Faith and psychiatry

Magic, faith and healing. Studies in primitive psychiatry today

No one can deny the influence that Freudian analysis has had on twentieth-century psychiatry. Its widespread acceptance suggests that it is an entirely valid and acceptable form of treatment in mental disorders. Nevertheless, there are many sceptics, and a book attacking the ".. . gigantic cultural swindle of American people. . ." is of importance to the historian who wishes to evaluate the maj...

dEfininG faitH and faitH PraCtiCES

recent studies demonstrate an overlapping relationship between faith practices of individuals, family functioning, and the corporate faith of congregations. this study reports on the psychometric properties of the Christian faith Practices Scale (CfPS), which was created to empirically measure dykstra’s faith behaviors or “practices.” analysis of a large purposive sample (n=7,403) indicates ini...

Faith, Hope and Doubt

The devil is in the detail: partnerships between psychiatry and faith-based organisations.

Clergy continue to have a central role in many communities and the utility of their involvement in the care of people with mental health problems is increasingly argued. However, there has been a failure to examine the form and parameters of partnerships between faith-based organisations and psychiatry.

Faith healing and faith in healing.

Sarkar and Seshadri have presented an interesting paper in this issue on the ethical approach that a physician should take when faced with requests for faith healing (1). The paper describes four approaches that the physician can take. These are rejecting the request, keeping oneself detached from the issue, endorsing the request and trying to understand the practices concerned so as to make a ...