title: Mental and Physical Health and Spiritual Healing: An Evaluation of Complementary Religious Therapies Provided by Spiritist Centers in the City of São Paulo, Brazil.
abstract: The present study aims to describe the characteristics of the complementary religious treatment conducted by Spiritist centers in the city of São Paulo (Brazil), to understand how physical and mental health problems are addressed and how the directors of these centers differentiate between persons with spiritual experiences from those with psychiatric disorders. From 365 Spiritist centers, which received the questionnaire, 55 (15.1 %) were included in the final analysis. There were on average 261 people per week attending spiritual sessions in each center, totalizing approximately 15,000 attendees per week in all 55 centers. The most common treatment performed in these centers was disobsession (Spirit release therapy) (92.7 %); the least common was the 'spiritual surgery', present in only 5.5 %. The most frequent health problems reported by attendees were depression (45.1 %), cancer (43.1 %) and diseases in general (33.3 %). Concerning the directors' awareness to differentiate between spiritual experiences and psychiatric disorders, we found some remarkable divergent opinions. In conclusion, the Spiritist centers are an important health related support system for the city of São Paulo, responsible for a significant share of the city's total health consultations. The most common conditions the patients suffer from were depression and cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Avenida Eugênio do Nascimento s/n - Dom Bosco, Juiz De Fora, MG, 36038-330, Brazil.|Department of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alessandra Lamas Granero
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Lucchetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Avenida Eugênio do Nascimento s/n - Dom Bosco, Juiz De Fora, MG, 36038-330, Brazil. g.lucchetti@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lucchetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Frederico Camelo
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Leão
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mario Fernando Prieto
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Peres
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Homero
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vallada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000208:ethnology; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D026443:Spiritual Therapies / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Complementary therapies; Mental health; Religion and medicine; Spiritism; Spiritual therapies