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Spirituality, Science and Person-Centred Care

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Person Centered Psychiatry

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Abstract

We consider the relationship of Religion and Spirituality (R/S) to person centred care and the complexities of this field. We highlight problems of definition and consider the research evidence on the relationship between religion, spirituality and health. In Western Europe, there seems to be a reluctance to include a spiritual domain in public health discourse. Causes include secularisation, the view that R/S is not open to scientific exploration, fears of boundary violations and proselytising, the lack of articulate bridge builders with knowledge of health care and comparative theology, and more militant atheism. Many in post-modern societies are more comfortable with a biomedical explanatory model for illness, which is regarded as more scientific and less intrusive. Consider the following report:

We had talked for forty minutes. She was overburdened and getting burnt out, tipping into clinical depression. We had looked at her challenging work life and lack of family support. I asked my usual question “Do you have any faith or beliefs that are important to you at this time?”

She smiled and began for the first time to explain how important her faith was to her, about her role as churchwarden and the many hours a week she committed to this, and the pressure the wardens had been under working without a minister whilst awaiting a new appointment. Then she stopped abruptly and looked up and said “But I didn’t think you would be interested in that.”

This was a key factor in her low mood and yet it was seen as a taboo only to be discussed when specifically elicited. (AG: a clinical narrative)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor Emeritus, Keele University, 58 St. Stephen’s Rd, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL513AE, UK

    John Cox MD

  2. Cadbury Centre, Birmingham University, Birmingham, UK

    Alison Gray MD

  3. Professor of Psychiatry, St George’s School of Medicine, University of London, London, UK

    Mohammed T. Abou-Saleh MD, PhD

  4. Professor of Psychiatry, Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Tiruvalla, Kerala, India

    Roy Abraham Kallivayalil MD, DPM, MAMS

  5. Professor of Psychotherapy and Psychiatry, Psychiatric Clinic Sonnenhalde, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland

    Sam Pfeifer MD

  6. Associate Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Alexander Moreira-Almeida MD

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  1. John Cox MD
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  2. Alison Gray MD
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  3. Mohammed T. Abou-Saleh MD, PhD
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  4. Roy Abraham Kallivayalil MD, DPM, MAMS
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Correspondence to John Cox MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychiatry, New York University Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

    Juan E. Mezzich

  2. Laboratory Ethics, Professionalism, University of Western Brittany, Bohars, France

    Michel Botbol

  3. Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    George N. Christodoulou

  4. Department of Psychiatry, WASHINGTON UNIV SCH MED Department of Psychiatry, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

    C. Robert Cloninger

  5. Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

    Ihsan M. Salloum

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Cox, J., Gray, A., Abou-Saleh, M.T., Kallivayalil, R.A., Pfeifer, S., Moreira-Almeida, A. (2016). Spirituality, Science and Person-Centred Care. In: Mezzich, J., Botbol, M., Christodoulou, G., Cloninger, C., Salloum, I. (eds) Person Centered Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39724-5_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39724-5_34

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