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Religious Coping Case Study

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Marilyn’s level of income in factory work is also significant because it is a pre-determined fact of mortality. The relationship of each state’s income gap and the age-adjusted mortality rate showed that “mortality is higher in states where the income gap is greater than in states where the income gap is smaller” (Anderson, 2003, p. 179). Although, in her home state of Ohio, the rates were just about in the very middle. Marilyn’s developmental strengths are being able to live in her home and function easily. She practices activities that stimulate brain activity, such as reading the daily paper and doing the crossword puzzle, which may “offer some protection against the cognitive decline that comes with aging” (Boston, 2011, p. 556). She tries…show more content…
Of more than 850 studies that have examined the relationship between religious involvement and various aspects of mental health, “more than two-thirds have found that people adapt to stress better if they’re religious” (Creagan, 2001, p. 77). Psychologists Dr. Kenneth Pargament recognizes that “Religious coping can play a number of valuable roles in the lives of people. It can help people hold on to a sense of meaning in the face of events that may seem to make little sense at all. It can instill a sense of connection to something greater than oneself in the midst of situations that tend to separate us from each other. It can support and strengthen us when we are feeling at our weakest. And it can help us transform our most fundamental values and visions in life when old sources of significance are lost or no longer viable. Part of the power of religious coping lies in the fact that it can help meet the diverse needs of people facing very different problems in very different environments” (Anderson, 2003, p. 221). Studies have found that patients with religious-based coping strategies are less likely to have depression (Duke Medical Center), lower distress after transplant surgery (University of Minnesota), and lower blood pressure (Dr. Andrew Sherwood and colleagues) (Anderson, 2003, p. 222). Again, another study concluded…show more content…
It is also an investment of time and resources into a subject that will outlive the test of time. Erikson noted, “The fashionable insistence on dramatizing the dependence of children on adults often blinds us to the dependence of the older generation on the younger one” (Vaillant, 2002, p. 131). My question was “What is meaningful to you? What is the most important?” Without hesitation, her answer was for all her children and grandchildren to be Christians, serve the Lord, and go to heaven. I asked, “What have you learned from your children?” This required a bit more thought, but she concluded, the importance of an education. Marilyn did not complete high school, but her son and daughter-in-law both earned bachelor’s degrees in accounting and are very financially sound. Her daughter earned her bachelor’s in nursing, but didn’t pursued her degree until she was 40 years old. Also, one granddaughter and one grandson had gotten their bachelor’s, of which was is very proud of. She said she hadn’t realized how much difference an education made in getting a good
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