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Spirituality and Healing? Yes or No?

Should there be a link between spirituality and psychiatry? Well, "link" is a weak word, and "spirituality" can be defined many ways. Clearly many of those who write "no" defined "spirituality" as "religion." Alas, religion brings up issues of dogma, history, tradition and division. Spirituality does not- it crosses all religions and all traditions. Native Americans and pagans, as well as Christians Muslims, Buddhists; the gamut. (I'd do the dictionary definition thing, but that is SO boring. )

But spirituality can be "connected" to psychiatry many ways. M Scott Peck, M.D, (a noted psychiatrist) is a dedicated Christian, but he does not treat his patients by dictating to them the way they should think-or act, or pray. He does not "prescribe" God to them. But he is "connected" to spirituality through his own orientation toward that source. (To say that his source is infecting his work is like saying he is preaching vegetarianism if he is one, and that inspires him! And every practitioner brings his history and beliefs about many things to the work- some are even harmful. It would be hard to argue "religion" alone can be filtered in- or out- of the equation and sealed off.)

But in the 80s book "Megatrends" by John Naisbitt, he pointed out that medicine was starting to realize that a doctor probably should ask his patient how and when spiritual or religious aspects of his situation to be addressed, and how. He called this "holistic". Dealing with the whole person. That prediction has proven accurate-this is no longer considered "fringe." (It has not become dominant in the healing professions, but the consumers have voted with their buying habits, and many studies have underscored the efficacy of treatments once considered unsound, such as acupuncture, and herbs like ginseng.) In that book, Naisbitt talked to doctors who now ask their patients what their spiritual habits and practices are, and work with them. Dr. Larry Dossey uses prayer for his own benefit and for the benefit of patients who wish it. (See "Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine.")

I submit that psychiatry, a secularized form of Western medicine, should be no different. If a patient wants his or her spiritual needs met, s/he should be able to receive this as needed. (On healing, and elsewhere where real wounding takes place, such as law. But I digress.) Respect requires that we ask when, what, and how. But to disconnect all that is of the spirit from the "machine" of the body is to reduce it, and dehumanize it and that is hardly; likely to be healing.

A different question is "Can there be healing without the spirit?" On that one, may people may differ. I take the position that there is not any healing without spirit-even kin we don't recognize it as such. (Even doctors will tell you the body heals itself-they just help. (The cut heals from within; all a doctor does is hold the edges of the wound with stitches or keep it clean and dry or kill infections.) The "12 step programs" all rely on God-surrender to a force greater than one's self. Why? And why have they, alone, shown permanent results? One can posit an answer-they, alone, work in Truth-and with spirit. But can we "prove" this? No. Science still balks at answering any question which is answered by the word "God" or any force that cannot be reliably measured. The heart does not balk; in fact, the heart yearns for that which cannot be reliably measured: poetry, music, art, spirituality.

So in the end, the question could be put thus: "can the body be healed without the heart?"
My answer, clearly, is "no." So "should" there be a link? Yes, there IS a link- and it sholud be acknowledged.

Learn more about this author, Carroll Straus.
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