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A Matter of Faith: Religion and Mental Health

A Matter of Faith: Religion and Mental Health C O M M E N T A R Y S. W. Sykes Professor of Theology, University of Durham, and Principal of St John’s College, Durham he central thesis of this article is that there can and should be a fruitful relationship between professionals in the field of mental health on the one hand and faith communities on the other. There are, however, complex issues to be tackled on both sides, which require careful thought and some reorientation of attitudes, if misunderstandings and prejudices are to be removed. There is evidence both that ‘some mental health services are insensitive to the religious or spiritual needs of service users or interpret religious experience as a symptom of illness’ (Friedli, 1999) and also, as the author notes, attitudes towards people with mental illness have been ambivalent or contradictory in the faith communities. The author raises many issues arising from recently improved relationships between mental health professionals and the faith communities. In this commentary I propose to focus on the ‘spiritual needs’ of people who have a mental health difficulty. How and to what extent are they understood? The author observes, rightly, that the role of religious beliefs has often been http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Public Mental Health Pier Professional

A Matter of Faith: Religion and Mental Health

Journal of Public Mental Health , Volume 2 (2) – May 1, 2000

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Publisher
Pier Professional
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by Pier Professional Limited
ISSN
1746-5729
eISSN
2042-8731
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

C O M M E N T A R Y S. W. Sykes Professor of Theology, University of Durham, and Principal of St John’s College, Durham he central thesis of this article is that there can and should be a fruitful relationship between professionals in the field of mental health on the one hand and faith communities on the other. There are, however, complex issues to be tackled on both sides, which require careful thought and some reorientation of attitudes, if misunderstandings and prejudices are to be removed. There is evidence both that ‘some mental health services are insensitive to the religious or spiritual needs of service users or interpret religious experience as a symptom of illness’ (Friedli, 1999) and also, as the author notes, attitudes towards people with mental illness have been ambivalent or contradictory in the faith communities. The author raises many issues arising from recently improved relationships between mental health professionals and the faith communities. In this commentary I propose to focus on the ‘spiritual needs’ of people who have a mental health difficulty. How and to what extent are they understood? The author observes, rightly, that the role of religious beliefs has often been

Journal

Journal of Public Mental HealthPier Professional

Published: May 1, 2000

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