Abstract
This paper examines suicide prevalence among Nigerian youth struggling to find meaning in life. Frustrated by unattainable ideals, they experience despair. The study explores religion's role in providing support for meaning-seeking individuals. Utilizing an explorative approach, the paper highlights how religion can play a role in offering solidarity, morality, and hope as vital resources for creating a meaningful life. It introduces "Pastrotherapy" as a pastoral care approach to addressing existential questions. Findings emphasize the importance of religious communities and leaders in promoting resilience and addressing underlying causes of despair. This study reveals how religious beliefs and practices support Nigerian youth facing existential challenges, shedding light on the intersection of religion, meaning-making, and mental health.
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Notes
The term ‘pastro’ is a derivative of the Latin word ‘pastor’ meaning ‘shepherd’ or ‘shepherding’ involving protecting, advocating, caring for, or curing something or someone vulnerable or in need. As noted by Carey et al. (2024), the classic model of the ‘pastor’/‘pastoral care’ is fundamentally holistic and involves the (physical) healing, sustaining and support of individuals or communities, as well as providing (psychological) counsel and guidance, and the (social and spiritual) reconciling of people with one another and with the divine or sacred (Clebsch & Jaekle, 1964). Thus ‘pastrotherapy’, involving a chaplain, pastor, priest or pastoral caregiver, is not just about spiritual or religious concerns but rather utilizes an inclusive holistic bio-psycho-social-spiritual and ongoing participant-accompanied pastoral care approach when caring for people.
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This work was supported by the Global South scholarship (ZB/22/006).
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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Collins Ikeokwu Nwafor and Anne Vandenhoeck. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Collins Ikeokwu Nwafor and proofread by Anne Vandenhoeck. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Nwafor, C.I., Vandenhoeck, A. Exploring Religion as a Path to Meaning: The Role of “Pastrotherapy” in Supporting Young People's Quest for a Good Life in Nigeria. J Relig Health 63, 1967–1984 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01979-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01979-1