The Concept of Spiritual Healing
Based on the literature review, spiritual healing is one of a supplementary and alternative treatment that helps care-seekers regain their health using their potential resources. In this purposeful process, therapists transfer supernatural energies to the care-seekers. Spiritual healing is a noninvasive treatment on religious and faith bases aimed at influencing the care-seeker. Throughout the process, the relationship between the therapist and care-seeker facilitates realization of physical, mental, and spiritual balance and harmony. The treatment is free of any medical specification and does not intervene with medical interventions. As showed by literature review, healing prayer or healing through prayer was the most common spiritual healing approach in Islamic countries like Iran.
Some of the circumstances of spiritual healing extracted from the reviewed papers were hope for achieving the objective, bonding between the care-seeker and therapist, being religious, previous experiences with spiritual healing, patient’s preference, intrinsic capability of therapist, being connected to God as the superior source, and positive attitudes to life.
Some of the outcomes of spiritual healing as the literature review showed were physical, mental, and emotional balance and harmony, invigoration of religious beliefs and faith, stronger connection to God, feeling well, internal evolution, feeling more energy, accepting status quo health condition, ability to change, and finding meaning in life.
Field study findings showed that there were different spiritual healing approaches in Iranian Islamic context. Among these approaches, obligatory religious rituals, nonobligatory religious rituals (Mostahab), yoga, and meditation are notable. Spiritual healing has a strong religious bases in Iran and patients connect themselves to God through prophets, Imams, religious leaders, and therapists. The participants found God as the main source of healing in different forms of healing. Accordingly, spiritual healing can take place anywhere, while better results are expected in holy places like shrines and nature as well. The reason for this is the belief that positive energies are abundant in such places. The participants also highlighted some specifications of therapists like humane conduct, charismatic personality, faith in God, belief in attainability of the goal, and intrinsic healing gift. Among the circumstances of spiritual healing mentioned by the participants, previous experience, faith in God, belief in attainability of the goal, disappointment (broken heart), and desire and will are notable. According to the participants, feeling relaxed and calm, feeling wellness, adaptability, connection with God, feeling more energy, and hope for life were the main outcomes of spiritual healing.
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