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No religion or spirituality and mental health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Clive Mackin
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The Psychiatrist , Volume 34 , Issue 7 , July 2010 , pp. 304
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2010

Many articles have been written about the importance of recognising patients' spiritual and religious beliefs and trying to understand them so that patients might be better engaged with services and that there might be a better therapeutic relationship. However, little has been written concerning agnostic or atheist views of patients. Surely this is of equal importance?

It is easy for those professionals who have religious beliefs to say a person's faith can be a source of coping - but how do they approach a person who has no beliefs? Do they try to convert them or claim to have enough faith for the two of them?

Can those professionals with strong beliefs or faith truly understand those with none? How do they align their own beliefs to ensure proper engagement and a satisfactory therapeutic relationship? The matter definitely needs further research and discussion.

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