Spirituality, religion and psychiatry: its application to clinical practice

Based on evidence obtained from recent Australian psychiatric patient surveys, a need to include the spiritual and religious dimension of patients in their psychiatric care has been identified. This paper aims to review the evidence for this need and to suggest the parameters in which this dimension might be applied.

The phenomenology of spirituality and its relevance to psychiatry is considered, the concept of the psychiatrist and the clinician as a healer visited, and the evidence for the need for spirituality and religiosity for patients examined.

Patients' spiritual needs should be addressed at different levels. Using previous data and experience, the authors suggest what psychiatrists might and might not do, in order that these issues are attended to in an ethical and sensitive manner.

In considering the spiritual dimension of the patient, the psychiatrist is able to send an important message that he or she is concerned with the whole person, a message that enhances the patient-physician relationship. This, in turn, is likely to increase the therapeutic impact of psychiatrists' interventions.