Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Spirituality and resilience

Spirituality and resilience:
What is the relationship between spirituality and psychological resilience?

Overview

Blessed by the emotional resilience course

Based on a testimony shared from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints[factual?].

"I was struggling at work and in my marriage, and I wasn’t sure where to turn"

Ciara was struggling with the combination of stress, boundaries, and feelings of inadequacy from her job. On top of difficult conflicts with her marriage. Her lack of self-confidence created hopelessness and the absence of tools to help navigate the constant stress made her problems seem like they were consuming her whole.

Ciara and her husband seeked help from their bishop at their church, hoping to get some guidence. They were invited to participate in a new emotional resilience course from the church resources. She was skeptical that it would change anything. Her thoughts in her ability to manage difficult feelings of negativity and anxitey doubted that she could get better. But through diligence, a scripture verse changed her.

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” - John 10:10

In that moment, she desired to truly live a life that was more abundant. Making her deicision, she willingly became open-minded to experiences of the Spirit and apply the learning she gained from God.

Coming closer to faith

While practical application created positive changes in her life, it was how the resources centered on her faith in Jesus Christ that made the difference for her.

"The course’s format was divinely inspired. From its language to the focus of the lessons, it helped me become more confident in myself and in what the Savior can help me do."

The principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ provided courage through situations that festered anxiety. Turning to her faith in God and Christ in moments of self-doubt reminded her worth. Her faith and accomplishment utilmately stregthen her emotional resilience.

"...if I continued to have false perceptions about who I was or the challenges I was facing, I was only preventing myself from deepening my faith and experiencing growth."

Learning to understand

Tools and knowledge from the course slowly shifted her mindset and change negative habits. She kept track of the progress in her notebook that reflects the her growth over the course.

She found reassurance that struggles weren't inherrently bad. Over time she became more comfortable in dealing with diffcult emotions during challenges, and her recognition of the Spirit provided comfort and peace.

The techniques increased self-awareness and acceptance that life would always be full of hardships, however struggling wasn't a sign something is wrong but indiacated a learning opportunity of growth in adversity.

"They are all part of the journey, and the ones I was going through at work and in my marriage were going to help me grow on my path back to Heavenly Father."

Through the example of Ciara's story of combining faith and practical application, spiritualism created a boost of strength that led to the posititve changes in her life. Her spiritual experiences gave her inner power to excersied her autonomy to act in faith that cultivated positive feelings that matured resileince and coped with accepted loses and courage to foster peace and connection in her life.

In order for resilience to be effective, it requires the desire to change. Interventions can develop resources that promote desirable outcomes people consider valubale to them. Interventions adjust conditions of the situation to bring about the likelihood of the desired outcome. The structure of internventiosn (see Table 1.) can assist in bringing about change. However, changes with complexcity requries persistence, feedback and refinement to be successful (Reeve, 2018).

Table 1. Plan of interventions


Steps	Description	Alterations
Explain	Diagnose why the situation was happening, the motivation of the behaviour.	x
2. Predict	Educated guess of what happen if X, Y, or Z changed	x
3. Intervene	Apply motivation and emotion principles	environments relationships motivations emotions
4. Observe/measure/adjust	Measure key processes and outcomes, track regular progress, adjust based on evidence, document what was done, changed and the reason for.	x

Note. Based on Reeve (2018).

**How can psychological science help undertsand[spelling?] resilience and spirituality?**

Understanding emotional resilience as an adaptive skill that can be used as an intervention and having a recovering nature from hardship, its main components can be explain through psycholgical[spelling?] science. Highlighting that meaning-making, hope, and positive reframing are key to the foundations of resilience, and spirituality can help nurture. By understadning the integration of spiritual practices and resilience stress can be managed effectively, support in finding purpose, and maintain well-being in uncertainty.

Focus questions

How does spirituality and resilience work together?
What goes into resilience?
How does spirituality benefit in emotional resilience?
What are some practical applications of spirituality to build resilience?

Spirituality and resilience dynamic

The purpose of change is to alter a situation to have desired outcomes occur. Spirituality and resilience play pivitol roles in acheiveing the goal. Change within complex challenges require three components to be maintained; persistence, feedback and refinement (Reeve, 2018).

Persistency drives from the emotional response of resilience to adversity that create contributing experiences to sense of purpose and meaning in life events. Through awareness of growth by observations during adversity feelings of happiness are cultivated which promotes sprituality as a source of enlightenment.

