We all know being in tune with your spiritual side is one of the most positive changes you can make in your life. Similarly, recent reports show how spirituality help patients with traumatic brain injuries.
It’s incredible how much influence your mind can actually have on your body. Not only does this allow us to perceive the world around us beyond a material plane, but it also helps us understand ourselves better through introspection.
This doesn’t simply end at how you’re able to keep your emotions in check. It also extends to the point that patients who suffered from traumatic brain injuries have been found to heal better, both in cognitive and emotional terms. But the question lingers — how exactly can spirituality help patients with traumatic brain injuries.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
First, we need to delve into what brain injuries are, how they occur, and how they affect the patient. Traumatic brain injuries are caused by external forces which are often blows or jolts to the head. during which the brain crashes back and forth inside the skull, thereby causing bruising, bleeding and tearing of nerve fibers.
Traumatic brain injuries can result in mild concussions to permanent brain damage. The danger with TBIs is that they are insidious in terms of how the patient may initially appear to be fine, but then their condition declines rapidly.
Approximately 1.5 to 2 million adults and children suffer a traumatic brain injury each year in the United States, according to this brain injury attorney.
Spirituality As A Means For Healing
It should first be noted that spirituality is not a primary mode of treatment for TBI. However, spirituality help patients with traumatic brain injuries by enhancing their healing. Included among the long-term effects of TBI is a heightened risk for mental and emotional problems.
An inclination to spirituality and religion improves life satisfaction. It also improves physical and mental health in patients.
The difficulty in TBI is the limited availability of coping mechanisms. It’s not as simple as seeing a therapist only to relapse into a state of despair knowing you aren’t as capable as you once were.
A study by Brigid Waldron-Perrine, Ph.D., and Lisa J. Rapport, Ph.D. tested 88 TBI patients and found TBI patients who were in tune with religion and spirituality (the belief in a higher power) had better physical and emotional rehabilitation outcomes.
Some of these patients score higher in terms of cognitive abilities. But, This Did Not Apply To Patients Who Simply Participated In Religious Activities.
The researchers found these improvements were not solely a result of religious practice, but rather a personal and genuine belief in a higher power. This is because TBI patients could not fully participate in religious activities on their own. They often relied on someone else for assistance.
There’s just an indescribable beauty in the humility of surrendering yourself to a higher power. To the uninitiated, it may seem like reckless abandon; to the believers, it is faith.
The things we might be stressing over may not have an immediate impact on us, but the effects they bring do. The beauty in spirituality also lies in being able to discern the things we can change from those we cannot.
We should learn to accept the things we cannot change with humble hearts. Also, dedicating what energy we have into changing the things we can.
Injuries happen in the most unexpected ways. It can get frightening for a child seeing they are still fragile and tender. Here’s how to help your child heal after an injury.
