SPRITUALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH: SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

Spirituality promotes distancing oneself from comparisons, envy, ego, anger, dishonesty, and greed. Individuals should embrace spiritual principles that encourage engagement without attachment, honesty, love, and forgiveness towards themselves and others. Many health-related issues arise from within the mind, rapidly manifesting in the body, leading to problems such as tense shoulders, sluggish livers, cancer, or other health conditions . The main attributes associated with spiritual health include transcendence, a sense of purpose and meaning, fidelity, harmonious interconnectedness, integrative power, multidimensionality, and holistic existence. Spiritual teachings across cultures have consistently emphasized specific cognitive and behavioral frameworks that individuals can adopt to maintain health and achieve fulfillment in life. Changing one’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns is a slow and ongoing journey. . Today, health cannot be regarded as complete without incorporating the spiritual dimension. Numerous studies have shown that spiritual practices have a positive impact on various lifestyle-related diseases. So far, the scientific community has successfully highlighted the beneficial effects of spirituality and spiritual practices concerning conditions such as cancer, hypertension, depression, and smoking cessation. The relationship between the physical, mental, and social aspects of health is now widely accepted. Developing the concept of the fourth dimension of health—individuals' Spiritual Well-Being—is essential. A state of existence is defined by an individual's capacity to manage everyday life challenges in a manner that allows for the discovery of one’s full potential, sense of purpose, and inner fulfilment.