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: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19597707  
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIAGNOSTICS AND RESEARCH  
Spiritual Therapy In Generation Z Students: A Systematic Review Of Classical  
Texts And Contemporary Evidence  
Dr. Avinash Wade1, Dr. Shreyansh Pachore2, Dr. Sneha R. Panzade3  
1 Associate Professor, Department of Roganidan & Vikriti Vigyana, NACRC, SP University, Mahesana,  
Gujarat.  
2 HOD & Professor, Department of Rachana Sharir, NACRC, SP University, Mahesana, Gujarat.  
3Associate Professor, Department of Balroga, NACRC, SP University, Mahesana, Gujarat.  
Corresponding Author: Dr.Avinash Wade  
ORCID ID: 0009-0002-5882-  
1939  
Article Info: Article Received on : 26/03/2026  
Article Reviewed on: 01/04/2026  
Article Published on : 15/04/2026  
Cite this article as: - Wade, A., Pachore, S., & Panzade, S. (2026). Spiritual Therapy In Generation Z Students: A Systematic  
Review Of Classical Texts And Contemporary Evidence. International Journal of Diagnostics And Research, 3(3), 103–109.  
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19597707  
Abstract  
Background: Generation Z, or the age group born between 1997 and 2012, has grown up in an environment that has seen  
the rise of social unrest and the prevalence of academic and digital connectivity. This has led to concerns about stress,  
anxiety, loneliness, and emotional instability in students. The holistic tradition of Ayurveda has also discussed the role of  
spirituality in the context of mental health, and contemporary studies have looked at mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and  
prayer in the context of students. Objective: The objective is to discuss classical concepts related to spiritually informed  
mental care and to compile modern literature regarding the importance of spiritual and spiritually related interventions for  
the mental health and well-being of Generation Z youth. Methods: The PRISMA 2020 review framework is adopted for this  
study. Classical Ayurvedic concepts related to mental care, such as Sattvavajaya Chikitsa and Daivavyapasraya Chikitsa,  
were reviewed along with modern literature related to spiritual and related interventions for mental care and well-being from  
prominent online databases. Modern literature related to spiritual and related interventions for mental care and well-being  
among youth or students is reviewed for this study.  
Results: Classical literature describes mental health as intimately intertwined with moral, cognitive, and spiritual control.  
Modern systematic reviews indicate that mindfulness- and meditation-based interventions might alleviate anxiety disorders,  
depression, stress, and sleep problems in university students. Overall religious and spiritual involvement might also be  
beneficial in terms of meaning-making, coping, and social connections. However, the body of evidence is diverse, spiritual  
interventions were less extensively examined than mindfulness- based interventions, and there is a lack of direct Generation  
Z-specific studies. Conclusion: Spiritual therapy, as a modality, seems to be conceptually consistent with classical health  
systems and clinically relevant as a supplementary intervention for the mental health of students. The most reasonable  
conclusion that can be made at the present time is that spiritually-based and contemplative practices might have some utility  
for the emotional management of students, but trials designed specifically for Generation Z, as a cultural cohort, are  
required to make strong clinical recommendations about its utility.  
Keywords: Generation Z, spiritual therapy, mindfulness, meditation, prayer, Sattvavajaya Chikitsa.  
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them. A critical review of the literature must  
therefore tease out the distinctions between  
spiritual, spiritually informed contemplative, and  
mindfulness-based approaches, while recognizing  
the commonalities among them as well. [7, 8]  
The purpose of the present review was to bridge the  
two domains together, in the first instance, by  
considering classical textual ideas pertinent to  
spiritually informed mental care and in the second  
instance, by considering the more recent evidence  
pertinent to spiritual and contemplative care for  
Generation Z students. [1]  
Introduction :  
The Generation Z students have a very specific  
position. They are the first students who have  
grown up in a world where mobile internet access,  
high levels of social media exposure, on- demand  
communication,  
and  
continuous  
performance  
visibility are the norm. While connectedness has  
provided new ways of learning and support, there  
have also been increased levels of stress, distraction,  
and vulnerability to social comparisons, emotional  
overwhelm, and isolation. This makes student  
mental health a critical concern for integrative  
preventative and therapeutic interventions. [2,6]  
In the holistic medical traditions, mental health is  
not merely the absence of psychiatric symptoms,  
but the presence of inner balance, clarity, self-  
regulation, moral constraint, and a sense of  
meaningfulness in life. In the Ayurvedic tradition,  
mental health disturbance is seen as involving  
psychophysical and spiritual factors, and the  
therapeutic approaches include rational as well as  
spiritual ones. The relevant approaches include  
Sattvavajaya Chikitsa, or the mind-strengthening or  
psychoregulatory therapies, and Daivavyapasraya  
Chikitsa, or the spiritually oriented therapies. These  
ideas provide a relevant classical background for  
considering spiritual therapies in the context of the  
mental health of students. [3-5]  
Objectives:  
1. To examine classical descriptions of spiritual  
therapy relevant to psychological health.  
