Psychiatry and the Spirituality Problem

The 90s ushers in an enlightened attitude of new understanding and, finally, tolerance for the "religious ones". We, the religiously inspired, are no longer considered crazy, mentally impaired or possessed. According to the American Psychiatric Association, religion is a problem for some but is now considered normal. America can sleep safe and sound.              

The latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 1994 edition, has added a new category entitled, "Religious or Spiritual Problem". Here is what  it says.

V62.89 Religious or Spiritual Problem

This category can be used when the focus of clinical attention is a religious or spiritual problem. Examples include distressing experiences that involve loss or questioning of faith, problems associated with conversion to a new faith,  or questioning of spiritual values that may not necessarily be related to an organized church or religious institution.

This important entry to the "Bible" of mental disorders comes somewhat as a revelation. This confirms the popular belief that mental health professionals did not recognize the intrinsic value of religion. As of 1994, religious conflicts  will not be treated as a mental illness; they will be treated as a spiritual problem.  Mazel Tov - congratulations!  The consumer  treated in therapy is now safe to express religious feelings without being accused of instability. Hallelujah!

For some reason known only to those in the mental health field, it's only now okay to be religious. Religious phenomenon is in.  The  antagonism between the religious and secular healers is over. Healers of the soul and those of the mind are in harmony.

To the leadership of the American Psychiatric Association, I say thank you. On behalf of  millions of worried religious people I congratulate you for your newly acquired sensitivity of religion.

However as a pastoral counselor and clergyman, I'm completely flabbergasted. I wonder, when did the mental health practitioners have this revelation? Why did it take so long? To borrow a good psychological term, what suddenly possessed the American Psychiatric Association to become so liberal?

In the 70s they were the so-called "enlightened" for removing homosexuality from the list of personality disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual on Mental Disorders  considered homosexuality normal while  religion  was not. Why, finally, in 1994, are we freed of religious stigma?

It is important to take notice that some of the so called enlightened (read anti-religious) psychotherapists  have ended up in trouble with the law. Thus, the medical society has been embarrassed. There are many cases against their colleagues for fraudulent practices, sexual  scandals, therapeutic practices that are costly and have no real benefits.

It is also most unfortunate that psychiatrists are the ones who have the highest rate of suicide among professionals. Without overstating the case, I believe that a more important question is to be asked,

When will religion accept mainstream, secular, relativistic, humanistic psychiatry as normal?

The founder of psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud theorized that Moses was an Egyptian officer, not a holy man and, subsequently,  classified religion as a comforting illusion to be outgrown with maturity. "Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis," wrote Freud in Future of an Illusion. Carl Rogers, in his studies of troubled personalities, claimed that Jesus was really a man after all. Thereafter, Rogers proceeded to drop religion.  Psychiatrist Ernest Rudin, known as the greatest authority of "psychiatric genetics," was also honored by Germany's medical leaders for establishing the "German Society for Racial Purity." He was an anti-religious Nazi doctor for the German leadership.

The common denominator of the founders of the mental health field was a lack of religious understanding.

Major schools in the mental health field have always treated religion as a disease of the mind, playing a role in falsely comforting or tormenting mankind.

It's been noted by humanistic and self-actualization theorists that we do our studies on people who have abnormal lives and then set the standards for normal behavior.

I believe it would be far better to study the lifestyles of normal, healthy,  G‑d fearing people and then set the standards. However, psychiatry does it in reverse.

This week I asked a psychotherapist, "What would you do to a person who told you he spoke to G‑d? What would you do if he said that G‑d spoke to him?" The psychotherapist replied, "In my estimation, this person belongs in a hospital. He most probably  is suffering from a questionable psychotic condition leaning towards schizophrenia and depression, I think."

Well, well, that puts many of our great prophets and religious teachers in the hospital.

I know that many of my colleagues never recommend a psychiatrist. They claim that  religious behavior always weakens after therapy. They have a valid point even though I don't  agree with them. There are those few who tell their clients to turn to religion. Maybe there should be more religious therapists.

A story is told about a Hassidic rabbi who meets a philosophical skeptic. The skeptic says  he doesn't  believe in G‑d. To this the rabbi answers, "The  G‑d that you reject, I, too, reject."

The religious concepts of G‑d and religion are very different for the irreligious. For the G‑d fearing person, G‑d is a vibrant, living, exciting force that pulsates his life. For the irreligious person, perhaps G‑d is perceived as sterile, untouchable, uninteresting or imaginary.

There must be a way to truly bridge the gap between the world of mental health and religion. The psychiatrists and psychotherapists must make room for bonafide religious faith and experience. The religious leadership must have a place for the sincere, selfless mental health practitioner.

Will we ever bring these two fields together? I think, yes, and we are on the way.

By putting G‑d and religion back into the medical lexicon, mental health practitioners give spirit back to man.

When I went to yeshiva, a Jewish School, I was told that  everyone believes in G‑d. In making the point  my teacher told us the following amusing story. When asked about G‑d, a hospital Psychiatrist  stated, "Thank G‑d, I'm an unequivocal atheist."

In 1932 Albert Einstein wrote in Cosmic Religion, "The cosmic religious experience is the strongest and noblest driving force beyond scientific research."  It's nice to see that psychiatry is catching up to science.