Spiritual Well-being in Patients With Generalized Anxiety Disorder and General Medical Conditions: Demographics in Context

Abstract

The purpose of current study was to examine the predictive role of various socio demographic variables for spiritual well-being among participants with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and those with minor General Medical Conditions (GMC). Using purposive sampling technique, 90 participants including 40 (22 men, 18 women) with GAD and 50 (23 men, 27 women) with GMC with the age range of 18-58 years completed a socio-demographic questionnaire along with Spiritual Wellness Inventory (Ingersoll, 1998). The findings of the regression analysis revealed that for GAD group, age appeared to be the only significant predictor for spiritual well-being. Analyses on the subscales revealed that Concept of Hereafter was positively predicted by religious inclination, Conscientiousness was positively predicted by age, Mystery was predicted by age and gender for group with GAD; while, for GMC group, gender predicted Practicing Rituals. Furthermore, the findings of t-test revealed that women with GMC utilized more religious rituals than men; however, no such difference was found in the GAD group. The results have important implications to address the spiritual issues concerning anxiety problems during the course of therapy.