Spiritual aspects of management

Abstract

There has been increasing interest in spirituality in recent years. In this chapter, spiritual aspects of psychiatric management are considered in the context of cultural psychiatry, demonstrating how spirituality is integral in the practice of psychiatry. The meaning of spirituality and religion, and how they are relevant to psychiatry is discussed. There is now much evidence linking religious/spiritual belief and practice to better mental health outcomes. Spiritual assessment is a clinical skill and mental health professionals should pay more attention to the spiritual needs of patients. Contributions to spiritual management are also made by chaplains, service users and carers. Spiritual management is complementary to other methods of psychiatric treatment and benefits the whole person. There is no place for imposing the world view of the psychiatrist upon the patient (whether that be an atheistic, traditionally religious, or spiritual belief system). Each psychiatric condition requires different management. Some of the many specific techniques used in spiritual healing are described. Spiritual management is not another addition to the menu of possible treatment regimens, it is an attribute of the physician that is all pervasive and affects every part of practice.

Spirituality and Religion in Outpatients with Schizophrenia: A Multi-Site Comparative Study of Switzerland, Canada, and the United States

“…The importance of S/R is a phenomenon that is poorly acknowledged by clinicians [45]. The assessment of spiritual needs and by whom and how the patient wants those needs to be addressed is an essential part of care management [48,49]. Once a patient expresses spiritual concerns and wishes to discuss them with the clinician, a more extensive assessment has to be conducted.…”

The wishes of outpatients with severe mental disorders to discuss spiritual and religious issues in their psychiatric care

“…Due to the existing heavy load of day-to-day psychiatrists ' tasks, such an assessment should not be time consuming. Th is screening assessment could be limited to the importance of spirituality and religiousness in life and in coping with the illness, the patient ' s involvement in a religious community, and the patients ' wishes to address those S/R issues in psychiatric care and by whom (Sims 2007). To go further, training in S/R issues is a key target (Galanter et al 2011).…”

“…Th e assessment of spiritual needs and by whom the patient wants those needs to be addressed is essential (Sims 2007). Th e aim of the present study is therefore to assess patients ' wishes, in the context of an outpatients ' clinic in which those issues may be potentially integrated.…”

Integration of Spirituality and Religion in the Care of Patients with Severe Mental Disorders

“…The assessment of spiritual needs and by whom and how the patient wants those needs to be addressed is an essential part of care management [12,13]. In a study evaluating the concordance between a psychiatric rehabilitation program and patients' goals, 22% of patients set S/R goals for the ongoing year, yet they perceived offered services as insufficient toward those goals [14].…”