2. To assess contemporary evidence for  
spiritual  
and  
spiritually  
adjacent  
interventions in student populations.  
3. To identify conceptual, methodological,  
and  
clinical  
gaps  
in  
relation  
to  
Generation Z students.  
This article was constructed using a systematic  
review approach based on PRISMA guidelines for  
systematic reviews in 2020. It integrated two bodies  
of knowledge. One was classical textual knowledge  
relevant to spiritual therapeutics. The other was  
modern  
knowledge  
based  
on  
contemplative,  
spiritual, and religious interventions in student and  
youth mental health. [1]  
In recent years, the mental health literature has  
increasingly examined mindfulness, meditation,  
yoga, prayer, and religious/spiritual coping in  
adolescents, young adults, and university students.  
The challenge, however, is that these approaches  
are generally clustered together, despite the fact that  
there are critical conceptual distinctions among  
Sources of evidence  
The classical sources included the Charaka Samhitā,  
Suśruta Samhitā, and Aşțānga Hrdaya. The modern  
knowledge base included peer-reviewed literature in  
the field of contemplative, spiritual, and religious  
interventions in student and youth mental health.  
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The best modern synthesis was in systematic  
reviews and meta-analyses in the field of student  
and youth mental health. [3-5, 8]  
clarified, and guided. Sattvavajaya Chikitsa is seen  
in later interpretive literature as a pharmacologically  
inactive form of treatment that seeks to reestablish  
mental balance through the retraction of the mind  
from unwholesome objects and strengthening  
sattva, and weakening rajas and tamas. This makes  
Sattvavajaya Chikitsa relevant to contemporary  
concepts of emotional management and cognitive  
restraint. [3-5]  
Eligibility criteria :  
Those studies were considered relevant if they  
focused on samples of adolescents, young adults,  
university students, or other populations similar to  
Generation Z members; examined a spiritual,  
religious, mindfulness, meditation, prayer, yoga, or  
contemplative practice or exposure; and assessed  
psychological outcomes such as stress, anxiety,  
depression, coping, sleep, loneliness, or quality of  
life. Editorials, opinions, and studies not related to  
health outcomes were not included for synthesis. [6,  
7]  
Daivavyapasraya Chikitsa, classically based on  
spiritually oriented interventions, has traditionally  
been used for conditions that are considered to be  
beyond ordinary physical explanation and that need  
ritual,  
faith-based,  
symbolic,  
and  
devotional  
interventions. While its classical roots are very  
different from contemporary psychotherapy, its  
contemporary relevance is that there is evidence  
that healing can be mediated through meaning,  
reverence, belief, ritual form, and existential  
Data handling and appraisal:  
Data of interest included study design, sample  
population, intervention characteristics, comparator,  
outcomes, results, and methodological limitations.  
Systematic reviews, meta- analyses, and controlled  
trials were considered to be of first priority. Quality  
concerns identified across the literature were related  
to risk of bias, lack of consistency in defining  
interventions, lack of blinding, small sample sizes,  
heterogeneity in outcomes, and unclear distinctions  
reassurance,  
particularly  
where  
psychological  
distress is associated with fear, uncertainty, and loss  
of direction. [3-5]  
Collectively, the classical models imply that  
spiritual therapy is not only ritualistic in nature but  
also regulatory, interpretive, and relational. It  
encompasses aspects of how a person cognizes,  
memorizes, controls himself / herself, and finds  
meaning and meaning-relating suffering. For  
students, the relevance of the concepts is  
between  
spiritual  
and  
secular  
contemplative  
practice. [6-8]  
Results:  
1) Classical foundations of spiritual therapy  
particularly  
important  
because  
psychological  
While classical Ayurvedic thought does not clearly  
differentiate mental, ethical, and spiritual well-  
being, it is based on the view that the mind is  
something that can be developed, controlled,  
distress does not only manifest as symptoms but  
also as fragmented attention, identity diffusion, and  
loss of direction. [3-5]  
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depression outcomes. Personal importance of  
religion was not significantly associated with  
depression. Intervention studies that included  
spiritual and/or religious activities were largely  
favorable. However, the studies were heterogeneous  
and methodologically poor and could not be  
included in a meta-analysis. This youth literature is  
highly relevant to the current issue because it  
implies that the therapeutic benefit of spirituality is  
not necessarily related to religious identification.  
