ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effectiveness of intervention, including sabr (patience) and salat (prayer), to reduce psychopathological symptoms after the Merapi eruption in 2010. It describes the hypothesis that patience and prayer have positive effects on alleviating psychopathological symptoms. The chapter aims to design a treatment to build patience and prayer by a spiritual approach for reducing psychopatho-logical symptoms in the Merapi eruption area, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia is a country with many islands, diverse cultures, languages, religions, and various ethnic groups. With a large majority of the population being Muslim, there are many religious coping and spiritual values that can be applied in coping with the problem, such as withstanding the disaster. The Brief Symptoms Inventory was completed by each participant to measure their psychopathological symptoms. The findings indicated high levels of psychopathology, comprised of symptoms of anxiety, affective disorders, and post-traumatic stress syndrome, in the overall sample. Prayer is considered as a coping strategy for enhancing physical and psychological health.
