ANALYSIS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL COPING

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of modern psychological studies of religious and spiritual coping. This article considers the issue of studying the influence of religiosity on the process of coping with a crisis. There is an analysis of modern studies confirming that religiosity and appeal to the spiritual dimension of existence have a significant, albeit very heterogeneous influence on the process of coping with the crisis.

The purpose of this article is the analysis of modern studies of spiritual and religious coping in foreign and domestic psychology. The main tasks are distinction and definition of the concepts of “spiritual” and “religious” coping; identification of further promising directions in the study of spiritual coping.

The content of the article is an analysis of typologies and styles of religious coping. The difference between “instrumental” and “value-based” attitudes towards religion and spirituality are considered.

The main part of the analyzed approaches to the study of spiritual (religious) coping consists of: the classification of styles of religious coping in foreign psychology, the studies of methods of positive and negative religious coping. Along with this, there are also considered the approaches to the study of the spiritual coping: the types of spiritual coping, characteristics of attitudes towards suffering which are inherent with spiritual coping, the main aspects of spiritual coping, the characteristics of special forms of spiritual coping, such as “mastering” and “emotional flutter”.

The article considers modern Ukrainian studies in the field of religious coping. There is also explained a ne- cessity of distinction of the concepts of “religious” and “spiritual” coping. Based on the analysis of theoretical and empirical research, the definitions of “religious” and “spiritual’ coping are given.

A new aspect is highlighted in the study of spiritual coping with the crisis – “the courage of faith”. “The courage of faith” and “collegiality” (collective religious/spiritual coping) are presented as significant aspects, the study of which will provide an opportunity to complement the phenomenology of spiritual coping.