Positive emotions, spirituality and the practice of psychiatry.
George E Vaillant
Mens Sana Monographs 2008 DOI: 10.4103/0973-1229.36504 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Neurobiology Religion Spirituality Positive emotions |
| Key points | Argues that eight positive emotions—awe, love (attachment), trust (faith), compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, joy, and hope—constitute spirituality, and that psychiatry has ignored them. Contends that spirituality is about emotion and social connection rather than ideas, sacred texts, or theology, and proposes that psychotherapy might change if clinicians focused on enhancing positive emotions rather than only negative ones. |
Abstract
THIS PAPER PROPOSES THAT EIGHT POSITIVE EMOTIONS: awe, love (attachment), trust (faith), compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, joy and hope constitute what we mean by spirituality. These emotions have been grossly ignored by psychiatry. The two sciences that I shall employ to demonstrate this definition of spirituality will be ethology and neuroscience. They are both very new. I will argue that spirituality is not about ideas, sacred texts and theology; rather, spirituality is all about emotion and social connection.Specific religions, for all their limitations, are often the portal through which positive emotions are brought into conscious attention. Neither Freud nor psychiatric textbooks ever mention emotions like joy and gratitude. Hymns and psalms give these emotions pride of place. Our whole concept of psychotherapy might change if clinicians set about enhancing positive emotions rather than focusing only on negative emotions.