Religion Bolsters the Ability to Thrive Through a ‘Spiritual Health Crisis,’ Says Psychologist

It’s no secret that mental health is a hot topic. News outlets report frequently on subjects such as adolescent mental health, the impact of technology on well-being and other related issues.

Less spoken about than the mental health crisis, however, is the “spiritual health crisis,” said Pamela Ebstyne King, a psychology professor and executive director of the Thrive Center for Human Development at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

“So many people in the U.S. are not necessarily rooted in a faith tradition or religious tradition and really struggle around areas of meaning and purpose and a sense of ultimate belonging,” she said.

King spoke on Thursday, February 13, about the ways that religion and spirituality positively impact human growth and well-being. She was the featured speaker at this year’s Marjorie Pay Hinckley Lecture at Brigham Young University.

The Marjorie Pay Hinckley Endowed Chair in Social Work and the Social Sciences is named for the wife of President Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Established in 2003, the chair focuses on understanding and strengthening the family, developing women and creating strategies to help both parents and children. The chair also invites a scholar each year to share how their research addresses a pertinent social issue.

During her February 13 lecture, King spoke about the concept of thriving and how religion bolsters a person’s ability to thrive.

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Thriving isn’t a narcissist, navel-gazing notion, she said; rather, it’s a pathway to becoming whole and contributing to something greater than one’s self. “Thriving happens with and for others and with and for God.”

The THRIVE Model

During her time as a psychology graduate student, King said she pondered on how Jesus Christ saved humankind. It’s a wonderful truth, she said, but she often wondered if God intended people to be saved only “from” something or if He wanted them saved “for” something.

“I don’t believe that we are designed just to survive, but we are designed to thrive and become fully alive as ourselves,” King said.

Christians are called to glorify God, she continued, and she believes thriving means becoming more Christlike. But what does fulfilling that purpose look like on individual, specific levels?

“We might be called to conformity with Jesus but not uniformity,” King said. “So, we’re not all called to become like Jesus in the same way.” For her, part of becoming more Christlike has meant pursuing psychology; but for someone else, serving the Savior might mean working with technology, creating art or developing talents in other ways.

“Part of the thriving journey is growing into one’s uniqueness and individuality and growing into one’s strengths and pursuing one’s passions,” King said, adding, “I truly believe that humans experience joy when … we do the things we delight in.”

King also shared a “spiritual health framework” she helped develop, with each of its six concepts represented by the letters in the word “thrive”:

• T — Transcendence and spirituality
• H — Habits and rhythms
• R — Relationships and community
• I — Identity and narrative
• V — Vocation and purpose
• E — Ethics and virtues

“Transcendence and spirituality” refers to how people experience God, King said. From a psychological standpoint, a person’s brain relaxes when they’re inspired and feel God’s love, she added.

She also said she enjoyed hearing from Latter-day Saints how they experience transcendence in temples. “I love that set-apart, sanctified space that is a place where people can experience that which is beyond them.”

King continued, “Habits and rhythms” refers to spiritual practices such as prayer, service, fellowshipping or missionary experiences.

“Relationships and community” is something that Latter-day Saints are “all-stars” at, King said, since this principle puts emphasis on family and connection to ancestors. “Showing up and being with people is so important to who we are.”

“Identity and narrative” is about celebrating the uniqueness of an individual’s religious traditions and personality, King said.

“Vocation and purpose” refers to finding a sense of calling, King continued. “Callings” don’t have to be big things, either; they can be as simple as a talent for beautifying spaces, for instance. “Having a community that can help you name your gifts is so very helpful.”

Finally, “ethics and virtues” is about having moral guideposts to live by. King said that when an individual knows what their ethics are, it frees up mental space they can then use to be joyful, creative and good.

That’s why “being excellent in your discipline, in your profession and also living with that distinctiveness of your beliefs is really crucial to thriving,” she said.