Religion and Psychiatry / World Psychiatric Association (PDF)

Religion (and spirituality) is very much alive and shapes the
cultural values and aspirations of psychiatrist and patient alike,
as does the choice of not identifying with a particular
faith. Patients bring their beliefs and convictions into the
doctor-patient relationship. The challenge for mental health
professionals, whatever their own world view, is to develop and
refine their vocabularies such that they truly understand what is
communicated to them by their patients. Religion and
Psychiatry provides psychiatrists with a framework for this
understanding and highlights the importance of religion and
spirituality in mental well-being.

This book aims to inform and explain, as well as to be thought
provoking and even controversial. Patiently and thoroughly,
the authors consider why and how, when and where religion (and
spirituality) are at stake in the life of psychiatric
patients. The interface between psychiatry and religion is
explored at different levels, varying from daily clinical practice
to conceptual fieldwork. The book covers phenomenology,
epidemiology, research data, explanatory models and theories.
It also reviews the development of DSM V and its awareness of the
importance of religion and spirituality in mental health.

What can religious traditions learn from each other to assist
the patient? Religion and Psychiatry discusses this,
as well as the neurological basis of religious experiences.
It describes training programmes that successfully incorporate
aspects of religion and demonstrates how different religious and
spiritual traditions can be brought together to improve psychiatric
training and daily practice.

* Describes the relationship of the main world religions with
psychiatry

* Considers training, policy and service delivery

* Provides powerful support for more effective partnerships
between psychiatry and religion in day to day clinical care

This is the first time that so many psychiatrists, psychologists
and theologians from all parts of the world and from so many
different religious and spiritual backgrounds have worked together
to produce a book like this one. In that sense, it truly is a World
Psychiatric Association publication.

Religion and Psychiatry is recommended reading for
residents in psychiatry, postgraduates in theology, psychology and
psychology of religion, researchers in psychiatric epidemiology and
trans-cultural psychiatry, as well as professionals in theology,
psychiatry and psychology of religion