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- Convenors:
-
Cecilia Bastos
(Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
Thaís Assis (University of São Paulo)
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- Discussant:
-
Rodrigo Toniol
(Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
- Stream:
- Health, Disease and Wellbeing
- Sessions:
- Friday 2 April, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
How does spirituality contribute to health, wellbeing and quality of life? How have the experiences and practices of therapeutic spiritualities built their legitimacy and defended their effectiveness? What is the role and significance of spirituality for health?
Long Abstract:
The panel aims to collect research responsible for developing reflections on the ties between spirituality, wellbeing and health. Considering that the spiritual dimension is part of the multidimensional concept of health, the proposal is to gather recent discussions in the social sciences regarding phenomena and themes such as: holism; alternative and complementary therapeutic practices; mystical-esoteric and New Age traditions of health care; integrality; and therapeutic pluralism. The panel will welcome analyses and descriptions of physical, mental, spiritual or religious experiences and practices that are manifested in the interfaces between medical and therapeutic beliefs and rationalities. The expectation is to gather interpretations on discourses, practices and routines of therapeutic spiritualities that are established in the global scenario as instruments for disease prevention, health promotion, well-being and quality of life.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 2 April, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper is an attempt to advance the understanding of the statements of the WHO regarding the category of spirituality and, at the same time, to reflect on the analytical force of providing visibility to the term in its capacity as a political device for population management.
Paper long abstract:
This paper is an attempt to advance the understanding of the statements of the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the category of spirituality and, at the same time, to reflect on the analytical force of providing visibility to the term in its capacity as a political device for population management. This text is an attempt to reduce this gap. To do so, I analyze the minutes, official texts, transcripts of speeches, resolutions, and reports, and I reflect about how spirituality was enacted in the institution and, mainly, how this category has been articulated with others, such as culture, religion, rights, and wellbeing. The chapter has two main sections. First, I explain some of the questions related to the analysis of “spirituality” in the social sciences of religion and justify why this text can contribute to such debate. Secondly, I dwell on the documents analyzed, presenting them from two axes of variation: the spirituality of Others and the spirituality of All. In the conclusion I outline a set of empirical consequences associated with the “officialization of spirituality” in the WHO. Also, I point to directions that new analytical investments about this topic could follow.
Paper short abstract:
How discourses, practices, therapeutic routines and public policies institute and legitimate holistic therapies as instruments for disease prevention, health promotion, well-being and quality of life? How have these practices built their legitimacy?
Paper long abstract:
The role of spirituality in healthcare has been recognized by World Health Organization (WHO) since the 1970s, however, the adoption of complementary and alternative therapies in public health continues to rise disputes and controversies among professionals, scientists and the media. By analyzing the interfaces between spirituality and health, this communication conducts a literature review about the social processes of legitimation and institutionalization of complementary and alternative practices, also known as integrative or holistic therapies. The proposal is to examine how non-biomedical practices originally associated to New Age esoteric spiritualities have achieved a therapeutic status in the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS). Hence, debates, disputes and power asymmetries of the legitimation processes will be presented and discussed. In this sense, the present paper proposes to advance the sociological understanding of the power asymmetries identified in the coexistence between different health care modalities and also the indicators of autonomy and authority of non-hegemonic therapeutic practices.
Paper short abstract:
While analysing yoga practitioners, I observe how they seek, by the discipline of being aware of their habitual thoughts, actions, roles and behaviours, to control emotions, desires, and to transform their mental health. I wonder what it means to stop our most natural way of thinking and feeling.
Paper long abstract:
While analysing yoga and meditation practitioners, I observe how they seek, by the constant discipline of being aware of their thoughts and actions, to transform physical and mental health. Understanding that attitude patterns of how a person thinks need to change in order to create a state of being directly connected with the body, they believe that especially negative thought processes end up becoming a habit. So, they engage in a fight against the notion that their thoughts are uncontrollable. When choosing to have more control over them, they aim to eliminate ways of thinking that aren't useful, as they understand that repetitive and unconscious thoughts produce automatic behaviour patterns that are almost involuntary and that their attitudes end up becoming part of the same unconscious and predictable pattern. In paying attention to their thoughts as they learn to control emotions and desires, I try to understand what they really aim in becoming aware of unconscious roles and habitual behaviours. I wonder what the consequences might be in trying to change not only one's behaviours but creed, values, attitudes and humour. Do meditation and reflectivity really help in choosing where to put their attention? What mental efforts and kind of determination does it take to achieve this "protected" mental state? In sum, what does it mean to stop our most natural way of thinking and feeling? And how does it relate to spirituality and wellbeing?