Spirituality & Mental Health
Episode Description
Though spirituality is often associated with religion, it can mean much more than simply attending religious services or praying. In this episode of Mind Your Mind, host Tim Unsinn and psychiatrist Dr. Wayne Martinsen define spirituality and discuss its relevance in daily life, touching on ways people experience, express, and cultivate spirituality. They also talk about the link between spirituality, religion and meaning in life.What to Expect
- What is spirituality?
- How to practice spirituality
- How spirituality and meaning can change throughout life
Resources: Learn More
- “Understanding Spirituality and Mental Health,” (mcleanhospital.org)
- “Gratitude Exercises for Adults & Parents,” by Dakota Family Services
Things to Think About
- People can experience and express spirituality in many ways, whether through religious practice, connecting with family, engaging with the arts, or spending time in nature.
- What are some ways that you practice spirituality in your life?
About the Guest
Dr. Martinsen enjoys working with a wide range of ages and diagnoses. His practice is largely focused on complex clients with multiple health challenges. He diagnoses psychiatric and behavioral health conditions, makes recommendations for treatment, and prescribes/manages medications for clients of all ages. Much of his work focuses on maximizing health, treating illness, and promoting healthy longevity through lifestyle medicine.
Transcript
Spirituality & Mental Health
Featuring Dr. Wayne Martinsen, Psychiatrist, Dakota Family Services
Tim Unsinn:
Welcome to Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services, an outpatient behavioral health clinic, located in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo, North Dakota. In this podcast, I will talk with our experts about understanding and nurturing our mental health and wellness. I'm your host, Tim Unsinn. Join me each episode as we explore the intricacies of our minds, decrease the stigma of mental illness, learn practical tips for managing our mental health and wellbeing, and recognize when it's time to ask for help. Join me now to mind your mind. Welcome to this episode of Mind Your Mind. I'll be talking with Dr. Wayne Martinsen. Dr. Martinsen is a medical director and psychiatrist in Fargo and Minot. Dr. Martinsen diagnoses psychiatric and behavioral health conditions and makes treatment recommendations and provides medication management for clients of all ages. Our topic today is spirituality. However, Dr. Martinsen it's great to have you on mind your mind. And before we start, I always ask that one question of why do you do what you do?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
For several reasons, Tim, I find my work absolutely fascinating. I love working with people, I love making a difference, and it feels like to me sometimes my work is an expression of my spirituality in terms of how can I use my talents to help others.
Tim Unsinn:
Love that answer. And I always appreciate talking with so many of our providers here at Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch and Dakota Family Services, the fact that helping others is the forefront of everything that we are about. Spirituality is our topic. How is spirituality defined?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
Spirituality would be a sense of transcendence or experience of oneself outside of just the material world. So while our religious faith is the structured way that we live out the rules by which we live, the goals that we set for our faith, it helps us on a particular pathway to be closer to God or the transcendent, spirituality is the underlying sense or experience of transcendence beyond that, and it's a heightened sense of connection to humanity, to the future, to those around us.
Tim Unsinn:
How is that experienced?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
It's experienced in a number of ways, and there's a surprising amount of research on spirituality and on transcendence. But when we experience that sense of awe, whether it's looking into the heavens at night and seeing the stars, whether it's seeing the beauty of nature, holding a child or a grandchild, when we see somebody who has done an incredible artwork, it's a sense of gratitude. Not just for something that somebody did in this moment, but for the people around us, for the society around us, when we have a sense of oneness or unity with people around us, those are all various experiences of transcendence or spirituality.
Tim Unsinn:
So we've, we've experienced it. How do we express spirituality?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
It's expressed, again, in a lot of ways. It's expressed in that sense of gratitude. It's expressed in how we treat the people around us, the values that we choose to live by. It's expressed in the arts. A lot of times we will hear a particular piece of music that really moves us to think more deeply or we'll read something that's thoughtfully written, whether that's the Bible, other spiritual materials, or whether that's just something from one of the philosophers. Artwork can be an expression of transcendence. The experience of connection with people when we're volunteering or when we're caring for somebody is also ofttimes an experience of transcendence or spirituality.
