Religion and Psychiatry in the Age of Neuroscience

Abstract

In recent decades, an evolving conversation among religion, psychiatry, and neuroscience has been taking place, transforming how we conceptualize religion and how that conceptualization affects its relation to psychiatry. In this article, we review several dimensions of the dialogue, beginning with its history and the phenomenology of religious experience. We then turn to neuroscientific studies to see how they explain religious experience, and we follow that with two related areas: the benefits of religious beliefs and practices, and the evolutionary foundation of those benefits. A final section addresses neuroscientific and evolutionary accounts of the transcendent, that is, what these fields make of the claim that religious experience connects to a transcendent reality. We conclude with a brief summary, along with the unresolved questions we have encountered.

Environmental Enrichment as a Strategy to Confront Social Isolation Under the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Thus, considering the period of social isolation, one should adopt adaptation measures such as a diet geared to the health of the intestinal microbiota and the brainintestine axis, consequently favoring a better cognitive and emotional development of the individual, the regular practice of physical exercises with multiple sensory-motor stimuli, the practice of MM, and, depending on the individual's belief, the practice of religious experiences, where studies show that religious and spiritual well-being are important components of not only mental health but also general health (Jakovljevic, 2017;Phillips et al, 2020).…”

Letter to the Editor Undiagnosing St Joan: She Does Not Need a Medical or Psychiatric Diagnosis

“…Although it certainly may be argued, as do the authors of “Undiagnosing St Joan,” that Joan did not exhibit psychopathology or display evidence of any other medical condition, the authors assert that their conclusion “flies in the face of the medical literature insisting on a medical or psychiatric diagnosis” (Phillips et al, 2023, p 6). Yet, “Undiagnosing St Joan” cites not even one article claiming a psychiatric diagnosis.…”

“…Indeed, the contrast between Joan's obvious sanity and her unwavering assertion that she heard voices—even though this put her life at risk—is the very conundrum that has driven the medical conversation since 1882. Physicians have proposed many different formulations, not because they have “been so insistent that Joan had a medical or psychiatric disease” as Phillips et al claim, but rather to try to understand the complex forces that may have contributed to making Joan the exceptional, but real, person she was (Phillips et al, 2023, p 6; Schildkrout, 2020).…”

“…With regards to a possible epilepsy diagnosis, the authors of “Undiagnosing St Joan” seem to misunderstand that the “epileptic and tubercular hypotheses” were not proposed as separate and independent diagnoses (Phillips et al, 2023, p 5). The notion that Joan may have had bovine tuberculosis was put forth only as a possible explanation for what were conceptualized to be symptoms of epilepsy; Joan's voices and visions were always on the right, and a left temporal lobe tuberculoma was suggested as one possible etiology.…”

“…I read with interest “Undiagnosing St Joan: She Does Not Need a Medical or Psychiatric Diagnosis” (Phillips et al, 2023). Having recently published an article that reviews the medical literature (1882 to 2016) about Joan of Arc, I would like to raise several areas of concern and correct one misconception put forth in this article by Phillips et al (Schildkrout, 2023).…”