Schmidt, Bettina E. and Stockly, Kate (2022) The Silence Around Non-Ordinary Experiences During the Pandemic. Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 13 (1). ISSN 1946-0538
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Schmidt and Stockly (2022) The Silence Around Non-Ordinary Experiences During the Pandemic (accepted version).pdf - Accepted Version Available under License CC-BY-ND Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives. Download (201kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The paper presents new research about spiritual experiences during COVID-19. It starts with a wider discussion about the relationship between spirituality and wellbeing, based on research carried out in Brazil and the UK before the pandemic. The research showed a strict division be-tween personal faith and medical treatment, reflecting a professional distance when treating patients that results in patients’ unwillingness to speak about their experience to anyone in the medical profession, even when these experiences impact their mental health. The paper then explores some preliminary findings of a new research project about spiritual experience during COVID-19 and reflects on four three themes that have emerged from the data thus far: 1) changes in patients’ relationships with their religious communities, shifts in one’s subjective sense of spiritual connection and intuition, 2) seeing spiritual figures and near death experiences, and 3) interpretations of COVID-19 as a spiritual contagion. These themes contribute to a nuanced understanding of how spiritual experiences that arise in moments of crisis are interpreted by the people who have them, potentially contributing to resilience and coping. The last section discusses the reluctance to speak about non-ordinary experiences and reflects on the importance of accepting non-ordinary experiences for mental health.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | spiritual experience; non-ordinary experience; spirituality; wellbeing; mental health; COVID-19 |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology |
| Divisions: | Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Bettina Schmidt |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jun 2022 07:46 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Feb 2024 11:13 |
| URI: | https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/1973 |
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