Tim Unsinn:
You're listening to Mind Your Mind. Our guest is Dr. Wayne Martinsen, and we are talking about spirituality, talking about experiencing that, what it is, how to express it, how do we cultivate it?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
Well, a lot of the times we're cultivating it when we're just in a quiet space, when we're walking in nature. Some people will actively try to cultivate it, and what you're looking at is a non beseeching prayer. So using prayer as a sense of connection to God or to the universe, rather than asking in a personal way for something that we want from God. So the experience of spirituality is a part of our religious faith, but it's also in other places, whether we're meditating, whether we're time in nature, and if we have just a non-judgmental openness to the beauty around us and try to focus in this moment on what's going on around us and what's positive. That's also an experience of spirituality.
Tim Unsinn:
You know, as you're talking about the experience, the expression, the cultivation, I think so many of the other things that we do, it has to be sometimes intentional in, in what we're doing.
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
And for, for me, my background is Christian. So when I go to a baptism, when I go to a ceremony that reflects Christmas, the birth of Christ or, or the resurrection of Christ, or when I go to a funeral and they talk about the nature of, of life, of spirit beyond this world, those are all, for me, a part of my spirituality.
Tim Unsinn:
So what's the relationship between spirituality and meaning?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
You know, I think the two are linked inextricably. Meaning is a lot of pieces that touch on spirituality. So meaning changes across our life. So for a young person meaning is what job they had, what relationship they connect with, finding a goal in life or a career in life, having children. At some point as we get older, spirituality becomes what we're going to leave for the next generation. What we're, you know, what are we going to do to leave the planet in a better place? How can we volunteer to help a situation around us? So it's, it's really the meaning changes throughout our life, and it can change in the course of a day. So on one day I might come to work and I have a particular patient that I need to help, and the meaning primarily focuses on helping somebody in a difficult spot that day.
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
Another time, meaning might be a part of being in my community and helping find ways to make the recycling projects in Minot work better, or to be a part of the arts community in my community, or to take care of the grandchildren. All of those are pieces of meaning that might focus us in different ways. And then we have an overarching sense of meaning that it's usually more in line with our values or more in line with our spirituality, such as where's my, where's my life going in sync with my religious belief? Where's it going in terms of a sense of unity with the community, with the future? How will my life affect those around us?
Tim Unsinn:
Love the connection between spirituality and meaning. Really appreciate that, especially when you talk about that from a Christian standpoint. Those things go hand in hand, in my opinion. Any final thoughts on spirituality before we wrap up?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
Just, I think it's a part of all of our lives. I think too often we get caught up in America and in Western society on thinking about, I believe in God, I don't believe in God. I'm angry at the church for this, or the mosque for that. And rather than looking at how do we connect more deeply to the world around us and value that as opposed to the rules or the experiences that we had that we did or didn't like.
Tim Unsinn:
Always appreciate your insights. Dr. Wayne Martinsen's been our guest on Mind Your Mind. And before we wrap up-- that final question, and that is, how do you personally mind your mind?
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
So actually I live out a lot of these things. I meditate daily and have for years. I frequently go for walks with my dog and my wife. Actually I should say my wife and my dog. You know, I try to spend time with my grandchildren. It's an incredible experience to hold a newborn child or to try to think how do I make the world a better place for them.
Tim Unsinn:
Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us. We always appreciate you and always appreciate your insights.
Dr. Wayne Martinsen:
Thank you, Tim.
Tim Unsinn:
Thank you for joining us for Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services. You can't have health without behavioral health. Remember to mind your mind. For more information, links to additional resources, contact information, and much more. Go to Dakotafamilyservices.org.
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