spirituality Archives

APA Recognizes Spirituality

Posted on April 14, 2025 by Emma Bragdon

Spiritual Experiences Gain Mainstream Recognition with Prestigious Psychiatry Award … Alexander Moreira-Almeida, MD, has been awarded the 2025 Oskar Pfister Award by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). This prestigious award recognizes his exceptional contributions to the scientific study of spiritual experiences and their profound implications for our understanding of consciousness and the survival of consciousness

Posted in Spirit, Spiritual Emergence, Uncategorized Alexander Moreira Almeida, american psychiatric association, APA, consciousness, Oskar Pfister, Spiritism and Mental Health, spirituality, survival of consciousness

Moral Injury and Spiritual Emergency

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Emma Bragdon 3 Comments

Moral Injury and Spiritual Emergency by Emma Bragdon, PhD Joshua Mantz, (above), fresh out of West Point Academy, was a second lieutenant in the army deployed in 2006 to a dangerous zone in Baghdad, Iraq, at age 23. Within months he was shot by a sniper, almost bled to death, and flatlined for 15 minutes

Posted in Spiritual Emergency chaplain, existential crisis, moral injury, religion, spiritual emergence, spiritual emergency, spirituality, suicide, veterans

Spiritual Bypassing

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Emma Bragdon

Spiritual Bypassing Defined The term, spiritual bypassing, was made popular in the 1980’s by the late John Welwood, PhD, a Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist who observed the phenomenon in his own spiritual community. Sometimes life is painful. What we do with our pain makes a difference when we are also in relationships with others. The

Posted in Integrative Mental Health John Welwood, meditation, spiritual bypassing, spiritual practice, spirituality

Two Books Re: Adding Spirituality to Mental Healthcare

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Emma Bragdon

Dr. Powell Many health problems arise from emotional and spiritual suffering and need to be addressed at a deeper level than technology and medications. Research findings and clinical experience increasingly reveal that spiritual factors have a significant part to play in recovery from illness. Dr. Andrew Powell, a UK psychiatrist, has been deeply engaged in

Posted in Integrative Mental Health Andrew Powell, awakening, dr. powell, Global Hospital and Research Centre, janki foundation, mental health, psychiatrist, psychiatry, spirituality

The Awakened Brain

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Emma Bragdon

The Awakened Brain is: “A groundbreaking exploration of the neuroscience of spirituality and a bold new paradigm for health, healing, and resilience.”—from a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning researcher “Dr. Miller is a consummate scientist who refuses to accept one of our culture’s most pervasive and damaging assumptions: that science and spirituality are

Posted in Mental Health, Spiritual Emergence awakened brain, biology, clinical psychology, neuro science, neurobiology, spirituality

Joanna Macy: Climate Crisis as Spiritual Path

Posted on November 4, 2021 by Emma Bragdon

Joanna Macy (at 92) is an environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. She is the author of twelve books. See a recent documentary film here with an interview of her. Macy graduated from Wellesley College in 1950 and received her PhD in Religious Studies in 1978 from Syracuse University, Syracuse. Her doctoral work,

Posted in Integrative Mental Health, Spiritual Crisis climate crisis, environment, Joanna Macy, spiritual path, spirituality, sytems theory

Abstract: Spiritual Competencies Needed in Mental Health Practices

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Emma Bragdon

An abstract of a longer article by Drs Cassandra Vieten and David Lukoff first published July 2021 about the need for psychologists to develop skills in asking about religion and spirituality. The Abstract Religion and spirituality (R/S) are important aspects of human diversity that should be explicitly addressed in the field of psychology. The

Posted in Integrative Mental Health, Mental Health American Psychologist, Cassandra Vieten, David Lukoff, religion, spiritual competency, spirituality

What is the Difference Between Spiritism and Spiritualism?

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Emma Bragdon 1 Comment

[2010 film Depicts the Spirit World] Spiritualism and Spiritism: A Comparison Similarities Both Spiritism and Spiritualism originated in the 19th century. Each believes that the spirit world of disembodied beings exists and spirits can interact with human beings. The impact may be positive or negative, informative or deceptive. Both Spiritism and Spiritualism agree that human

Posted in Spiritualism, Spirituality ARE, astral city, Cayce, Chico Xavier, mediumship, psychics, Spiritism, Spiritist Community Centers, Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals, spiritual healing, spiritualism, spirituality

What is the Difference Between Spiritism and Spiritualism?

Posted on August 2, 2019 by Emma Bragdon 3 Comments

It’s in the Original Mission Both Spiritism and Spiritualism believe that the spirit world exists and spirits have an impact on human beings. The impact may be positive or negative, informative or deceptive. Both Spiritism and Spiritualism agree that we continue to live on after physical death in “Spirit World”. Both believe in psychic, or

Posted in Life After Death, Mental Health, Paranormal, Psychic Experiences, Spiritism, Spiritualism, Uncategorized mediumship, psychics, Spiritism, Spiritist Community Centers, Spiritist Psychiatric Hospitals, spiritual healing, spiritualism, spirituality

Psychiatry and Spirituality

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Emma Bragdon

Contentment with Your Religious Belief Impacts Mental Health Psychiatric disorders involve pathological changes in consciousness, thinking, emotions and behavior, which compromise social performance, with impairments in quality of life. Understanding the phenomenology of mental disorders is still a major challenge for science. The biological model in which thought and all mental life is the result of

Posted in Mental Health, Psychiatry, Research mental health, psychiatry, religious belief, spiritual belief, spirituality