Broaden-and-build theory actions promotes positive feelings that the awareness of transformation overcomes stress with posititve meaning, contributing to expandtion the capacity of growth (Fredrickson, 2001). Acting on the positive notions, opportunity of vulnerability occurs to cultivate favourable conditions and resources needed to develop coping skills (Fredrickson, 2001). Tools consitently used in challenging circumstances creates the self-sustaining cycle (see Figure 3). Dimishing autonomic arousal and broadens attention as 'upward spirl' increases the reoccurance of posititve experiences (Fredrickson, 2001).

Example - Goal setting

How can spirituality promote emtional resilience in goal setting?

Goal setting can significantly enhance resilience through achievable and clear objectives that acts as a map to provide a sense of direction to guide behaviours and decisions. As resilience responds to obsticales, the feedback provided assist to determine if certain spiritual experiences benefit to sense of purpose. And optimise actions that is in control to reduce feelings of helplessness in adversity. Involving specific goals that break down overwhleming challenges to a manageable capacity, fostering sense of accomplishment contributing to self-efficacy and source of direction. E.g. a spiritual principle can be followed by a set of guidelines given to develop resilience that is promised to contribute to deepening sense of spirituality. Suggested achieveable goals and support provided in the spiritual community encourages individuals to strive in relying on divine wisdom.

While resilience benefits from positive factors contributing to it's development, the further progression needs adversity. Adversity unique role creates the desired outcome of personal growth from the conditions of stress and challenging situations that promotes the emergence of opportunity in vulnerability, which functions to expand the capacity of resilience through actions of coping and allow spiritual experiences of hope enhance the resilient effects during adversity.

Traditionally 'risk' is associated with negative outcomes, however it can become a valued resilience-enhancing experience. The risk and protective model "steering effect" with interacting in moderate level of risk, the outcome of the experiences can bolster resilience by preparing for future challenges (Rutter, M., 1987). Once vulnerability is succesfully experienced in the risk with protective factors, the buffer to risk factors promotes positive development and well-being (Rutter, M., 1987).

The interest of spirituality development often begins with a reason and understanding spiritual concepts comes from maturing and comparing from experiences. Erikson's psychosocial development theory (1950) development of maturity of the self from life crises and level of commitment identifies four statuses (see Figure 4.). The later stages highlights key periods where exploration of spirituality occurs (Kasprow, M. C., 1999). Involving active questioning, exploration and experiments of spiritual principles that excersies autonomy in personal commitments. As more spiritual experiences occurs, a profound source of purpose and behaviour stregthens resilience through connection of daily practices cultivating faith (Haugan G, et al., 2021).

Resilience in psychology and spirituality

Resilience in psychology is an essential factor in developing the ability to adapt to the adversities of life. Resilience often occurs as a complex phenomenon where internal and external factors influence the ability to cope, adapt, recover, and endure difficult circumstances, including an individual's attribution. Several psychological theories explore the possible factors and processes that contribute to the development of resilience, involving biological , social, cultural and environmental factors in the overall development and outcomes (Steven M. Southwick et al., 2014).

Through in-depth perspective of different dimensions and roles involved, it could explain the development of certain characteristics of resilience people can possess (e.g. why some people are more resilient than others). And how exploring certain conditions can lead to the different outcomes in the development of traits, such as the concepts of nature vs nurture, external factors role in the development and the expansion of the capability in coping with life stressors.

Nature of resilience and spirituality

Resilience is an importnant resource for survival throughout the human lifespan. The lifespan goes through various experience, requiring adpaptation to overcome stress and challenges. The strength and ability of adaptation can determine the outcome of psychological wellbeing, similar to the concept of Darwinism.

Attachment theory explains how the natural development of interaction create innate basis of resource for support, and certain charctersitcs overcome adversity more effectively than others (seen Figure 6). The influencing factors invovled in developing an outcome in it's timing can lead to greater advantage in character development that reflect consitency, repsonsiveness and healthy mental representation such as posittve self-concept, higher self-efficacy (Harwood, E., 2024).

A Case Study of Attachment and Resilience Variance in a Midwestern Family (Kelly Inda, 2014)

Attachment theory adds to the weight of resilience theory by clearly outlining the significance of relationships as the key to most aspects of resilience. Kelly Inda's (2014) qualitative case study explored indicators of resilience that support attachment between a child and their parents. The research focused on indicators of resilience in a healthy attachments to thrive, with one family studied over three interview sessions (Kelly Inda, 2014). Themes included communication during times of crisis and how families use religious practices to aid in times of crisis and resilience patterns the family developed. High need for communication during times of crisis (Inda, K., 2014). More communication was used, the better resilience was built ready for future crisis to occur. And consistency of spiritual practices assisted in the navigation of the crisis (Inda, K., 2014). Concluding that these two factors indicate how crucial families attachments develop resilience during difficult times and through it forms bonds that support resilience overall.

