Contributions of Religious Experience to Psychological and Physical Well-Being: Research Evidence and an Explanatory Model

Abstract

Religious experiences may be a resource in primary preventive care. Using Tillich's model, in which ontological anxiety contributes to psychological and physical illness, this paper proposes that religious experience can contribute to well-being. Data supporting these relationships, drawn from studies of psychotherapeutic workshop participants, medical outpatients and divinity school students, are reviewed. Further evidence is reviewed which suggests that the development of an internally-focussed perceptual orientation may facilitate the occurrence of religious experience.