The Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude isn’t dependent on favorable circumstances. It’s a discipline that can be practiced at any time, focusing the mind on the positive aspects of our life. Unsurprisingly, training the mind to think positively can have significant health and wellness benefits. 

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

The effect of gratitude can be tricky to measure, but psychological scoring systems can evaluate the difference between people that make thankfulness a conscious habit and those that don’t. Tests include the Satisfaction With Life Scale, Mental Health Continuum Short Form, and the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). Gratitude-focused interventions include:

• • • keeping a gratitude journal

    • verbally expressing thankfulness to others

    • discussing highlights of the day/week/month

    • gratitude-focused meditation

The discipline involves more than just the occasional thankful thought but significant dedicated time to reflect on and communicate to others positive aspects of our lives, particularly thinking of them as gifts. 

In 2023, Brazilian researchers conducted a meta-analysis of worldwide gratitude-related studies published over the prior two decades. They found that participants who underwent gratitude interventions were 6.7% more satisfied with life. Mental health improved 5.8% on the Mental Health Continuum Short Form scoring system. Those with Generalized Anxiety Disorder experienced 7.8% less symptoms, while Major Depression sufferers who practiced gratitude interventions had 6.9% improved moods. Regularly thankful people were found to be more optimistic and had more positive emotions compared to the control group. Sleep didn’t necessarily improve for the general public, but those with chronic insomnia tended to improve their symptoms. Gratitude also increased social behavior. In the end, the researchers concluded:

When expressing gratitude, people avoid pessimism, unhappiness, complaints of malaise and pain, toxic emotions such as anger, hurt, and fear, feelings of loneliness, isolation, and lack of engagement. A grateful individual focuses on positive practices of solidarity and attention to others and gains a sense of well-being in return. However, being grateful, that is, expressing gratitude, is difficult for many people. They do not understand the importance of developing a thankful spirit. Psychotherapy and interventions of sensibilization and emotional education can assist these people in understanding the importance of “being grateful” and exercising this virtue. As this occurs, positive changes in emotional health are experienced by the individual and perceived by others. (1)

Although not every study showed a benefit, none showed any negative outcomes of regular and deliberate gratitude. Indeed, the benefit of practicing thankfulness was overwhelmingly favorable across the majority of psychological research.

Harvard Medical School found the same thing, describing two examples of gratitude-based interventions: 

In one study, [researchers] asked all participants to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics. One group wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation. 

Another leading researcher in this field… tested the impact of various positive psychology interventions on 411 people, each compared with a control assignment of writing about early memories. When their week’s assignment was to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked for his or her kindness, participants immediately exhibited a huge increase in happiness scores. This impact was greater than that from any other intervention, with benefits lasting for a month. (2)

By and large, gratitude has a strong association with overall happiness. 

Now, let’s be clear that thankfulness doesn’t negate life troubles, nor should it be used to ignore our problems. Research from a trauma therapist cautioned against using gratitude to mask or bypass emotional pain rather than process it. It’s not helpful to sugar-coat struggles or find the silver lining in every dark cloud. A “pie in the sky”, plaster-a-smile-on-our-face approach to distress is rarely healthy. However, she noted that thankfulness can still have a powerful role in the midst of dark times. 

In my younger therapist days, I spent time reflecting deeply on whether gratitude had a safe place in trauma-informed work. And that is when I realized the reframe. What if gratitude isn’t meant to replace your pain, but to help you carry it differently? Gratitude is not about denying what’s hard. When approached with care, it can be a tool to help our clients learn how to hold both truth and tenderness at once. This is the heart of what I call “emotional bothness,” or the capacity to feel sorrow and still recognize goodness. (3)

Thankfulness is foundational to what psychologists call “sustainable contentment” (i.e. joy) and is a powerful tool to help establish emotional resilience throughout life.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

The English term “gratitude” comes from the Latin gratia meaning “grace”. It’s all about recognizing the gifts in our lives. The equivalent Greek term in the New Testament, eucharistos, literally means “good grace” or “good gift”. Thankfulness is frequently encouraged in the Bible. 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Col 3:15, NIV)

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thes 5:16-18, ESV)

Notice the connection between peace, joy, and thankfulness: all are related to focusing our lives on Christ. Indeed, many of the psychological studies that explored the connection between gratitude and happiness noted prayer as an example of expressing thankfulness. Unsurprisingly, this lines up perfectly with what the Bible says. Harvard Medical School again: 

With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, being grateful also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals – whether to other people, nature, or a higher power. (2)

Even non-religious research found recognizing the blessings of God (“a higher power”) can be beneficial. The Bible says to do the same thing.

Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. (Ps 107:1, NLT)

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph 5:19-20, NIV)

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (Col 4:2, ESV)

Thankfulness helps us focus on what we have rather than striving for “the next thing” we think will make us happy. When we have God with us, we’ve got everything we need.

My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19, NASB)

If the many blessings of the Lord make us want to sing, we’re not alone. Such is the natural response to his provision.

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. (Ps 100:1-4, NKJV)

Thankfulness puts our perspective in line with God’s. It helps us see the glass half full, not half empty. The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk lived in a dark time – all he saw among his countrymen was violence and wickedness. However, after lamenting to God, he was still able to be thankful despite the dire circumstances.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. (Hab 3:17-18, NIV)

Even when times are tough, we can still practice gratitude. Reflecting on the positive aspects of our life (even when there are precious few) can help keep bitterness and sinfulness at bay. Furthermore, thanklessness is linked to unrighteous living. 

Although [the unrighteous] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Rom 1:21, ESV)

It’s foolish to not show gratitude. In fact, God wants us to ask just so he can gladden us.

Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. (Jn 16:24, NASB)

It all comes back to the understanding that good things in life are gifts – gratia, grace – from God.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights. (Jam 1:17, NKJV)

SUMMARY

Anxiety and thankfulness cannot coexist in the mind simultaneously. When we’re thankful, our worries are pushed aside, if only for a moment. It’s not that stressors cease to exist, but they have less power when we focus on the blessings in our life. Regularly appreciating the good things the Lord and others have done for us improves our overall well-being. Our minds will perceive things brighter. Troubles may still plague us, but perhaps not to the extent that they once did.

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, June 2026.

Quotes:

1. Diniz, et al. “The effects of gratitude interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis”. Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein (Sao Paulo). July 31, 2023. Accessed at pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10393216/.

2. Harvard Medical School. “Giving thanks can make you happier”. Harvard Health Publishing. August 14, 2021. Accessed at www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier.

1. Copley, Laura. “Using Gratitude & Happiness in Trauma-Informed Therapy” (online). Positive Psychology. Nov 10, 2025. Accessed at positivepsychology.com/gratitude-happiness-research/. 

Scripture quotations are Bibles as noted:

ESV – The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway, 2001.

NASB – Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

NIV – The Holy Bible, New International Version. Biblica, Inc. 1973.

NKJV – The Holy Bible: The New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 1982.

NLT – Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.