Resources on Spirituality

Books
 
(Prices in parentheses are recent list and lowest available prices on Amazon.com)
 
Baer R. (2014). The practicing happiness workbook.  Oakland: New Harbinger.  (22.95/11.87)  See HERE.
 

• We shalt not look down our noses at the phrase, “self-help workbook” or the absence of the word “spirituality” in the title.  It’s a very nice, practical, empirically-based exploration of applications of Acceptance (“mindfulness”) and Commitment (“purpose”) Therapy to everyday life.  Pretty spiritual stuff.

 
Byock I. (2004). The four things that matter most: A book about living. New York: Free Press. (24.00/6.44).  See HERE
 

• Practical and encouraging book by palliative care doc and past president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  The Four things: “Please forgive me, I forgive you, thank you, I love you.”

 
Craigie FC. (2010). Positive spirituality in health care: Nine practical approaches to pursuing wholeness for clinicians, patients and health care organizations.  Minneapolis:  Mill City Press. (21.95/13.91) Available at res week session.  Also see HERE
 

•  Case examples, interview transcripts, research perspectives and pragmatic strategies about the personal groundedness and spiritual well-being of clinicians, the clinical encouragement of patients’ spiritual resources, and the organizational cultivation of spirited leadership and “soul.”

 
Dalai Lama, HH the.  (2011). How to be compassionate: A handbook for creating inner peace and a happier world.  New York: Atria.  See HERE.  (Ah, how to cite His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Harvard format.  You see how I do it, but if you suggested “Lama, Dalai,” I couldn’t argue.)
 

• A dozen characteristically down-to-earth meditations on love, kindness, compassion, happiness and transformative practices.

 
Dalai Lama, HH the and Tutu D with Douglas Abrams (2016).  The book of joy: Lasting happiness in a changing world.  New York: Avery.  See HERE
 

• Fascinating summaries of 5 days of conversation between the Dalai Lama and Bishop Tutu, orchestrated by journalist Abrams.

 
Hammerschlag, C. and H. Silverman. (1997). Healing ceremonies: Creating personal rituals for spiritual, emotional, physical and mental health. New York: Perigree.  (19.00/0.01).  Yes, you can pick up a copy for a cool cent plus postage.  I have found this a great resource for some pts.  See HERE
 

• Stories and principles about healing rituals and ceremonies.  Silverman is former Director of Education for AzCIM (then called “Program in Integrative Medicine”).

 
Henry LG, Henry JD. (1999). Reclaiming soul in health care: Practical strategies for revitalizing providers of care.  Chicago: Health Forum. (19.88/4.19)  See HERE
 

• Written by two organizational consultants, the book summarizes the importance of “soul” in businesses and describes strategies to enhance qualities of soul for health care professionals and for health care organizations.

 
Germer CK. (2009).  The mindful path of self-compassion.  New York: Guilford.
 

• Lovingkindness and compassion (“suffering-with”) for ourselves in parallel to ways in which we extend this to other people.  Accepting difficult thoughts and emotions and living mindfully.  See HERE.

 
Keyes CLM, Haidt J. (2002).  Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
 

• Out of print with APA, but you can get used copies online.  Excellent chapters on dimensions of “life well lived” based on research by Keyes, Carol Ryff, Martin Seligman and others.  Particularly intriguing chapters on “Turning points as opportunities for psychological growth” and “The construction of meaning through vital engagement.”  Very good work but unfortunately pricey… cheapest used copy I can find is 78 bucks.

 
King DE.  (2000). Faith, spirituality and medicine: Toward the making of the healing practitioner.  New York: Haworth. (50.50/8.75)  See HERE
 

• Exploration of the relationship between patient health and traditional religious beliefs and practices. Background about spirituality and health, assessing spirituality, ethics, chaplaincy, short section on integrating spirituality in practice. Author is a family physician. 

 
Kliewer SP, Saultz J. (2006). Healthcare and spirituality. Abingdon, UK: Radcliffe. (49.95/35.00)  See HERE
 

• Kliewer is a pastoral caregiver who has been active in the spirituality interest group of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Saultz is a family physician and educator. Designed as “an introductory textbook.” Background on spirituality and health, cultures and beliefs of different religious traditions, spiritual assessment and spiritual intervention (“creating trust, creating awareness, stimulating change, facilitating change”). Many case examples and good questions for reflection.

