Religion and Psychiatry: Beyond Boundaries

Thisbook aims to inform and explain, as well as to be thought provokingand even controversial.  Patiently and thoroughly, the authorsconsider why and how, when and where religion (and spirituality) areat stake in the life of psychiatric patients.  The interfacebetween 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 thedevelopment of DSM V and its awareness of the importance of religionand spirituality in mental health.

Whatcan religious traditions learn from each other to assist thepatient? Religionand Psychiatry discussesthis, as well as the neurological basis of religious experiences. It describes training programmes that successfully incorporateaspects of religion and demonstrates how different religious andspiritual traditions can be brought together to improve psychiatrictraining 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

Thisis the first time that so many psychiatrists, psychologists andtheologians from all parts of the world and from so many differentreligious and spiritual backgrounds have worked together to produce abook like this one. In that sense, it truly is a World PsychiatricAssociation publication.

Religionand Psychiatry isrecommended reading for residents in psychiatry, postgraduates intheology, psychology and psychology of religion, researchers inpsychiatric epidemiology and trans-cultural psychiatry, as well asprofessionals in theology, psychiatry and psychology of religion