Pain and Suffering as Viewed by the Hindu Religion

Whitman, Sarah M.

doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2007.02.430

Cited by 70 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Whereas the former often means death, the latter is associated with healing and recovery. Likewise, different religions attribute different meanings to pain and suffering, and this may lead to different pain experiences (164,194,342).…”

Section: Attributing a Positive Meaning To Pain Coactivates Opioid Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Placebo and the New Physiology of the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Benedetti

2013

Physiological Reviews

356

320

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Modern medicine has progressed in parallel with the advancement of biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology. By using the tools of modern medicine, the physician today can treat and prevent a number of diseases through pharmacology, genetics, and physical interventions. Besides this materia medica, the patient's mind, cognitions, and emotions play a central part as well in any therapeutic outcome, as investigated by disciplines such as psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology. This review describes recent findings that give scientific evidence to the old tenet that patients must be both cured and cared for. In fact, we are today in a good position to investigate complex psychological factors, like placebo effects and the doctor-patient relationship, by using a physiological and neuroscientific approach. These intricate psychological factors can be approached through biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology, thus eliminating the old dichotomy between biology and psychology. This is both a biomedical and a philosophical enterprise that is changing the way we approach and interpret medicine and human biology. In the first case, curing the disease only is not sufficient, and care of the patient is of tantamount importance. In the second case, the philosophical debate about the mind-body interaction can find some important answers in the study of placebo effects. Therefore, maybe paradoxically, the placebo effect and the doctor-patient relationship can be approached by using the same biochemical, cellular and physiological tools of the materia medica, which represents an epochal transition from general concepts such as suggestibility and power of mind to a true physiology of the doctor-patient interaction. I.WHAT I. WHAT IS A PLACEBO RESPONSE? A. Placebos Were Introduced to Validate the Efficacy of Medical TreatmentsAncient physicians have always used bizarre and odd treatments to cure their patients, with scarce, if any, knowledge of anatomy and physiology. As the anatomical and physiological details of both the animal and the human body started emerging, the need of a scientific explanation of many medical treatments became an imperative objective of physicians and the scientific community. An important historical period whereby scientific skepticism emerged about the efficacy of some medical remedies is approximately in the second half of 1700 and involved treatments like mesmerism, perkinism, and homeopathy (178).To take mesmerism as an example, this was introduced in the second half of 1700 by Franz Anton Mesmer, who claimed to have discovered a healing fluid which he called animal magnetism. To assess the very nature and the efficacy of mesmerism in treating many diseases and symptoms, Louis XVI appointed a commission that was headed by Benjamin Franklin. This commission performed what can be considered one of the first blind assessments and sham (placebo) interventions in the history of medicine. Some women were blindfolded and asked where the mesmeric energy was being applied. As reported by the members of the commission th...

show abstract

Section: Attributing a Positive Meaning To Pain Coactivates Opioid Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Placebo and the New Physiology of the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Benedetti

2013

Physiological Reviews

356

320

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Authors of conceptual or clinical articles have alluded to God's perceived role in suffering, including divine struggle, among Hindus Gupta 2011;Whitman 2007). Ethnographic work among the Mikirs of India has documented attributions of suffering to gods (Jain and Borthakur 1980).…”

Section: The Indian Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anger toward God(s) Among Undergraduates in India

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many people report occasional feelings of anger toward God. However, most evidence pertains to western, predominantly Christian populations. In this study, Indian university students (N = 139; 78% Hindu) completed a survey about anger toward God(s). Polytheists (45%) chose one god to focus on. Measurement invariance tests supported comparisons of anger toward God between the predominantly Hindu Indian sample and three mostly Christian U.S. undergraduate samples (Ns = 1040(Ns = , 1811. Indian participants reported more current and situation-specific anger toward God than U.S. participants, but less anger toward God over their lifetimes. In the Indian sample, anger toward God correlated positively with other indicators of religious/spiritual struggle, seeing God as cruel and distant, and seeing anger toward God as morally acceptable. Regarding an event involving suffering, anger toward God related positively to the event's harmfulness, seeing God as responsible, seeing God's actions as negative, and responses involving substance use and protest toward God. Generally, these findings replicated those from prior U.S. samples. Polytheists who preferred some gods over others or chose to follow a different god reported greater anger toward gods. Results uphold the comparability of anger toward God(s) between Indian and U.S. undergraduates while beginning to reveal key differences.

show abstract

“…Acceptance of pain and detachment from any struggle with the experience of pain means that painful or pain-free states would be accepted equally. Detachment from this world, in order to be focused on God or The Ultimate, is a primary goal in Hindu traditions [14]. The Sacred Bhagavad Gita, has conversations in the form of songs where Lord Krishna makes references of pain:…”

Section: Religious Concepts Of Painmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to Pain, Religion and Analgesia

Ghosh¹

2012

Pain in Perspective

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pain and Suffering as Viewed by the Hindu Religion

Cited by 70 publications

References 25 publications

Placebo and the New Physiology of the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Placebo and the New Physiology of the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Anger toward God(s) Among Undergraduates in India

Introduction to Pain, Religion and Analgesia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About