Devotion and Depression: A Theoretical Examination of How Structured Spiritual Practice Modulates Rumination, Helplessness, and Family Role Stress in Adult Indian Women

Sharma Charu Mukeshwar.P.; Dr. Aarti Kaiwart

doi:10.53724/jmsg/v11n4.04

Authors

Sharma Charu Mukeshwar.P. PhD Scholar, Department of Psychology, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Gayatrikunj, Shantikunj, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4519-9651
Dr. Aarti Kaiwart Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Gayatrikunj, Shantikunj, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4197-2415

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53724/jmsg/v11n4.04

Keywords:

Depressive rumination, hopelessness, family role stress, Indian women, spiritual practice, puja, meditation, bhakti, psycho-spiritual wellbeing, meaning-making, cultural psychology, gender and religion, emotion regulation, coping, mental health India.

Abstract

This paper is going to take a look at how spiritual practice can help adult Indian women deal with psychological distress. Spiritual practice includes things like puja, meditation and reading scriptures. The paper will examine how these practices might help with three problems that many adult Indian women face: feeling depressed feeling helpless and feeling stressed about family roles.
The paper uses ideas from known psychologists to understand these problems. For example, it uses Nolen-Hoeksema's idea about how people think when they are feeling down. It also uses Seligman and Abramsons idea about how people feel when they think they have no control over their lives. It uses Goodes idea about how family roles can be stressful. The paper then goes on to identify four ways in which spiritual practice may help with these problems: allowing women to focus on something, helping them to find purpose in their lives, giving them support from their community, and helping them to feel more in control of their lives.
Spiritual practice is not a solution though. The paper also looks at how spiritual practice can be used to avoid problems instead of dealing with them. It looks at how women might use practice to hide their suffering instead of talking about it. The paper thinks about how things like caste, class and marital status can affect how women use practice. Finally, the paper talks about what this means for helping women with problems and what future research should look at. Spiritual practice, like meditation and reading scriptures can be helpful, for adult women but it is not always easy to use it in a helpful way.

References

Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87(1), 49–74.

Allport, G. W., & Ross, J. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5(4), 432–443.

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.

Bhatt, M. (2015). Women's satsang participation and psychological wellbeing: A study of married women in Gujarat. Indian Journal of Community Psychology, 11(2), 114–128.

Bhui, K., & Bhugra, D. (2002). Explanatory models for mental distress: Implications for clinical practice and research. British Journal of Psychiatry, 181(1), 6–7.

Campion, J., & Bhugra, D. (1997). Experiences of religious healing in psychiatric patients in South India. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 32(4), 215–221.

Chadda, R. K., & Deb, K. S. (2013). Indian family systems, collectivistic society and psychotherapy. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(Suppl. 2), S299–S309.

Chakravarti, U. (1993). Conceptualising Brahmanical patriarchy in early India: Gender, caste, class and state. Economic and Political Weekly, 28(14), 579–585.

Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310–357.

Datta, P. (2017). The dual burden: Work, family and psychological wellbeing in employed Indian women. Psychology and Developing Societies, 29(1), 1–27.

Frankl, V. E. (1963). Man's search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy. Washington Square Press.

Goode, W. J. (1960). A theory of role strain. American Sociological Review, 25(4), 483–496.

Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299.

Hill, P. C., & Pargament, K. I. (2003). Advances in the conceptualisation and measurement of religion and spirituality. American Psychologist, 58(1), 64–74.

Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. University of California Press.

Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2010). Emotion regulation in depression: Relation to cognitive inhibition. Cognition and Emotion, 24(2), 281–298.

Kaiwart, A., Gupta, M., Sao, H., & Vishvakarma, S. (2015). Effect of Spiritual Counseling on Stress Level of College Going Students. International Journal of IndianPsychology, 3(1)

Kakar, S. (1982). Shamans, mystics and doctors: A psychological inquiry into India and its healing traditions. University of Chicago Press.

Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., Chapleau, M.-A., Paquin, K., & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6), 763–771.

Krishnan, V. (1998). Spousal characteristics and congruence in family roles. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60(4), 906–918.

Lyubomirsky, S., Caldwell, N. D., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1998). Effects of ruminative and distracting responses to depressed mood on retrieval of autobiographical memories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 166–177.

McCullough, M. E., Pargament, K. I., & Thoresen, C. E. (Eds.). (2000). Forgiveness: Theory, research, and practice. Guilford Press.

McLaughlin, K. A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2011). Rumination as a transdiagnostic factor in depression and anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49(3), 186–193.

Mehta, M. (2018). Spiritual wellbeing and mental health among women in urban India: A mixed-methods study. Journal of Indian Psychology, 36(2), 44–68.

Misra, G., & Gergen, K. J. (1993). On the place of culture in psychological science. International Journal of Psychology, 28(2), 225–243.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100(4), 569–582.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 400–424.

Pargament, K. I. (2011). Spiritually integrated psychotherapy: Understanding and addressing the sacred. Guilford Press.

Pargament, K. I., Kennell, J., Hathaway, W., Grevengoed, N., Newman, J., & Jones, W. (1988). Religion and the problem-solving process: Three styles of coping. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 27(1), 90–104.

Park, C. L. (2005). Religion as a meaning-making framework in coping with life stress. Journal of Social Issues, 61(4), 707–729.

Patel, V., Rodrigues, M., & DeSouza, N. (2002). Gender, poverty, and postnatal depression: A study of mothers in Goa, India. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(1), 43–47.

Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(1), 1–25.

Rege, S. (2000). Dalit women talk differently: A critique of difference and towards a Dalit feminist standpoint position. Economic and Political Weekly, 33(44), WS39–WS46.

Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalised expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and applied, 80(1), 1–28.

Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. Guilford Press.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. W. H. Freeman.

Sharma, A., & Bhanu, B. (2019). Negotiating modernity: Role stress, gender expectations, and mental health in urban Indian women. Journal of Indian Psychology, 37(1), 58–74.

Sharma, R., Madan, A., & Singh, V. (2016). Spiritual practice and biological stress markers: A study of puja-performing women in North India. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 24, 88–93.

Southwick, S. M., Bonanno, G. A., Masten, A. S., Panter-Brick, C., & Yehuda, R. (2014). Resilience definitions, theory, and challenges: Interdisciplinary perspectives. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 5, 25338.

Streeter, C. C., Gerbarg, P. L., Saper, R. B., Ciraulo, D. A., & Brown, R. P. (2012). Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Hypotheses, 78(5), 571–579.

Thoits, P. A. (2011). Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(2), 145–161.

Welwood, J. (2000). Toward a psychology of awakening: Buddhism, psychotherapy, and the path of personal and spiritual transformation. Shambhala Publications.

Wood, W., Quinn, J. M., & Kashy, D. A. (2002). Habits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1281–1297.

Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Scherer, M. (2004). Forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy that can reduce health risks and promote health resilience. Psychology and Health, 19(3), 385–405.

Yadav, S. (2020). Psychosocial determinants of helplessness and depression among rural women in Uttar Pradesh. Journal of Community Guidance and Research, 37(1), 29–44.

Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K. I., Cole, B., Rye, M. S., Butter, E. M., Belavich, T. G., Hipp, K. M., Scott, A. B., & Kadar, J. L. (1997). Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzying the fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36(4), 549–564.