Spiritual, Religious, and Faith-Based Practices in Chronicity

Andrew R. Hatala, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. As a practicing member of the global Bahá’i religious community, and a medical and psychological anthropologist with interest in cultural psychiatry, spirituality, and health psychology, his published works and research focus on qualitative methodologies, culture and spirituality, mental health, Indigenous healing and epistemology, Indigenous nosology of mental illness and disorder, and resilience and wellness among Indigenous youth populations. Kerstin Roger, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba. Her current research focusses on chronic illness, aging, caregiving, and the family. Dr Roger has been a Principal Investigator on multi-site, nationally funded research (e.g., PHAC, SSHRC, Movember, federal government), as well as conducting provincial and regionally funded research. She has worked on international collaborations, local not-for-profit community initiatives, and continues to co-author and engage graduate students in her research.

1. Chronicity, mental wellness, and spirituality: An introduction (Kerstin Roger and Andrew R. Hatala); 2. Religiosity and spirituality in mental health contexts: Perceptions of psychologists and chaplains (Marta Helena de Freitas, Evelyn Figueira Lima Ruas and Emmanuel Ifeka Nwora); 3. Responding with Anishinaabek values: Understanding the importance of living as a spiritual being for mental wellness (Leslie McGregor and Gerald Patrick McKinley); 4. Tradition and modernity in Somali experiences of spirit possession: An ethnographic exploration-Aaron Moratz); 5. Politics and aesthetics of care: Chronic affliction and spiritual healing in Brazilian Kardecism (Helmar Kurz); 6. Nourishing exchanges: Care, love, and chronicity in Lourdes (Sarah Goldingay, Paul Dieppe, Sara Warber and Emmylou Rahtz); 7. Miyo-wîcêhetowin in the city: Indigenous youth spirituality, good ancestors, and mental wellness through healing journeys on the land (Darrien Morton, Kelley Bird-Naytowhow and Andrew Hatala); 8. Psychosis, spiritual crisis, and narrative transformation: An ethnography of spiritual peer-support networks in the United Kingdom (Raphaëlle Remy-Fischler); 9. Prayer camps, healing, and the management of chronic mental illness in Ghana: A qualitative phenomenological inquiry (Francis Benyah); 10. "God takes care of it": Spiritual practices and mental wellness of people living with type 2 diabetes in Belize (Lindsay Allen, Lucia Ellis and Andrew Hatala); 11. Cultures of wellness and recovery: Exploring religion and chronicity in relation to severe mental illness (G. Eric Jarvis, Rob Whitley and Marie Nathalie LeBlanc); 12. Global mental wellness and spiritual geographies of care: Concluding remarks (Andrew R. Hatala and Kerstin Roger)