The relationships between prayer and emotional well-being as well as sexual abstinence among diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive sexual behaviors

Abstract Prayer is a spiritual practice that can lead to beneficial effects. Prayer is especially significant in the recovery process in a sample of individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive sexual behaviors (OCSB) who participate in mutual self-help groups in Poland. The purpose of this study was to examine whether gratitude to God/higher power mediates the relationship between prayer and hope, which in turn is related to sexual abstinence and both positive and negative affect. In the study, 80 Polish individuals diagnosed with OCSB who attended Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) meetings participated. The mechanisms underlying the link between prayer and sexual abstinence and prayer and emotional well-being were confirmed. Through gratitude to God/higher power, prayer was indirectly related to hope and negative affect. In addition, prayer indirectly predicted sexual abstinence and positive affect through the pathway of gratitude to God/higher power and hope. The beneficial role of prayer as a spiritual practice in recovery among members of SA diagnosed with OCSB was therefore confirmed. These findings should be an incentive for practitioners, therapists, medics, social workers, and psychologists to recommend prayer, as well as gratitude and hope, in interventions aimed at Polish patients suffering from OCSB.