 
Koenig HG.  (2007). Spirituality in Patient Care: Why, How, When, and What (2nd Ed.).  West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton. (21.95/16.95)  See HERE
 

• Good descriptions of opportune circumstances in health care in which to address pts’ spirituality and approaches with which to do this. Excellent summary of literature on spiritual assessment and collection of resources, circa 2002. Oriented more to “religion” than to “spirituality” per se. Helpful chapter on “When religion is harmful” and handling religious conflicts.

 
Kornfield J.  (2002). The art of forgiveness, lovingkindness and peace.  New York: Bantam. (15.00/4.88)  See HERE
 

• Short book with reflections, quotations and meditations from internationally renowned Buddhist teacher

 
Levin, J., (2001) God, faith and health: Exploring the spirituality-healing connection.  New York: Wiley.  (17.95/3.11)  See HERE
 

• Excellent formulation about the links between health and a variety of spiritual beliefs and practices. Levin, epidemiologist formerly at Eastern Virginia Medical School and NIMH, now teaching at Baylor, has done absolutely exquisite work over the years on spirituality-healing connections and mechanisms of association. 

 
McKay M, Forsyth JP, Eifert GH. (2010). Your life on purpose: How to find what matters and create the life you want.  Oakland: New Harbinger. (16.95/5.90).  See HERE.
 

• Practical handbook providing approaches to identifying and cultivating personal values.  Not about spirituality per se, but replete with ideas to explore what I’d call “vital and sacred.”  Nice section on dealing with cognitive barriers to pursuing purpose (“I’d like to do this, but my mind tells me…”)

 
Miller, WR (Ed.) (1999). Integrating spirituality into treatment.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.  (39.95/6.00)  See HERE
 

• Excellent scholarly overview with ample practical illustrations and recommendations. Great chapters on mindfulness, prayer, spiritual surrender, acceptance and forgiveness, hope, and serenity.

 
Moore T (2010).  Care of the soul in medicine: Healing guidance for patients, families, and the people who care for them.  Carlsbad, CA: Hay House. (24.95/2.99)  See HERE
 

• Exploring “the state of the soul and spirit in illness,” with reflections for caregivers and patients about maintaining the dignity and humanity of medicine and health care. 

 
O’Hanlon B.  (2006). Pathways to spirituality: Connection, wholeness, and possibility for therapist and client.  New York: Norton.  (24.95/14.19)  See HERE
 

• Spirituality as “connection,” “compassion,” and “contribution.”   Practical, touched by O’Hanlon’s ever-present sense of humor, and intersects with his substantial work in the solution-focused therapy movement.

 
Puchalski CM, Ferrell B. (2010).  Making health care whole: Integrating spirituality into patient care.  West Conshohoken, PA: Templeton.  (34.95/22.49)  See HERE
 

• Dr. Puchalski is Founder and Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (see website below), and a practicing physician. The book presents background on spiritual care practices and standards, and models and approaches for interdisciplinary spiritual care, with particular reference to palliative care.

 
Robinson PJ, Gould DA, Strosahl KD.  (2010). Real behavior change in primary care: Improving patient outcomes and increasing job satisfaction.  Oakland: New Harbinger. (59.95/32.00)  See HERE
 

• You won’t find much emphasis on the word “spirituality,” but this is a wonderful, practical resource that explores applications of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in primary care settings.  “ACT” combines mindfulness and “acceptance” of uncontrollable experience with “commitment” to defining and pursuing cherished life values.  It is, broadly, pretty spiritual stuff.

 
Salzberg S.  Lovingkindness: The revolutionary art of happiness.  (1995). Boston: Shambhala. (9.97/5.67).  See HERE.
 

• Salzberg is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and a long-time teacher and practitioner of meditative practices.  This is the first of several books she has written touching on mindfulness, compassion, kindness, and happiness.

 
Sorajjakool S, Lamberton H (Eds). (2004). Spirituality, health, and wholeness: An introductory guide for health care professionals.  Binghamton, NY: Haworth.  (55.00/47.14)  See HERE
 

• Sorajjakool is professor of religion, psychology, and counseling at Loma Linda University. Chapters on wholeness and mind/body/spirit connections, trauma, illness and meaning, and spirituality in working with “difficult patients,” among others. 

 
Strosahl KD, Robinson PJ. (2008). The mindfulness and acceptance workbook for depression.  Oakland: New Harbinger.  (24.95/8.84)  See HERE
 

• Same players as the Robinson and Strosahl book above.  Nice practical, patient-oriented resource with lots of examples and exercises.

 
Underwood L. (2013).  Spiritual connection in daily life:  16 little questions that can make a big difference.  West Conshohoken, PA:  Templeton Press. See HERE
 

• Popular press book by long-time PhD staff member at Fetzer, well known for her work on compassionate love. Explores the implications of readers’ responses to the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES), which she developed. 

