"Completely revises and updates the first edition ... surveys the historical connections between religion and health and grapples with the distinction between the terms ''religion'' and ''spirituality'' in research and clinical practice. It reviews research on religion and mental health, as well as extensive research literature on the mind-body relationship, and develops a model to explain how religious involvement may impact physical health through the mind-body mechanisms. It also explores the direct relationships between religion and physical health, covering such topics as immune and endocrine function, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, neurological disorders, cancer, and infectious diseases; and examines the consequences of illness including chronic pain, disability, and quality of life ... [The] authors are physicians: a psychiatrist and geriatrician, a primary care physician, and a professor of nursing and specialist in mental health nursing"--Provided by publisher.

I. Background. A history of religion, medicine, and health care -- Definitions -- II. Debating religion's effects on health. Religion : good or bad? -- Coping with stress -- Religion and coping -- III. Research on religion and mental health. Well-being and positive emotions -- Depression -- Suicide -- Anxiety disorders -- Psychotic disorders -- Alcohol and drug use -- Delinquency and crime -- Marital instability -- Personality and personality disorder -- Understanding religion's effects on mental health -- IV. Research on religion and physical health. Heart disease -- Hyptertension -- Cerebrovascular disease -- Alzheimer's Disease and dementia -- Immune functions -- Endocrine functions -- Cancer -- Mortality -- Physical disability -- Pain and somatic symptoms -- Health behaviors -- Disease prevention -- V. Understanding the religion-physical health relationship. Psychological, social, and behavioral pathways -- Conclusions -- Appendix. Studies on religion and health (by health outcome).