Religion, psychology, and mental health.

Many mental health professionals look with suspicion upon religious involvement. This may be due to inadequate characterizations of religion or to the profound difference in religious involvement among professionals and nonprofessionals. These differences are examined and a theory of human nature is sketched which makes a place for both science and religion. Admittedly, religion frequently plays a role in psychopathology. This is not surprising, however, since religion as part of psychic life can be distorted. The common forms of such distortion are described and suggestions for management are given. Is there such a thing as "healthy" religion? Attempts to answer this question frequently reflect a bias toward the goals of contemporary psychotherapy--goals which may conflict with deeply held religious convictions. Therapist and client ought to explicitly recognize this potential for conflict before therapy continues.

The religious foundations of health care: a conceptual approach.

The relationship of religion and health is often misunderstood owing to a tendency to concentrate on the medical model and to ignore the wider context of heath care. A conceptual--as opposed to a historical--examination of this context reveals nine central religious ideas or categories which provide an ethical foundation and heritage for medical practice and health care delivery. These include doctrines of creation; dominion or stewardship; freedom and responsibility; human dignity or sanctity of life; love or compassion; covenant; justice; vocation; and finitude. A discussion of the complementarity of religion and medicine is necessary and should proceed from these shared values and common concerns.

The religious physician.

In order to understand what it means to be a physician, we must, according to Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, analyze four words that capture the essence of the medical enterprise: profession, patient, compassion, and consent. The resultant model provides a rational and secular basis upon which the Jewish or Christian physician can then build an understanding of medicine in its peculiarly religious form. This religious form is likewise characterized by four words: vocation, neighbor, love, and covenant. An analysis of these words provides a model of and for the religious physician.

Religion and illness: an outline of their relationship.

Religion serves at least three functions for the sick or dying patient. (1) It provides a theoretical framework in which to make sense of illness and mortality by understanding them as punishment, education, purification, sacrifice, or mystery, and it does so without denying the reality of these experiences. (2) It provides such practical resources for coping with sickness, suffering, and mortality as prayer, social support, and ritual actions aimed at forgiveness, transcendence, and healing. (3) It gives hope in the face of inevitable death. The particular clinical benefits of religion, both physical and psychologic, as well as its possible distortions, are known anecdotally. Empirical studies are needed to test these impressions.