Saddened and concerned

I was saddened to read the correspondence from Professor Poole and others. ¹ Surely members of the College must know that when bodies like the General Medical Council and the National Health Service issue guidelines and regulations, the focus is on acute services. The only exception to this in recent years has been the particular framework for mental health services. We now have the latest initiative for mental health services, New Horizons, which envisages working with housing, education and employment agencies. Are the authors concerned about professional boundaries between these agencies?

The Royal College of Psychiatrists' Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group is interested in a patient's belief system and background, and only marginally in the belief system of the clinician. If a patient is to be treated holistically (and I cannot imagine that any of the signatories would demur from this), then a person's culture, religious and faith background have to be addressed and, more importantly, be part of the diagnostic process.

There is a distinction to be made between healthy and unhealthy belief systems and this distinction is reached through the diagnostic process. Religion like many other areas of human life and experience lends itself to delusions, which can be part of an unhealthy belief system. Surely Professor Poole and his colleagues would agree and would also accept that healthy spirituality is part of a person's very being? It is for this reason that I hope he and his colleagues will want to support the Special Interest Group in its work.