Psychiatry, religion and cognitive science.
OBJECTIVE
To see whether certain findings in cognitive science can serve to bridge the conceptual gap between psychiatry, particularly in its psychotherapeutic aspects, and religious/spiritual understanding.


METHODS
A brief review is given of certain basic differences between psychiatric understanding in its psychotherapeutic aspects, and much of Western religious/spiritual understanding. Reference is then made to certain findings in contemporary cognitive science which might challenge the implicit mind-body split of Western religious tradition and its parallel in psychotherapeutic practice. Attention is also drawn to elements in religious/spiritual tradition that run counter to this dualistic point of view.


CONCLUSIONS
Much of contemporary religious/spiritual understanding, and of modern psychiatric understanding, especially in terms of psychotherapy, appear to exist in quite separate domains. Psychotherapy and the greater part of Western religious thinking, however, share a belief in the existence of a transcendent mind. Recent developments in cognitive science and certain spiritual traditions, challenge this implicit mind-body split, providing an opportunity for a renewed dialogue between psychiatry and religion and the possibility of collaborative research.
Bathgate
David
D
Psychiatric Services, Bendigo Health Care Group, PO Box 78, Strathdale, Victoria 3550, Australia. bathgate@nex.net.au
D019336:Cognitive Science; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality