Religion in der Psychiatrie

Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Dr. phil. habil. Peter Kaiser arbeitet als klinischer Psychiater und Psychotherapeut, lehrt an der Universität Bremen Religionswissenschaft und ist als Tropenmediziner und Ethnologe weltweit in Krisenregionen tätig.Dr. Peter Kaiser is Assistant professor at the Department for Religious Studies, University of Bremen, Germany. Graduated 1991 in Human Medicine, Medical specialization in Psychiatry and Tropical Medicine, graduated 1999 in Anthropology and Religious Studies. Fields of research activities: Mental health and religion, coping and resilience, psycho-neuroimmunology (PNI) and religiosity, trans-cultural psychiatry.

In an interdisciplinary approach the volume discusses the subject religion and religiosity in the context of mental health and illness. Starting from an historical overview about the relationship between the health professionals (psychiatrists) and the more or less mental ill patient, the contemporary reflection on and reception of religion in modern psychiatry is critically reviewed. The position of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis on the one side as well as the research of the functional imaging in neuroscience is located. The author tries to emphasize that in Western Europe, and especially in Germany with its secular tradition, religion still plays an important role for the people. In individual and in collective crisis religious or spiritual coping can have positive and negative impacts on the outcome. To neglect these resources in patients avoids perceiving patients in a holistic way.