The same prinicples of developmental stages of human lifespan can be applied to the development of spirituality. Fowler's Faith development model (1981) explains several stages experienced as faith develops, from primal to reaching enlgihtment (Friedmann, H., 2010). Having spiritual influences intergrated during the primal timing can provide the opportunity for stronger foundation to foster faith, resulting in advantage to progress later in life (Friedmann, H., 2010). The timing shapes the momentum of progression into a self-organised being, which could lead to reaching a higher sense of self through embodying universal principles of selfless compassion. (Friedmann, H., 2010).

Despite natural development determine specific outcomes of chatacter, the outcome of resilience can be changed. The main components of resilience is flexability through adaptaion. Luthar (2000) and Ungar (2016) dynamic theory argues that regardless consenquences of influencing factors, resilience is an on-going process of persistent change of adaptation in adversity. This explains how the effects of interactive factors, such as adversity, change over time (Luthar, S.S., 2000., Ungar, M., 2016). The use of context allow considerations of complex factors that emerge in certain situations, however during the process of resilience overcome adversity allows opportunities from vulnerabilties to strengthen resilience overall (Gerring, J. P., & Wade, S., 2012).

Nurturing role

Nurturing is having an influence of the environment that is consitently present in life, as seen in biological roles of mothers possessing nuturing traits, the outcome of upbringing on personalities and behaviours, and responses and social interactions infleunces in life experiences. Spirituality can enhance the nurturing role in developing resileince as explained by positive psychology that utilise self-improvement to achieve self-actualisation, as mentioned in Carl Roger's theory, Masclow's heirchacy of fulllfilling needs (see Figure 7) and Reed's (2018) psychological needs of autonomy, compentance and reladtedness. Priotising autonomy values the impact choices have when drawn from emotional resilience through supportive environments that promote authencity, personal growth, sense of purpose and progression to connecting beyond the self (Sargeant, S., Yoxall, J., 2023).

Reed's (1992) Intergrate Spirituality Model (ISM) provides a framework of the workings of nursing self-transcendence theory combining lifespan developmental psychology and unitary human beings (Fukuyama, M. A., and Sevig, T. D., 1999). The main relationships (see Figure 8) showcase transcending challenges, indicating that self-transcendence is essential in promoting health and well-being during difficult circumstances (Fukuyama, M. A., and Sevig, T. D., 1999). With happiness being the ideal outcome that can occur from cultivated contributing actions, experiences of emotional states in happiness can increase relying on resources associated to the behaviour that cause the outcome. Such happiness can promote the inner power of resilience to cope and manage adversity that nuture dignity, authenticity and inner strengths (Bushkin H, et al.,2021).

What is happiness?

Learn more about a type of happiness in Eudaimonic_well-being

Choices lead to consenquences

Logotherapy focuses that finding purpose in life leads to fullfilling optimal functionality and growth of wellbeing (Frankl, V., 1930). The concepts of freedom of will, will to meaning and meaning of life connects to reaching the highest contentment of life based on the alignement of uniques beliefs (Batthyany, 2019). When autonomy is excerised based on outcomes of adversity or ideal preference, it can lead to different occurance of progression in growth from maturity, attitude, and tolerance.

Research model 1.

How can spirituality promote emtional resilience in psychological cognition?

Rosmarin (2011) model of integrating spirituality and cognitive theory shows the outcome of divine beliefs affects to psychological symptoms through measuring intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Beliefs of needing to worry to avoid future adverse outcomes can create the cycle of worry, such as generalised anxiety disorder. The low level of IU involving negative beliefs led to the interpretation of more open situations negatively (Fialko, L., 2012). The model suggests that trusting in God or a higher being can serve as a buffer in reducing the evaluation of threats with a general psychological resource during adversaries (Rosmarin, D. H., 2011). However, a backfire effect can occur the case of soley relying on divinty as the main source of defense causes mistrust. Which could lead to increasing IU and worry, worsening threat perceptions during ambiguity (Rosmarin, D. H., 2011).

