Books (recently released)

Handbook of Religion and Health, edited by Harold G. Koenig, Dana E. King, Verna Benner Carson. New York: Oxford University Press 2012; 1169 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-533595-8.

Exploring the Fronties of the Mind-Brain Relationship, edited by Aleander Moreira-Almeida & Franklin Santana Santos. New York: Springer 2012; 243 pp., ISBN 978-1-4614-0646-4.  read more, review 

Andrew Sims Is Faith delusion? Why Religion is Good for Your Health.  How, in a scientifically and technologically advanced age, can people still believe in God? Andrew Sims, former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists was Professor of Psychiatry in the University of Leeds (UK). He examines both the connection and the division between Christian faith and psychiatry, arguing that, although they seem to represent different world-views, they have much to gain from one another (www.continuumbooks.com, 2009). Review

The Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the RCP, London published: Spirituality and Psychiatry. Edited by Chris Cook, Andrew Powell and Andrew Sims. RCPsych Publications, 2009.

Published by the WPA Section on Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry 

WPA PUBLICATION:

'This comprehensive and up to date textbook includes a wealth of information from a variety of authors with different vocational and geographical backgrounds' (Mary E. Camp, Curr Opin Psychiatry 24: 512) .

Religion and Psychiatry: Beyond Boundaries. Edited by Peter J. Verhagen, Herman M van Praag, Juan J. López-Ibor, John L. Cox and Driss Moussaoui. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

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 worldview, 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.

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.

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.

(WPA members are entitled to 20% discount: there are details on the WPA website.)

Presentations on this site

Alan Apter Judaism and Suicide (2006)

Publications on this site

Haroon R. Chaudhry, Islamic history of psychiatry, and other abstracts (1985-2001)

C. Robert Cloninger, the well-known author of 'Feeling Good. The Science of Well-Being' (Oxford University Press, 2004), Fostering Spirituality and Well-Being in Clinical Practice (2006)

Marc Galanter, Healing through social and spiritual affiliation (2002)

                   Spirituality in alcoholics anonymous: A valuable adjunct to psychiatric services (2006)

Sylvia Mohr et al., Spirituality and religious practices among outpatients with schizophrenia and their clinicians (2006)

Mohammed Omar Salem, Heart, Mind and Spirit; Religion, Spirituality and Psychiatry; Spiritual Support Group.

Links to publications elsewhere on the net

Marilyn Baetz et al., Canadian psychiatric inpatient religious commitment: an association with mental health (2002)

The Fetzer Institute, Multidimensional measurement of religiousness/spirituality for use in health research

 Byron Johnson et al., Objective Hope: Assessing the effectiveness of faith-based organizations: a review of the literature (2001) (Manhattan Insitute Publications, MI)