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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

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