My Pastor today referred to an article in Psychology Today about Experimental Existential Psychology. Existential psychology confronts the "ultimate concerns" and sometimes tragic "existential facts of life" including death, finitude, fate, freedom, responsibility, loneliness, loss, suffering, meaninglessness, evil and the demonic. Existential psychology is concerned with more deeply comprehending and alleviating as much as possible (without naively denying reality and the human condition) pervasive postmodern symptoms such as excessive anxiety, apathy, alienation, nihilism, avoidance, shame, addiction, despair, depression, guilt, anger, rage, resentment, embitterment, purposelessness, madness (psychosis) and violence as well as promoting the meaningful, life-enhancing experiences of relationship, love, caring, commitment, courage, creativity, power, will, presence, spirituality, individuation, self-actualization, authenticity, acceptance, transcendence and awe.
The article states that controlled experiments were made using prayer. The researchers found that prayer helped in many areas, especially in the control and elimination of stress and the enhancement of feelings of tranquility and happiness. Prayer was found to make people act with more kindness and to become more forgiving. Prayer was found to make people more trusting in their relationships. Prayer gives you more self control. Studies have demonstrated that self-control is like a muscle. That is, it gets fatigued. You can only do so many push-ups before your muscles give out. Similarly, activities that require self-control are fatiguing, making it more difficult to make good choices the more you have to use your "self-control muscle." Think about it. You are more likely to lose your cool or engage in mindless eating when you are mentally exhausted.
Recent research indicates that prayer can help you get more out of your "self-control muscle." Research participants who said a prayer prior to a mentally exhausting task were better able to exercise self-control following that task. In addition, other studies demonstrate the prayer reduces alcohol consumption, which may reflect the exercise of self-control. Findings such as these suggest that prayer has an energizing effect.