Harold Koenig - Böcker

The Handbook of Religion and Health has become the seminal research text on religion, spirituality, and health, outlining a rational argument for the connection between religion and health. The Second Edition completely revises and updates the first edition. Its authors are physicians: a psychiatrist and geriatrician, a primary care physician, and a psychiatrist and theologian, all with advanced degrees in epidemiology and public health. The Second Edition surveys the historical connections between religion and health and grapples with the distinction between the terms ''religion'' and ''spirituality'' in research and clinical practice. It reviews research on religion and mental health, as well as extensive research literature on the mind-body relationship, and develops a model to explain how religious involvement may impact physical health through the mind-body mechanisms. It also explores the direct relationships between religion and physical health, covering such topics as immune and endocrine function, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, neurological disorders, cancer, and infectious diseases; and examines the consequences of illness including chronic pain, disability, and quality of life. Finally, the Handbook reviews research methods and addresses applications to clinical practice. Theological perspectives are interwoven throughout the chapters. The Handbook is the most insightful and authoritative resource available to anyone who wants to understand the relationship between religion and health.

This book presents a comprehensive and scientific review of the research during the past fifty years on the relationship between religion and health in later life. It will help professionals gain awareness of the importance of religious and spiritual variables among older people. The widespread interest in religion among today's elderly suggests its value as a coping strategy and personal resource. Unlike any other in the field, this volume synthesizes both past research and new findings, including recent unpublished data, into a model of how religion might interact with other variables to help determine adaptation to stress in later life. Religion, Health, and Aging provides substantial contributions to both the applied and academic aspects of religion and aging. With over 500 references this work brings together research findings from a wide variety of disciplines and organizes them in an easily retrievable format.The introduction provides a theoretical framework and model of interactions. Subsequent chapters address the relationship between religious beliefs and attitudes and both mental and physical health. Next investigated are the impacts on health of private religious activity, community religious involvement, and personal religious experience. A model that demonstrates how religion might interact with stress and illness in later life is presented. Actual cases exemplify the role of religion in the lives of older people facing life-threatening illness. Perspectives from the disciplines of social gerontology, geriatric medicine, and the clergy are analyzed. A review is presented of the implications of research findings for professionals working with older persons. A detailed bibliography, list of publications, and organizations to contact for further information, provide access to further resources. The appendix contains a review of the development and validation of the Springfield Religiosity Schedule, an instrument measuring religious activities, attitudes, and beliefs of the elderly. Religion, Health, and Aging will serve as a centralized resource of significant value to gerontologists, physicians in psychiatry and medicine, nurses, educators, therapists, clinical psychologists, social workers, the clergy, and others whose professional and personal lives touch older people.

A fascinating marriage of science and spirituality, THE HEALING POWER OF FAITH uses the tools of science - double-blind research studies and analysis of tissue, blood levels, and hormones - to track the influence of religious beliefs on physical and mental health. The documented evidence shows how traditional religious practices like prayer and community service can raise white blood cell counts, improve immune system responses, and lower blood pressure. THE HEALING POWER OF FAITH is filled with inspiring case studies of remarkable recoveries from near-fatal illness, as well as heartwarming stories of how people from such diverse backgrounds as Evangelical Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, Catholicism, and Baptist Fundamentalism triumph over addiction, depression, marital problems, and other serious life stresses. With simple, practical methods for harnessing the power of faith, this cutting-edge book offers a fascinating, scientifically valid approach to healing.

After an interview in Newsweek about his book Spirituality in Patient Care and his research in religion and health, Dr. Harold Koenig became the international voice on spirituality, health, and aging. In this book, Faith in the Future, he is joined by two other experts on aging and human development. They present a compelling look at one of the most severe issues in today’s society: health care in America.  How will we provide quality healthcare to older adults needing it during the next thirty to fifty years? Who will provide this care? How will it be funded? How can we establish systems of care now to be in place as demographic and health-related economic pressures mount? Alongside the sobering reality of our country’s challenges, there are reasons for optimism. Innovative programs created and maintained by volunteers and religious congregations are emerging as pivotal factors in meeting healthcare needs. Summarizing decades of scientific research and providing numerous inspirational examples and role models, the authors present practical steps that individuals and institutions may emulate for putting faith into action. <

This volume focuses on the role that religion and spirituality can play in recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other forms of trauma, including moral injury. Religious texts, from the Bible to Buddhist scriptures, have always contained passages that focus on helping those who have experienced the trauma of war. Many religions have developed psychological, social, behavioral, and spiritual ways of coping and healing that can work in tandem with clinical treatments today in assisting recovery from PTSD and moral injury.In this book the authors review and discuss systematic research into how religion helps people cope with severe trauma, including trauma caused by natural disasters, intentional interpersonal violence, or combat experiences during war. They delve into the impact that spirituality has in both the development of and recovery from PTSD. Beyond reviewing research, they also use case vignettes throughout to illustrate the very human story of recovery from PTSD, and how religious or spiritual beliefs can both help or hinder depending on circumstance. A vital work for any mental health or religious professionals who seek to help people dealing with severe trauma and loss.