About this Research Topic
Spirituality (from the Latin term spiritualitas which means breath) is a broader concept than religion (from the Latin term religare which means binding together). It comprehends transcendence, connectedness, purpose, and human values that have been associated with clinical outcome, coping, and quality of life (QoL). Worth noting, almost all medical patients think that spirituality is as important to their life as physical well-being. Many neurological patients with the same diagnosis and treatment differ in disease duration, response to treatment, and QoL, suggesting an impact from non-physical and non-psychological factors on health. On this ground, in the last decades, scientific studies have examined spiritual aspects in neurological diseases, such as epilepsy, dementia, brain tumors, head injury, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, highlighting their distinction from psychological aspects and correlation to brain areas.
Literature about spirituality in neurology puts in evidence a variety of background theories, methods of assessment, objectives, and results which cannot represent all conditions. Recent works suggest that discrepancies between studies results may reflect cultural, ethnic, and religious differences, demographic influences, diagnosis, and brain lesions. This picture stimulates an updated comparison between findings concerning the position of spirituality in neurology with the goal of extrapolating sharable methods, clinical endpoints, and indications for the study of neurobiological correlates, therefore encompassing theoretical and operational definitions, pathology, and clinical implications. This goal will be achieved by means of a thorough survey of peer-reviewed articles from multiethnic cross-cultural scientific contexts. Specific objectives are to collect and compare investigations on: 1) theoretical basis of spirituality adopted in the clinical field, 2) standardized assessment measures, 3) utilization as treatment endpoints, 4) neuroimaging and neurophysiological correlates, 5) disease-related spiritual aspects, and 6) relation to QoL and psychological well-being.
Spirituality, encompassing transcendence, connectedness, purpose, and human values, has been associated with clinical outcome, coping, and quality of life (QoL) in different medical and surgical conditions. In the last decades, scientific studies have examined spiritual aspects in neurological diseases, such as epilepsy, dementia, brain tumors, head injury, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, highlighting their clinical impact and neural correlates as well. This research topic of Frontiers in Neurology aims at collecting emerging results in this topic from cross-cultural contexts, extrapolating sharable assessment methods, clinical endpoints, and indications for neurobiological correlates. Manuscripts dealing with the following arguments are welcome:
• Cross-cultural aspects and operational definitions of spirituality in neurological field
• Impact of spiritual dimensions on the quality of life in chronic neurological patients
• The very old brain: neurological features and spirituality in centenaries
• Validation of measurements in healthy subjects and neurological patients
• Observational or case-control studies, with selective or mixed neurological samples
• Magnetic resonance and electroencephalographic studies
Conflict of interests: Dr. Potenza has consulted for Opiant Therapeutics, Game Day Data, Baria-Tek, the Addiction Policy Forum, AXA and Idorsia Pharmaceuticals; has been involved in a patent application with Yale University and Novartis; has received research support from Mohegan Sun Casino and the National Center for Responsible Gaming.
Literature about spirituality in neurology puts in evidence a variety of background theories, methods of assessment, objectives, and results which cannot represent all conditions. Recent works suggest that discrepancies between studies results may reflect cultural, ethnic, and religious differences, demographic influences, diagnosis, and brain lesions. This picture stimulates an updated comparison between findings concerning the position of spirituality in neurology with the goal of extrapolating sharable methods, clinical endpoints, and indications for the study of neurobiological correlates, therefore encompassing theoretical and operational definitions, pathology, and clinical implications. This goal will be achieved by means of a thorough survey of peer-reviewed articles from multiethnic cross-cultural scientific contexts. Specific objectives are to collect and compare investigations on: 1) theoretical basis of spirituality adopted in the clinical field, 2) standardized assessment measures, 3) utilization as treatment endpoints, 4) neuroimaging and neurophysiological correlates, 5) disease-related spiritual aspects, and 6) relation to QoL and psychological well-being.
Spirituality, encompassing transcendence, connectedness, purpose, and human values, has been associated with clinical outcome, coping, and quality of life (QoL) in different medical and surgical conditions. In the last decades, scientific studies have examined spiritual aspects in neurological diseases, such as epilepsy, dementia, brain tumors, head injury, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, highlighting their clinical impact and neural correlates as well. This research topic of Frontiers in Neurology aims at collecting emerging results in this topic from cross-cultural contexts, extrapolating sharable assessment methods, clinical endpoints, and indications for neurobiological correlates. Manuscripts dealing with the following arguments are welcome:
• Cross-cultural aspects and operational definitions of spirituality in neurological field
• Impact of spiritual dimensions on the quality of life in chronic neurological patients
• The very old brain: neurological features and spirituality in centenaries
• Validation of measurements in healthy subjects and neurological patients
• Observational or case-control studies, with selective or mixed neurological samples
• Magnetic resonance and electroencephalographic studies
Conflict of interests: Dr. Potenza has consulted for Opiant Therapeutics, Game Day Data, Baria-Tek, the Addiction Policy Forum, AXA and Idorsia Pharmaceuticals; has been involved in a patent application with Yale University and Novartis; has received research support from Mohegan Sun Casino and the National Center for Responsible Gaming.
Keywords: Spirituality, health, neurological diseases, brain, quality of life, coping, compliance to treatment, depression, treatment side effects, disease burden, caregiver
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