Rather, it might be related to meaning-making,  
coping, hope, moral values, support from the divine  
being and social support from a value-sharing  
group. These processes are consistent with both the  
classical model of spiritual therapeutics and modern  
models of psychological resilience.  
1) Contemporary evidence in student and youth  
populations :  
The strongest student-centered evidence available to  
date is related to mindfulness, meditation, and yoga  
rather than religious therapy. A meta-analysis of  
tertiary education students in 2019 found moderate  
effect sizes of depression, anxiety, and stress after  
meditation,  
yoga,  
and  
mindfulness-based  
interventions. However, these effect sizes were  
significantly reduced when compared to active  
controls. The authors of this study noted that all  
included studies were of poor quality and were  
associated with high risks of bias. This indicates  
potential efficacy but also caution in making claims  
of unique therapeutic efficacy. [6]  
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 11  
randomized controlled trials of mindfulness- based  
interventions in 1,824 university students found  
significant improvements in depression, anxiety,  
stress, and sleep quality. The effect sizes were  
significant in depression, anxiety, stress, but  
mindfulness scale scores were found to be non-  
significant. However, there were limitations such as  
heterogeneity in study designs, absence of blinding  
in some studies, uncertainty of publication bias, and  
variability in measurement tools. [7]  
2) Emerging evidence for explicitly spiritual or  
prayer-based practices :  
While not as extensive or methodologically  
sophisticated as the mindfulness literature, some  
studies have examined contemplative or prayer-  
based practices among students. One randomized  
controlled trial examined the efficacy of centering  
meditation among college students and found  
positive effects on stress and mindfulness over a  
four-week period compared to a wait-list control.  
The  
study suggests  
that  
digitally delivered  
The broader youth literature on religiosity and  
spirituality provides a more nuanced set of findings.  
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of 74  
studies in youth aged 10 to 24 years in 2023,  
spiritual wellbeing was found to be protective for  
depression symptoms, while negative religious  
coping, for example, believing that God has  
abandoned you and blaming God for one's life  
contemplative practice may be beneficial for this  
population. [9]  
One  
study  
on  
Centering  
Prayer  
among  
undergraduate students found a declining trend for  
anxiety and increasing hope and search for  
meaning, but no significant effects for depression,  
stress, or mindfulness. While not methodologically  
strong, this study and others do not support strong  
circumstances,  
was  
associated  
with  
poorer  
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efficacy conclusions but do support feasibility for  
explicitly spiritual contemplative practice as a topic  
for better-designed studies. [10]  
of contemplative practices and not spiritual therapy  
per se. Thus, it is methodologically incorrect to  
assert that spiritual therapy has already been proven  
effective for Gen Z students. What can be safely  
Evidence Summary:  
Key  
asserted  
is  
that  
mindfulness-based  
therapy,  
Evidence cluster  
Main finding  
Strength/limitation  
source  
meditation therapy, and yoga therapy have shown  
promising effects for students, and that youth  
religiosity/spirituality research has shown possible  
protective effects through spiritual well-being and  
social connections. [7, 8]  
Spiritual therapy is framed  
Classical  
as mental restraint, meaning Conceptually rich, but not  
Ayurvedic concepts regulation, and restoration  
modern clinical evidence  
[3-5]  
of sattva  
Meditation, yoga,  
Effects weaken against  
active controls; high risk of  
bias  
Moderate  
depression, anxiety, stress  
Reduced depression,  
benefits for  
Mindfulness in  
tertiary students  
Mindfulness  
[6]  
[7]  
in  
11 RCTs, but heterogeneity  
and reporting limitations  
Broad youth evidence, but  
many low/moderate-quality  
studies  
anxiety, stress; improved  
sleep  
university students  
The classical definition of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa is  
particularly useful in terms of interpretation. It can  
be seen to correspond fairly well to modern  
Religiosity/  
Spiritualwellbeing protective;  
negative religious coping  
harmful  
[8]  
[9]  
spirituality in youth  
Centering  
meditation  
Stress and mindfulness  
improved in college students  
Small trial; short duration  
Pilot study with high  
attrition and  
concepts  
of  
fragmented  
attention,  
emotional  
Anxiety trended  
downward; hope and  
meaning increased  
nonrandomized  
comparison  
Centering Prayer  
[10]  
impulsivity, compulsive comparison, and cognitive  
overactivation – all of which can be seen as  
characteristic of modern student life. It should be  
noted that classical concepts should not be seen as  
being equivalent to CBT and modern forms of  
psychotherapy. Rather, they should be seen as  
analogous and philosophically similar rather than  
identical. [3, 5]  
Discussion:  
The major discovery that can be drawn from this  
review is that spiritual therapy can be viewed on a  
continuum rather than on a single scale. On one end  
of the continuum are spiritual and religious  
practices such as prayer, devotional contemplation,  
and spiritual counseling. On the other end are  
secularized spiritual practices such as mindfulness-  
based therapy. Connecting is the area where  
attention management, emotional grounding, self-  
observing, making meaning, and reducing negative  
ruminations are all present. This view of spiritual  
therapy can be very useful in making connections  
with classical theories and contemporary student  
mental health practice. [5, 6, 8]  
In terms of Generation Z students, the implications  
for spiritual therapy are that it should be seen as  
being relevant in flexible and inclusive forms. This  
means that some students will respond to secular  
forms of mindfulness, some to contemplative  
traditions based in culture and religion, and some to  
religiously  
based  
traditions.  
