Happiness seems hard to find in a world of social media addiction, increasing cases of depression and widespread loneliness.
But spirituality may hold the key to unlocking better mental well-being, new research indicates.
Religiosity is declining in the West. Globally, only 54% of adults say religion is very important in their lives, according to a Pew Research survey.
People who actively practice religion — regardless of the specific faith — have better mental well-being, according to a recent study led by U.S. neuroscientist Tara Thiagarajan.
“Having love for others is the driver of mental well-being,” says Thiagarajan, founder and chief scientist of Sapien Labs, a nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and understanding the human mind. “Religion itself seems to somehow provide people a more reliable path to finding love for others.”
Research had already shown a link between love, spirituality and religion and mental well-being, but Thiagarajan explored the precise nature of that relationship using an assessment of more than 239,000 people across 65 countries as part of Sapien Labs’ Global Mind Project.
She found that actively practicing religion — any religion — is linked to a higher likelihood of spirituality and love for others. The numbers are stark: 72% of those surveyed with high levels of spirituality felt love and care for a wide community of people beyond their own family and friends, while only 35% of atheists surveyed reported the same.
In turn, that increased care and love for others directly correlates to increases in mental well-being. Thiagarajan’s study used a “Mental Health Quotient” that assesses 47 areas related to mental health and well-being; participants with high levels of spirituality and love for others consistently scored higher on the MHQ than those who were atheist or agnostic.
Analyst News spoke to Thiagarajan about what her research means. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What led you to conduct this study?
Our larger goal is to understand what drives human well-being.We look at mental well-being overall as the capacity to navigate stresses and adversities of life and function productively.
The goal we have as an organization is to understand how our changing environment actually impacts the brain, and in turn the mind and all our mental well-being.
We’ve uncovered this trend that shows that mental well-being has been declining with each younger generation. Part of our goal has been to understand why that’s the case. One of the big factors is the capacity for forming relationships with others, maintaining relationships with others, and cooperating toward goals with others, and also how you see yourself — your self confidence, your self image — that that whole set of capacities is what has really declined the most with younger generations. And really, the question is, why is that happening? Why are we becoming so much more individualized?
A universal aspect that holds us together is love. Parental love for children, love for friends, love for people in the community. It’s sort of the glue that really is that essence of human bonding at the core. We wanted to look at aspects that impact relationships because we see even each generation has an increase in parental neglect and parental abuse. And so the question that we had is, where’s the love gone?
It just organically evolved through various conversations with people: What is the connection with spirituality and love? What is the connection between religious practice and love?
How does religion pave the way for people to “love” more?
It can be done through [a sense of] duty, it can be a feeling, it can be many different aspects. But I think the general thing is that [religion] is a set of codes and practices. It’s the guidance of religion on how to handle relationships and conflict and not to flare stuff up and to be more forgiving and generous with your caring. That’s a big part of religions in different ways. I think there’s also the active practice of charity and volunteering.
“Having love for others is the driver of mental well-being. Religion itself seems to somehow provide people a more reliable path to finding love for others.”
The other thing is, [religion offers] a gathering place. People meet each other and form a relationship over time around that community. I think that sense of community could be another factor. The act of giving and active duty, I think, have a big impact.
That’s core to almost every religion. That’s probably a big factor as well because that does force you to think of others.
Why do people in certain nations care more for others while other nations seem indifferent?
I think that part of it is the modern individualism as a culture where it’s you for yourself versus a socially collective culture. Africa, for example, [has] very collective kinds of cultures. And the Western ethos that’s developed over the last several decades is very individualistic. We all have to stand on our own two feet. You don’t ask for help from anyone, you don’t need to help anyone, you do your own thing.
Do you think the United States in particular is a more individualistic society today than a collectivist society?
I think it is. If you look at the numbers for the U.S., 64% identify with a religion. When we asked about active practice, it’s only about 35% or 36%. And so it’s now a minority of people who actually are practicing religion in an active way.
You mentioned that atheists are five times more likely to “love or care for no one.” Can you explain why?
It’s hard to know how people come into that belief. It could be that because you have no one in your life that you therefore don’t believe in any religion. There’s a possibility, as well, that it goes the other way: that people who have been so isolated and not had any community around them growing up are the ones who end up being atheist in their belief because their life has been so bad and isolated.
What we’re seeing is that those who rated themselves like that are the ones who are more likely to love no one. But it could also be the other way because they did not grow up in a religious or any kind of community or any kind of religious upbringing, and find themselves isolated in life, that there’s no one to love.
We’re also saying that those who are atheists who do feel love and care for a large group of people, they’re doing just as well as anyone who has an active religious practice. So whatever they’re doing in their life, it’s equivalent to whatever religion is doing.
