Spirituality and quality of life: A study among members of a spiritual organization in Delhi, India

Pages: 963-967
Ishita Arora (Department of Psychology, Ashoka University, Rai, Sonepat, Haryana)
Peeyush Khare (Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven)

In this paper, we examined the relationship between mental health, quality of life and spirituality in an Indian spiritual organization setting. Rapid advances in all spheres of science have led to an unprecedented increase in the physical comforts available to the general population. However, studies have shown an inverse relationship between this tangible progress, and health and happiness of an individual. Stress, anxiety and loneliness have become common mental ailments in today’s technology mediated life. There is an urgent need to look for newer ways to treat the various mental and social illnesses being faced by the present generation. Sixty healthy individuals participated in our study. Three-fourth of the respondents self-reported experiencing good quality of life and one-third reported to have a high level of spiritual development. We found a positive relationship between one’s spiritual development and the quality of life of the individual. The highest correlation was seen between realistic acceptance of God and socio-environmental quality of life. Psychological quality of life showed a positive relationship with awareness and negative relationship with instability with God. We were unable to establish any cause and effect relationship between the two variables of spirituality and quality of life because of limitations associated with methodology and sample of study. The implications of this study are significant as it tests the findings of previous studies in an Indian setting, and establishes a basis for future studies to be more elaborate and experimental, allowing the determination of a causal relationship between spirituality and quality of life.