Experience of gratitude, awe and beauty in life among patients with multiple sclerosis and psychiatric disorders.

Arndt Büssing,Niels Hvidt,Sebastian Schimrigk,Michael Haupts,Anne Wirth,Anne Zahn,Franz Reiser,Knut Humbroich,Kathrin Gerbershagen,Klaus Baumann

doi:10.1186/1477-7525-12-63

Abstract

BackgroundFeelings of gratitude and awe facilitate perceptions and cognitions that go beyond the focus of illness and include positive aspects of one’s personal and interpersonal reality, even in the face of disease. We intended to measure feelings of gratitude, awe, and experiences of beauty in life among patients with multiple sclerosis and psychiatric disorders, particularly with respect to their engagement in specific spiritual/religious practices and their life satisfaction.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey with standardized questionnaires to measure engagement in various spiritual practices (SpREUK-P) and their relation to experiences of Gratitude, Awe and Beauty in Life and life satisfaction (BMLSS-10). In total, 461 individuals (41 ± 13 years; 68% women) with multiple sclerosis (46%) and depressive (22%) or other psychiatric disorders (32%) participated.ResultsAmong participants, 23% never, 43% rarely, 24% often, and 10% frequently experienced Gratitude. In contrast, 41% never, 37% rarely, 17% often, and 6% frequently experienced Awe. Beauty in Life was never experienced by 8% of the sample, and 28% rarely, 46% often, and 18% frequently experienced it. Gratitude (F = 9.2; p = .003) and Beauty in Life (F = 6.0; p = .015) were experienced significantly more often by women than men. However, the experience of Awe did not differ between women and men (F = 2.2; n.s.). In contrast to our hypothesis, Gratitude/Awe cannot explain any relevant variance in patients’ life satisfaction (R2 = .04). Regression analyses (R2 = .42) revealed that Gratitude/Awe can be predicted best by a person’s engagement in religious practices, followed by other forms of spiritual practices and life satisfaction. Female gender was a weak predictor and underlying disease showed no effect.ConclusionsGratitude/Awe could be regarded as a life orientation towards noticing and appreciating the positive in life - despite the symptoms of disease. Positive spirituality/religiosity seems to be a source of gratitude and appreciation in life, whereas patients with neither spiritual nor religious sentiments (R-S-) seem to have a lower awareness for these feelings.

Highlights

Feelings of gratitude and awe facilitate perceptions and cognitions that go beyond the focus of illness and include positive aspects of one’s personal and interpersonal reality, even in the face of disease
We suggest that (1) the frequency of experience will differ with respect to specific forms of spirituality, that religious/ spiritual patients may experience gratitude, awe and beauty in life more often than non-religious/skeptical patients, (2) that the perceptions of these emotions differ with respect to gender and underlying disease, and (3) that these emotions are related to patients’ life satisfaction
In the following paragraphs, we will first describe the sample, with respect to patients’ spiritual/religious self-categorization and life satisfaction. We will present their perception of the test variables Gratitude, Awe, and Experienced Beauty, followed by correlation and regression analysis to assess which variables may have an influence on these emotions/perceptions

Summary

Introduction

Feelings of gratitude and awe facilitate perceptions and cognitions that go beyond the focus of illness and include positive aspects of one’s personal and interpersonal reality, even in the face of disease. Feelings of gratitude facilitate perceptions and cognitions that go beyond the focus of illness and include positive aspects of one’s personal and interpersonal reality, even in the face of disease. These feelings may help those with chronic or other illnesses to enjoy the beauty of nature, their surroundings, relationships with others, as well as the goodness of life. It is a matter of attention, of interpretation and of acceptance of the situation in the light of the beauty still found in the middle of a crisis [2]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion