In good faith

Turns out that psychologists have tapped into resilience-building techniques that religion has been using for aeons: reframing hardship as a positive. A US study has pinpointed key similarities in the way religious people cope with crises and the psychological strategies used to guide people in therapy. Both aim to give life challenges a positive spin, a technique known in science as ‘cognitive reappraisal’, to protect against distress. Religious people also tend to have confidence in their ability to handle difficulties, a core self-belief that’s correlated with lower rates of depression and anxiety.