 
White BF, MacDougall JA. (2001). Clinician’s guide to spirituality.  New York: McGraw Hill. (37.95/10.00)  See HERE
 

• Written by a physician and a chaplain, presents a universal model of spirituality that is independent of religion, and shows how the clinician can apply the model to help in the management of chronic illness. Twelve principles of spirituality applied to health: honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, compassion, justice, perseverance, spiritual awareness, service.

 
Young C, Koopsen C.  (2011). Spirituality, health and healing: An integrative approach (2nd Ed.).  Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.  (41/39).  See HERE.
 

• Thorough and inclusive review of spirituality in health and health care, with particular reference to Nursing, but broadly applicable.  Authors are a public health nurse and person with an MPH/health promotion background.  Nice sections on rituals, culture and healing, healing and the Arts, sacred spaces, and end of life care.

 
Articles (a few among hundreds) of observation, reflection, commentary
 
Anandarajah G. (2008).  The 3H and BMSEST models for spirituality and multicultural whole-person medicine.  Ann Fam Med, 6(5), 448-58.
 

• Description of two models for a biopsychosocial-spiritual view of health from chair of the STFM spirituality interest group. They are the 3 H model (head, heart, hands) and the BMSEST models (body, mind, spirit, environment, social, transcendent).  See HERE.

 
Araújo L, Ribeiro O, Paúl C (2016). The Role of Existential Beliefs within the Relation of Centenarians' Health and Well-Being.  J Relig Health. Aug 23. [Epub ahead of print]
 

• Measures of existential beliefs (e.g., meaning in life) found to be “a crucial element for mitigating the impact of health constraints” among 80 centenarians in Portugal.  See HERE

 
Craigie FC, Hobbs RF.  (1999). Spiritual perspectives and practices of family physicians with an expressed interest in spirituality.  Fam Med, 31(8), 578-85.
 

• Qualitative content analysis of long interviews with 12 family physicians, revealing their perceptions of 1) taking a vital clinical role as encouragers of patients' spiritual resources, 2) a vital role of their personal spirituality as an underpinning of the vocation and practice of family medicine, and 3) the key roles of respectful dialogue and mentoring in medical education about spirituality.   See HERE.

 
Craigie FC, Hobbs RF. (2004). Exploring the organizational culture of exemplary community health center practices. Fam Med, 36(10): p. 733-8. 
 

• Qualitative research about two exemplary outpatient practices and what makes them great places to work and to be a patient. See HERE.

 
Daaleman TP, Usher BM et al. (2008). An exploratory study of spiritual care at the end of life.  Ann Fam Med, 6(5), 406-11.
 

• Qualitative study of perceptions of clinicians and other health care workers about end of life spiritual care. Themes included being present, providing care that went beyond medical treatment, and engaging in a fluid process of “an affirmation of the patient's life experience and led to the generation of a wholistic care plan that focused on maintaining the patient's humanity and dignity.” See HERE.

 
Dossey L.  (1999). Healing and the nonlocal mind.  Alt Therapies, 5(6), 85-93.
 

• Thoughtful conversation about nonlocal effects. “The power of consciousness to act nonlocally is the elephant in the living room of medicine.”

 
Germer CK, Neff KD. (2013). Self-compassion in clinical practice.  J Clin Psychology, 69 (8), 856-67.  See HERE.
 

• Description of clinical implications of self-compassion by the two leading researchers on this subject.  Self-compassion as “self-kindness,” common humanity,” and “mindfulness.”

 
Harris R.  (2006). Embracing your demons: An overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.  Psychotherapy in Australia, 12(4), 2-8.
 

• You’ll need a medical librarian to track this one down, but it is a nice introduction to some of the premises and procedures of ACT.  “In stark contrast to Western psychotherapy, ACT does not have symptom reduction as a goal.  This is based on the view that the ongoing attempt to get rid of ‘symptoms’ actually creates a clinical disorder in the first place.”  Nice description and illustrations of mindfulness/acceptance strategies and strategies associated with values and committed action.

 
Kliewer, S.  (2006). Allowing spirituality into the healing process.  J Fam Pract, (53/8), 616-24.
 

• Historical perspective on relationship of spirituality and medicine, very nice summary of outcomes research with methodological annotations, paradigm from chaplain author about spiritual assessment and collaborative intervention. See HERE.

 
Koenig HG. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry. Dec 16; 2012:278730. doi: 10.5402/2012/278730.
 

