Religion and mental health: what should psychiatrists do?

Harold George Koenig

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Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology Religion and Society Interactions Workplace Spirituality and Leadership

Abstract

Religious beliefs and practices of patients have long been thought to have a pathological basis and psychiatrists for over a century have understood them in this light. Recent research, however, has uncovered findings which suggest that to some patients religion may also be a resource that helps them to cope with the stress of their illness or with dismal life circumstances. What are psychiatrists doing with this new information? How is it affecting their clinical practices? Studies of psychiatrists in the UK, Canada and the USA suggest that there remains widespread prejudice against religion and little integration of it into the assessment or care of patients. In this paper I discuss a range of interventions that psychiatrists should consider when treating patients, including taking a spiritual history, supporting healthy religious beliefs, challenging unhealthy beliefs, praying with patients (in highly selected cases) and consultation with, referral to, or joint therapy with trained clergy (Koenig, 2007). Religion is an important psychological and social factor that may serve either as a powerful resource for healing or be intricately intertwined with psychopathology.

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References

1953The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud 2004Handbook of Religion and Health 2001Handbook of Religion and Health 2009Research on Religion, Spirituality, and Mental Health: A Review 2007Religion, Spirituality, and Medicine: Psychiatrists’ and Other Physicians’ Differing Observations, Interpretations, and Clinical Approaches 2007The Relationship Between Psychiatry and Religion Among U.S. Physicians 1993Psychiatrists’ religious attitudes in relation to their clinical practice: a survey of 231 psychiatrists

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2012Religious competence as cultural competence 2011Praying with a patient constitutes a breach of professional boundaries in psychiatric practice 2011Spirituality and the threat to therapeutic boundaries in psychiatric practice 2016A preliminary survey on the religious profile of Brazilian psychiatrists and their approach to patients' religiosity in clinical practice 2011“Thank you God”: Religion and recovery from dual diagnosis among low-income African Americans 2010Spirituality and religion in psychiatric practice: why all the fuss?

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