Dear Gerry, It is quite normal to be dazzled by all the flashy self-help books and websites that are published today to cater to a vast postmodern readership, making all kinds of sensational claims about how this spiritual technique or that or this religious/humanistic belief or that cures disease. But let me tell you that if you read and try to understand what is published in the genuine peer-reviewed medical and scientific literature, you will find that there is absolutely no evidence for any kind of spirituality playing a role in the scientific treatment of any serious physical or mental illness. The claims you are making below in your latest post and your last post are not supported by real facts. More specifically, there is no evidence supporting your following claim implying that the murder-suicide rate among psychiatrists is greater than among Catholic priests or any other type of priest, and that providing a particular kind of religious/spiritual training to psychiatrists who belong to different religions and non-religious creeds would be a beneficial, or for that matter, even an ethical practice.
QUOTE We are all aware that psychiatry is a very demanding and stressful profession, quite akin to the vocation of Catholic Priests administering the Sacrament of Reconciliation to the Catholic Laity. However the murder-suicide rate in Catholic Priests is almost negligible verging towards non-existence. Can modern Psychiatry and Training Programmes for Professional Psychiatrists take a leaf out of the training of Catholic Priests? UNQUOTE ....Gerald Fernandes The talks and seminars on spirituality that are held in some hospitals today are simply to sensitize health workers to the religious beliefs of an increasingly diverse patient population, because of such ethical and legal issues as end of life decisions. The spiritual counseling services, if any, in these hospitals are provided, not by psychiatrists and physicians, but by real priests on the request of the patient or his/her relatives. The drive to hold talks on spirituality in medical institutions is in many cases dictated by political considerations because religion has become an integral part of political ideologies today in the east as well as west, and also because big donors who support hospital and medical school endowments like to give to religious causes. In people who are religious, religious rituals and spiritual techniques may have a modest beneficial effect on general health and psycho-social wellbeing, but they do not cure any serious illness. As far as the old prescientific ideas such as the various forms of psychotherapy are concerned, like spiritualism, they are now recognized to be fanciful speculations with little or no physical evidence supporting their therapeutic use. Psychiatry has progressed a great deal since the time of the old Austrian, Swiss and American clinicians of the early 20th century. Both Psychology and Psychiatry are now slowly, but finally, becoming real sciences in response to the phenomenal new discoveries of neuroscience. We are finding out that there is no rational or empirical basis for disembodied souls, past lives and afterlives. That was all empty speculation, devoid of any real physical evidence. We now know that everything about your mind and mine is a product of the physical processes within our brain. Please let me know if you would like to educate yourself about these scientific findings. Cheers, Santosh --- On Sun, 8/7/11, Gerald Fernandes <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear Santosh, > The connection between Spirituality and Psychotherapy is so > well accepted in scientific literature published by > different researchers in different parts of the world by > different religious inclinations, that it does not require > anecdotes in Newspapers to draw sweeping or weeping > conclusions. The anecdote referred to in my post served as a > convenient nail to hang the coat about the concept of > Spirituality in modern scientific medicine,yes I repeat > Spirituality in modern scientific medicine. That your > hope that"No religion or supernatural belief system should > be ever mixed with science or scientific medicine" stands as > much chance as an ice cube in fire to survive ,since it is > not supported by scientific evidence. Quite to the contrary > it is accepted that " the various schools of psychotherapy > subscribe to an underlying theory of working which is > informed by a BELIEF SYSTEM." ( Refer Spirituality in > Counselling and Psychotherapy by Dennis Lines Sage > Publications, New Delhi) Whether the School of therapy be > Freudian, Jungian, Rogerian, or any other system including > Logotherapy, they all have underlying BELIEF > PREDICATES/PROPOSITIONS. > > Leave alone psychotherapy, the Harvard School of Medicine > through its Dept. of Continuing Medical Education conducts > programmes on "SPIRITUALITY AND HEALING IN MEDICINE" and > this programme has been accredited by the Accredition > Council for Continuing Medical Education ( ACCME) . Even a > cursory glance at published medical literature, let alone > a deep study, should be able to convince you that > Spirituality and Spiritual Practices have physiological > effects that have not only been measured under SCIENTIFIC > LABORATORY CONDITIONS but have also been shown to be > predictable and replicable. > > The Psychiatrist is as much at risk in his professional > health as an industrial workman or firefighter or soldier or > kite flyer! An article " SPIRITUALITY AND OCCUPATIONAL > HAZARDS OF PSYCHIATRY" by DR. J P Pandarakalam (which will > be forwarded to you seperately due to current space > constraints) would help you re-visit your unscientific > beliefs grounded in casuistry. > > Permit me to assert that " Extensive therapy can foster > narcissism for individuals who are so absorbed with > themselves that they fail to see that healing may require > them to seek an engagement with others" ( whom they so > conveniently demonise) As a noted personage once remarked > ,the problem with psychiatry is that it does not lead > patients to become penitents.This posture stymies the > realisation of their human potential. What theologians > refer to as "SIN", lawyers refer to as "CRIME" and > Psychiatrists as "COMPLEX". Very much before Psychiatry > was born , these symptoms which modern psychiatry refers > to as "neuroses" and "psychoses", were recorded in plays of > Shakespeare. It is understanding the content and context > that the healing power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation > (Confession) comes into great use. > With every good wish, > Gerry. > >
