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.

We intended to analyze whether patients with chronic diseases believe in guardian angels (GdA) as a coping resource. In a cross-sectional survey, we analyzed data from 576 German patients with chronic diseases (mean age 51.3 ± 15.4 years). We found that 56 % of the patients often or even regularly believed in GdA, with significantly more women than men believing. Particularly interesting was the fact that 38 % of patients who were identified as neither religious nor spiritual (R-S-) believed in GdAs. This belief may indicate that patients are interested in bridging the gap between the concrete struggle to manage illness and non-rational/transcendent realms.

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Introduction: The aim of this study was to find out attitudes and convictions patients have, What are their spiritual /religious (spir/rel) needs and whether and how they want to be addressed. There we asked which professions they want to be referred to and how this could look like. We have given the options of all professions that are available. Methods: 248 Patients at admission, 228 at discharge, Mean age 39.6 ± 13.4 years, June 2010-December 2011 all new inpatients, open, prospective, explorative, cross-sectional Standardised Questionnaires developed by Arndt Büssing et al. & Questionnaire "Expectations towards the Clinic. Results: In the Self-rating whether clients call themselves as religious and/or spiritual the Distribution is similar to the regional general population. SPREUK-15 shows a higher percentage of patients are in a period of Reflection than in trusting in a higher guidance. Within the needs questionnaire patients significantly look for inner peace than rel/spir needs. Interestingly there is a percentage that feels it relevant that rel/spir is part of therapy (1/4), a high percentage think it is not so important and less ¼ do not want it to be part. With whom that should happen number one are the psychotherapist followed by the chaplains. Conclusion: This study provides first evidence that there might be different groups of patients who want rel/spir be part of therapy where others do not. Future studies are needed to be able to differentiate early enough and to find out what health care professionals should provide to meet these needs.