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Gratitude researchers like Jo-Anne Tsang often speak of “trans-personal gratitude” as a sense of appreciation for the universe and for life that goes far beyond the routine everyday personal interactions in which gratitude is expressed. 

Spirituality is an important factor in coping with the ruthless stress caused by caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Among these caregivers it is the dominant means of coping, according to a study published in 1992 in The American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders & Research. 

In another study published in a 1990 article in  Psychosomatics, 32 family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s and 30 caregivers of persons with cancer were compared cross-sectionally to determine whether the type of illness affected the emotional state of the caregiver and to identity correlates of both undesirable and desirable emotional outcomes. Specifically, the research showed that emotional distress was predicted by self-reported low or absent religious faith. Moreover, spirituality predicted positive emotional states in those caring for others.  

In a third study published in a 1994 article in Image:Journal of Nursing Scholarship, the spiritual perspectives of 17 women who cared for their husbands suffering from dementia and 23 wives of healthy husbands were compared in a pilot study using a convenience sample.  Caregiver wives used symbols such as God and spiritual behaviors such as prayer and forgiveness as coping mechanisms. Caregivers also used prayer and sought spiritual guidance in making decisions in their everyday life more often, the journal said. 

It is important to support a spirituality of gratitude even for the deeply forgetful because it helps caregivers to maintain an affirming affective state and to protect against depression. I find it impressive that Tsang is delving deeply into the roles of spirituality and gratitude in the sustaining of love for those who have lost so much of the temporal glue between past, present and future. We need to better understand the link between love and gratitude for the lives of those who are too forgetful to be economically or intellectually productive.

 From the deeply forgetful we learn that love — not cognitive capacity — is the deepest human need and reality.   In our aging society, an attitude of gratitude for those who have lost in large measure the very story of their lives is a necessity. 

Stephen G. Post is president of The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Spirituality is an important factor in coping with the ruthless stress caused by caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Among these caregivers it is the dominant means of coping, according to a study published in 1992 in The American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders & Research. 

In another study published in a 1990 article in  Psychosomatics, 32 family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s and 30 caregivers of persons with cancer were compared cross-sectionally to determine whether the type of illness affected the emotional state of the caregiver and to identity correlates of both undesirable and desirable emotional outcomes. Specifically, the research showed that emotional distress was predicted by self-reported low or absent religious faith. Moreover, spirituality predicted positive emotional states in those caring for others.  

In a third study published in a 1994 article in Image:Journal of Nursing Scholarship, the spiritual perspectives of 17 women who cared for their husbands suffering from dementia and 23 wives of healthy husbands were compared in a pilot study using a convenience sample.  Caregiver wives used symbols such as God and spiritual behaviors such as prayer and forgiveness as coping mechanisms. Caregivers also used prayer and sought spiritual guidance in making decisions in their everyday life more often, the journal said. 

It is important to support a spirituality of gratitude even for the deeply forgetful because it helps caregivers to maintain an affirming affective state and to protect against depression. I find it impressive that Tsang is delving deeply into the roles of spirituality and gratitude in the sustaining of love for those who have lost so much of the temporal glue between past, present and future. We need to better understand the link between love and gratitude for the lives of those who are too forgetful to be economically or intellectually productive.

 From the deeply forgetful we learn that love — not cognitive capacity — is the deepest human need and reality.   In our aging society, an attitude of gratitude for those who have lost in large measure the very story of their lives is a necessity. 

Stephen G. Post is president of The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.