Religion and mental health

Traditionally mental health services have been pretty bad at addressing the spiritual or religious needs of their clients. The problem can be very simply stated - a majority of workers don’t have strong religious convictions, whilst most of their clients do.

Until recently the strategy of most workers was avoidance, but that often came across as disrespect because so many clients describe their problems, and see the world at large, in religious terms. Establishing any kind of rapport requires some suspension of disbelief.

The ridiculous situations that can arise are well illustrated by a recent example from general nursing where a nurse from Somerset was suspended for praying for a patient! (I should state at this point - given the content of the rest of this site - that although I consider the psychologist Sue Blackmore, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and philosopher Dan Dennett as intellectual mentors - I do not follow them in considering religious beliefs to be ‘dangerous memes').

Those of us without religious beliefs should also acknowledge the obvious truth, that local churches often provide a level of support and sense of belonging (social inclusion) which mental health services have never come close to! A great friend and peer of mine is learning to read and write by studying the Bible, he’s almost sixty and has undergone in the last four years the most rapid and fundamental turnaround in his mental health I’ve ever seen in any client.

In the last three years or so various leaflets and documents have been produced for mental health workers, clients and their supporters about mental health and religious beliefs. From the Royal College of Psychiatrists the leaflet Spirituality and Mental Health. From the Mental Health Foundation, Making Space For Spirituality - how to support service users plus their full report. Finally a video of theologian Karen Armstrong on the possibilities of transcendence through practical acts - do unto others, as you would have them do unto you!