Through the practices of resilience, suffering's interpretation as part of human experience promotes automony in attitude towards finding meaning (Batthyany, 2019). By reframing distress with posittive outlook of meaning, a deeper sense of life satisfaction is experience (Lichtenthal WG, et al., 2020).

What does growth from adversity look like?

See examples in 'Growth through adversity' book chapter

Resilience and spirituality dualism

Resilience is an element that each individual needs to have as part of human experiences throughout the lifespan. The lifespan has all sorts of challenges, stress, losses, and difficulties that require adapability to grow. The development of growth in psychology includes different perspectives, the most infamous being the nature vs nurture debate. However, the reality shows that both concepts occurs through complex dynamic interactions that ultimately shapes the outcome of growth.

Coping through resilience and spirituality

Frankl's (1930) logotherapy emphasised empowerment of agency, with choices of responding in adverse situations fostering resilience, along with acceptance of suffering and focus on purpose that promotes endurance and emotional regulation (Frankl, V., 1930). Utilising logotherapy concepts algined to one's beliefs and faithful practices can fortify resilience during hardships and confront existential issues with positivity (Frankl, V., 1930) while promoting connection, [[wikipedia:Hope|hope] and acceptance.

Case study 1.

Spirituality in mental health, youth and LGBT+

Problems with internalised conflict, shame, discrimination, supporting spiritual resources, and external influences were the main findings of a comprehensive literature search on spirituality, mental health, and LGBT+ youth by Mcann, E. (2020). Despite its challenges, the attitude of compassion and acceptance, as well as connections with strong essences, nature, and living things, often correspond to positive qualities that connect to a higher being (Mcann, E., 2020). Spiritual beliefs, through faith and coping mechanisms, built resilience and serve as protective barriers against harmful stimuli (Mcann, E., 2020).

Enduring adversity with meaning and faith

Resilience's adaptive and enduring nature enables individuals to foster inner strength during adversity. The roles of protective factors and flexible responses allows positive outcomes across contexts (Luthar, S. S., 2000; Ungar, M., 2016). Fatih is rooted in perserverance when circumstances seem uncertain, Fowler’s (1981) faith development theory links strong developed resilience of hope from the early stages of faith. Rutter (1987) moderation of adversity and protective factors strengthens coping, and spirituality that promote uplifting attitudes of divine connection, and integration with cultural socioecological network.

Pursuing growth and transformation

Going through adverse life events can enable individuals to learn to pursue growth and be positively transformed by them. Spirituality can be a resource that supports adaptation and resilience to achieve an improved quality of life. As individuals pursue the meaning of life (Frankl, V., 1930) through positive emotions of contribution to communities (Fredrickson, 2001) and utilise their ecological culture (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) it can result in a transition of transcendence and affirming values.

Case study 2.

Spirituality connects resilience in Latinos with cancer

Hernández M., Muñíz R., and Gany F. (2015) literature review found that in Latino culture, spirituality is an integral cultural value. It plays a crucial role in the cultural values interactions in health-related problems, as seen in caring for Latino cancer patients who adjust and cope (Hernández M., Muñíz R., and Gany F., 2015). Understanding the application of resilience during active treatment can impact the effectiveness og managment and coping with consequences during survivorship (Hernández M., Muñíz R., and Gany F., 2015).

Conclusion

Emotional resilience adaptive nature in intervention is demostrated through psycholgical science. Meaning-making through spirituality is key to building the foundations of resilience. Spirituality servies as practical application of nurture and resilience's attributes can result in effective management of stress. Intergration results in support of finding a greater sense of purpose, and maintain ultimate well-being in uncertainty. The natural development of resilience and spirituality is importnant throughout the human lifespan. The strength and ability of adaptation can determine the outcome of psychological wellbeing, however the outcome of resilience can be changed. Spirituality provides enhancement of developing resileince through self-improvement to achieve self-actualisation. When autonomy is excerised, it can lead to progression in growth of maturity, attitude, and tolerance. The reality of the dualism occurs through complex dynamic interactions that ultimately shapes the outcome of growth. As seen in coping through spirituality, enduring adversity with faith and pursuing growth and transformation.

References

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External links

Building resilience in the face of adversity, with George Bonanno, PhD | Speaking of Psychology (youtube.com)
Building Resiliency Through Spirituality | Madison Jaye | TEDxNJIT (youtube.com)
The Father of Resilience Theory – Buzz Holling (youtube.com)
Attachment and resilience -- the power of one: Dr. Erica Liu Wollin at TEDxHongKong 2013 (youtube.com)