituality, Ethics, and Religion in Counseling, 63(1), 4-16.
[39] Dorais S, Gutierrez D. (2021). The Effectiveness of a Centering Meditation Intervention on College Stress and Mindfulness: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Frontiers of Psychology, Oct 21;12:720824. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720824. PMID: 34744885; PMCID: PMC8567013.
[40] Wachholtz A.B., Pargament K. I. (2005). Is spirituality a critical ingredient of meditation? Comparing the effects of spiritual meditation, secular meditation, and relaxation on spiritual, psychological, cardiac, and pain outcomes. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 28(4), 369-384. doi: 10.1007/s10865-005-9008-5. PMID: 16049627.
[41] Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.