• At present, the mother of all spirituality meta-analyses.  Koenig reviewed over 3300 studies, citing 600 references, evaluating associations of spiritual beliefs and practices with mental health outcomes, health behaviors and physical health, with proposals about mechanisms that underlie these associations.  The short summary… about two-thirds to 95% positive associations and 0 to 10% negative associations for everything reviewed.  See HERE.

 
Koizumi M, Ito H, Kaneko Y et al. (2008). Effect of having a sense of purpose in life on the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases.  J Epidemiol, 18(5) 191-196.
 

• 13 year follow-up of 1600 Japanese subjects shows reduction in mortality risk from all causes, stroke and cardiovascular disease associated with strong sense of purpose in life.  See HERE.

 
Kreitzer MJ, Gross CR et al (2009). The brief serenity scale: a psychometric analysis of a measure of spirituality and well-being. J Holist Nurs, 27(1):7-16.
 

• Short (22 item) measure of spirituality and well-being.  Factor analysis points to items pertaining to “acceptance” (accepting uncontrollable experiences and maintaining present-moment awareness, sense of forgiveness for self and others), “inner haven” (ability to tap into inner resources of comfort) and “trust” (trust in a larger plan that there is some good in all events). See HERE.

 
Levin J.  (2009). How faith heals: A theoretical model.  Explore.  5/2, 77-96
 

• Epidemiological data and philosophical reflections on associations between faith and health, describing “behavioral/conative, interpersonal, cognitive, affective, and psychophysiological” mechanisms.

 
Marchand WR. (2012). Mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and zen meditation for depression, anxiety, pain, and psychological distress. J Psychiatr Pract, 18(4):233-52.  See HERE.
 

• One among an unending series of articles on clinical applications of mindfulness.  This particular article is a review that describes three mindfulness approaches; Zen meditation, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MCBT).  Everything important has initials, right?  (EIHI).  Reviews literature on behavioral health applications and, for MBSR and Zen, applications to pain.

 
McCord G, Gilchrist VJ et al. (2004). Discussing spirituality with patients: A rational and ethical approach.  Ann Fam Med, 2(4), 356-61
 

• Survey of over 1000 family medicine patients about their preferences for physician inquiry about spirituality. Over three quarters of respondents wished to have spiritual conversation in some circumstances, primarily in the interest of promoting patient/physician understanding and hope. See HERE.

 
Perakis C. (2010).  Soul sickness: A frequently missed diagnosis.  JAOA, 110(6), 347-9.
 

• Article by my across-the-hall colleague and friend about the dx and treatment of “soul sickness,” or “demoralization.”  He argues that soul sickness involves the loss of morale and hope, and frequently underlies vague, unexplained physical symptoms.  People are assisted in regaining hope by “encouraging them to focus on new, adaptive behaviors.”

 
Puchalski C.M. (2001). The role of spirituality in health care. Baylor Univ Med Ctr Proceedings, 14(4), 352-357.
 

• One among many iterations from Dr. Puchalski about why spiritual understanding of patients' is vital in medicine, with implications for clinical practice (e.g., compassionate presence, listening to patients’ “fears, hopes, pain and dreams,” spiritual assessment, and collaborative care).  See HERE.

 
Puchalski CM. (2012).  Spirituality in the cancer trajectory.  Ann Oncol, 23 Suppl 3:49-55.  See HERE.
 

• A multidisciplinary approach to understanding and working with spiritual distress across the trajectory of cancer.  All members of the team “are responsible for attending to pts’ spiritual issues,” with chaplains being the spiritual care specialists and experts.  Nice one-sentence spiritual assessment: “Do you have any spiritual beliefs or practices that might affect your care here?”  Good list of 15 examples of spiritual care treatment plan possibilities… chaplain referral, referral for meaning-related or dignity therapies, participation in a spiritual community, gratitude practices, reflective writing, among others.

 
Sone, T. Nakaya, N, Ohmori, K. et al.  (2008). Sense of life worth living (ikigai) and mortality in Japan: The Ohsaki study.  Psychosomatic Med, 70, 709-15.
 

• One of two large Japanese epidemiological studies in 2008-2009, which together involved over 100,000 subjects with follow up of 7-12 years, looking at the relationships of ikigai and mortality.  “Ikigai” is apparently a well-understood construct in Japanese culture, meaning “purpose” or “life worth living.”  This study, like the other one, finds significantly lower mortality rates for all-cause mortality and death from cardiovascular disease among people who have high ikigai (self-rated), compared with those who have low ikigai.