TruthBook Religious News Blog

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Published: September 18, 2007

Of all medical specialties, psychiatrists are the least religious, a survey has found, and the most religious doctors are the least likely to refer their patients to psychiatrists.

The Relationship Between Psychiatry and Religion Among U.S. Physicians (Psychiatric Services)In addition to questions about their own beliefs, the 100 psychiatrists and 1,044 other specialists who responded to the survey were asked about their attitudes toward religion in clinical practice. For example, the survey asked doctors whether they thought it proper to ask about patients’ religious beliefs and whether they had ever prayed with a patient.

Although psychiatrists were just as likely as other physicians to report that religious beliefs influenced their practice — about half said it did — just 29 percent of psychiatrists, compared with 47 percent of other doctors, said they attended religious services more than once a month. When asked whether they described themselves as religious or spiritual, 42 percent of psychiatrists and 53 percent of other doctors said they did. About a third of psychiatrists, but almost half of other physicians, said they “look to God for strength, support, and guidance.” Psychiatrists were significantly less likely to be Protestant or Catholic and more likely to be Jewish or have no religious affiliation.

Most doctors would refer a patient to a psychiatrist for emotional problems. Protestants were about half as likely as those with no religious affiliation to do so, preferring clergy or other religious counselors.

Labels: Nicholas Bakalar, psychiatrist, religion, spirituality

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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Shrinking religion

SURVEY | A third of psychiatrists do not believe in God -- so where does that leave religious patients?

September 3, 2007
BY Jim Ritter

A new survey has found that psychiatrists are much less religious than other doctors.
Decades after Sigmund Freud declared religion an "illusion," the rift between religion and psychiatry seems to be as wide as ever.

The survey found that 17 percent of psychiatrists have no religious affiliation, compared with 10 percent of other doctors.

One-third of psychiatrists do not believe in God and fewer than one-half believe in life after death. Only 29 percent attend religious services twice a month or more, compared with 47 percent of other doctors.

"Religious patients who prefer to see like-minded psychiatrists may have difficulty finding a match," University of Chicago researcher Dr. Farr Curlin and colleagues wrote in the journal Psychiatric Services.

Researchers asked non-psychiatrist doctors how they would refer a hypothetical patient who is deep in grief two months after the death of his wife. Religious doctors were more willing to refer patients to clergy members or religious counselors and less willing to refer to psychiatrists.

Researchers surveyed 1,144 doctors, including 100 psychiatrists. Twenty-nine percent of psychiatrists were Jewish, compared with 13 percent of other doctors.

Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, knocked religion. While psychiatrists have largely replaced Freud's talk therapy with drug therapy, Freud "remains a very dominant figure within psychiatry," said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, a Duke University psychiatrist and co-author of the study.

Religion is faith-based, while psychiatry is science-based. Some psychiatrists have expressed fears that religious influences might destabilize patients, Koenig said.

Koenig has heard anecdotal reports that as recently as the early 1990s, patients in at least one psychiatric ward were prohibited from having Bibles, and chaplains could not visit without a psychiatrist's permission.

Clergy as competition?

Some psychiatrists also might see the clergy as competition, Koenig said, although as many as 80 percent of patients with mental disorders could benefit by seeing clergy members.

Some studies have shown practicing religion can be good for your mental health. And in recent years, there has been a movement to merge psychiatry and religion. Christianpsychiatry.com connects patients to psychiatrists and other providers who believe prayer "can be a powerful adjunct to their treatment."

Despite such fledgling cooperation between religion and psychiatry, "the long-standing tension seems to be an enduring one," Curlin said.

Labels: God, Jim Ritter, mental health, Psychiatric Services, psychiatrist, religion, Sigmund Freud

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Saturday, September 01, 2007

The Relationship Between Psychiatry and Religion Among U.S. Physicians

Farr A. Curlin, M.D., Shaun V. Odell, B.A., Ryan E. Lawrence, M.Div., Marshall H. Chin, M.D., M.P.H., John D. Lantos, M.D., Keith G. Meador, M.D. and Harold G. Koenig, M.D.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the religious characteristics of psychiatrists with those of other physicians and explored whether nonpsychiatrist physicians who are religious are less willing than their colleagues to refer patients to psychiatrists and psychologists.

METHODS: Surveys were mailed to a stratified random sample of 2,000 practicing U.S. physicians, with an oversampling of psychiatrists. Physicians were queried about their religious characteristics. They also read a brief vignette about a patient with ambiguous psychiatric symptoms and were asked whether they would refer the patient to a clergy member or religious counselor, or to a psychiatrist or a psychologist.

RESULTS: A total of 1,144 physicians completed the survey, including 100 psychiatrists.

Compared with other physicians, psychiatrists were more likely to be Jewish (29% versus 13%) or without a religious affiliation (17% versus 10%), less likely to be Protestant (27% versus 39%) or Catholic (10% versus 22%), less likely to be religious in general, and more likely to consider themselves spiritual but not religious (33% versus 19%).

Nonpsychiatrist physicians who were religious were more willing to refer patients to clergy members or religious counselors (multivariate odds ratios from 2.9 to 5.7) and less willing to refer patients to psychiatrists or psychologists (multivariate odds ratios from .4 to .6).

CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatrists are less religious than other physicians, and religious physicians are less willing than nonreligious physicians to refer patients to psychiatrists. These findings suggest that historic tensions between religion and psychiatry continue to shape the care that patients receive for mental health concerns.

Labels: mental health, psychiatrist, Psychiatry Online, religion