Faith in destiny helps to overcome grief

Faith in destiny helps with grief: Faith, the power of destiny, helps people to better process the death of their partner or loved ones.

Faith, the force of destiny, helps people to better handle the death of their partner or loved ones. Psychologists from Münster and Mainz come to the conclusion on the basis of a nine-year study published in the current issue of the journal "Social Psychological and Personality Science".

Death of the partner of one of the most drastic experiences
For more than nine years scientists from the Universities of Münster and Mainz have collected and examined information from 414 people who lost their partner. They come to the conclusion that the life satisfaction after a death of people who believe in chance or fate fell much less sharply than in the other subjects. Even four years after the death of the partner, people who do not believe in fate or coincidence still feel that their life satisfaction is significantly impaired by the loss of their partner. On the other hand, people who believe in destiny through destiny have been better able to cope with the loss and feel a correspondingly lower impairment of their life satisfaction. „The death of a loved one is one of the most incisive events in the lives of those affected and means an enormous burden, "said the 24-year-old psychologist Jule Specht from the University of Münster. „However, people clearly differ in their response to the death of their partner. One reason for this is the basic attitude towards life, which is what they generally see as the cause of events in their lives: one's own behavior or factors that can not be influenced, such as chance or fate. "

Destiny as a protective factor
Previous studies usually came to the conclusion, which represents the belief in the power of destiny, rather a disadvantage, said the initiators of the study. Stefan Schmukle and Jule Specht. Thus, people with a corresponding attitude are dissatisfied with their lives, less successful at work and more often ill. „Our result now shows that belief in fate not only brings disadvantages, but can also be beneficial in certain situations, "said Jule Specht „this attitude of life (...) as a kind of protective factor "in coping with tragic events.The researchers believe that people who believe in fate or coincidence better cope with such events, as they accept the factors that can not be influenced in their lives. „However, people who underestimate their influence do not only have to deal with their partner's death, they also probably question their beliefs, "said psychologist Jule Specht.

Basic data from the "Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)"
The basic data of the study come from the long-term survey "Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)" on life in Germany, which was provided by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin. Except Jule Specht and Prof. dr. Stefan Schmukle from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster was also Prof. Dr. med. Boris Egloff from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz played a decisive role in the preparation of the study. (fp, 11.10.2010)