Religion And Spirituality In Psychiatry

This page intentionally left blank Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry Although medicine is practiced in a secular setting, religious and spiritual issues have an impact on patients’ perspectives regarding their health and the management of disorders that may afflict them. This is especially true in psychiatry, because spiritual and religious beliefs are prevalent among those with emotional or mental illness. Clinicians are rarely aware of the importance of religion and understand little of its value as a positive force for coping with the many difficulties that patients and their families must face. This monograph addresses various issues concerning mental illness in psychiatry: the relationship of religious issues to mental health; the tension between theological and psychiatric perspectives; the importance of addressing these varying approaches in patient care and how to do so; and differing ways of treating patients using Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist principles. This is a book specifically addressing the challenges that mental health professionals face when seeking to consider and integrate spiritual, religious, and cultural issues relevant to patient care. Philippe Huguelet, MD, is lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Geneva and University of Geneva, Switzerland. Harold G. Koenig, MD, is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center and at the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry Edited by Philippe Huguelet University Hospital of Geneva and University of Geneva, Switzerland Harold G. Koenig Duke University Medical Center and Veterans Administration Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521889520 © Cambridge University Press 2009 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2007 ISBN-13 978-0-511-53451-5 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-88952-0 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, acc