Any  
ethically  
appropriate model of student mental health should  
be seen to respect pluralism while also being safe.  
[5, 8]  
Another major discovery that can be drawn from  
this review is that spiritual therapy has its best  
empirical support in contemporary times in the area  
Digital delivery also requires special consideration.  
It has not been scientifically established that  
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members of Generation Z have a "digital  
spirituality" preference. However, the success of  
brief contemplative interventions delivered in a  
distant manner supports the potential for digital  
media to enhance compliance and outreach,  
particularly in the higher educational arena in which  
cost, stigma, and time constraints limit seeking help.  
[9]  
mindfulness and meditation for reducing symptoms  
of stress, anxiety, etc., among students. Classical  
Ayurvedic tradition adds to the current research by  
offering a more holistic perspective on mental  
health as involving self-control, clarity, meaning,  
and spiritual direction, as opposed to merely  
symptom control. [3-5, 7]  
The final conclusion for publication, however, must  
be more tentative: spiritual therapy for Generation Z  
students is promising, plausible, and relevant, but its  
existence has not yet been definitively proven by  
high-quality studies specific to Generation Z  
students. Future research should compare spiritual,  
secular contemplative, and standard mental health  
therapies using high-quality research designs,  
Limitations:  
This systematic review has some limitations. First  
and foremost, the literature has been heterogeneous  
in terms of nomenclature, intervention strategies,  
and outcome assessment. Secondly, current studies  
have  
also  
focused  
of mindfulness  
without clearly  
more  
on  
assessing  
and meditation  
differentiating  
the  
effectiveness  
interventions  
longer-term  
studies,  
and  
culturally  
sensitive  
outcome measures. [6, 8]  
between secular and spiritual aspects. Thirdly,  
studies that have focused more on spiritually based  
interventions among students have been few  
compared to contemplative interventions. Fourthly,  
current studies have also been associated with some  
limitations in terms of high risk of bias, lack of  
adequate blinding in studies, short-term follow-up,  
and lack of adequate reporting of side effects and  
compliance. Fifthly, studies that have been  
exclusively focused on Generation Z.  
Future directions:  
In addition, future studies should focus on  
conducting multicenter trials among university  
samples  
comprising  
mostly  
Generation  
Z
individuals, developing a definition for spiritual  
therapy, making a comparison between spiritually  
framed and secular mindfulness interventions,  
including loneliness and meaning in life in addition  
to anxiety and depression outcomes, and hybrid  
models that combine face-to-face support and  
online contemplative practice. [8, 9]  
students are few; therefore, inferences have also  
been drawn from studies that have focused on youth  
and universities. [6-8]  
References:  
1. Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, Boutron  
I, Hoffmann TC, Mulrow CD, et al. The  
PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline  
Conclusion:  
Both classical traditions and current research  
support the notion that spiritually-based therapeutic  
approaches can play a role in the mental health of  
students. The best current evidence for spiritual  
approaches comes from contemplative practices like  
for  
reporting  
systematic  
reviews.  
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2021;372:n71.  
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Declaration :  
Conflict of Interest : None  
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Karyotaki E, Gilbody S, Bockting CLH, et al.  
ISSN: 2584-2757  
The  
effects  
of  
meditation,  
yoga,  
and  
DOI : https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19597707  
Dr. Avinash Wade Inter. J.Digno. and Research  
This work is licensed under Creative  
Commons Attribution 4.0 License  
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8. Aggarwal S, Wright J, Morgan A, Patton G,  
Reavley N. Religiosity and spirituality in the  
prevention and management of depression and  
anxiety in young people: a systematic review  
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