Can tackling the big questions in life make you less depressed and anxious?

Mixed anxiety & depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain,and it estimates to cause one fifth of days off from work. Well according to researches if you prepared to tackle big questions in life e.g.

  • Is there a God?
  • Does life have a purpose?

you will be less likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and better able to cope with emotions.

Researches surveyed 307 people about their recent life experience and found those who wouldn’t engage in the big questions of life suffered “more intense” bouts of depression and anxiety.  People seem to be more emotionally healthy if they’re able to accept troubling insights. Looking at spiritual doubts in an objective way seems to help.  You may or may not work through them but you can at least tolerate having them.  Also ignoring the big questions could be symptomatic of a more general problem of avoidance and escapism, which can be harmful or even self-defeating when trying to achieve goals.

So maybe now is the time to start tackling the big questions in life.

References

NICE (2011). Common mental health disorders | Guidance and guidelines | NICE. [online] Available at: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg123

Das-Munshi et al. (2008) cited in McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha T. (eds.) (2016) Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital [Accessed 5 Oct 2016] Available at: http://content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB21748/apms-2014-full-rpt.pdf 

Carmen K. Oemig Dworsky, Kenneth I. Pargament, Serena Wong, Julie J. Exline. Suppressing spiritual struggles: The role of experiential avoidance in mental health. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 2016; 5 (4): 258 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2016.10.002

 

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