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Conclusions

Psychiatry with Spirituality in Mind

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2026

Christopher C. H. Cook
Affiliation:
Durham University
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Summary

It is proposed that spirituality and psychiatry, commonly held to be separate concerns, are in fact deeply entangled and inseparable. Meaning-making, an important concern of spirituality, is important to human well-being and needs to be taken more seriously by psychiatry. The damage done by historical antagonisms between psychiatry and religion needs to be undone by affirmation of spiritual concerns within psychiatric practice and by closer partnerships between psychiatry and faith communities. Professional boundaries need to be understood not as protecting psychiatry as secular space (which many religious patients find hostile to their spiritual concerns) but as protecting safe therapeutic space within which psychological recovery and spiritual growth may occur. Psychiatrists need to develop an interest in clinical theology, as a way of understanding the ordinary theological concerns of patients (including their ‘atheologies’). Psychiatry needs to be more spiritually attentive – to shed light on what patients desire spiritually and psychologically – rather than focussing only on the metaphorical shadows of psychopathology. Psychiatry needs to keep spirituality in mind.

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  • Conclusions
  • Christopher C. H. Cook, Durham University
  • Book: Spirituality in Mind
  • Online publication: 15 May 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009629201.010
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  • Conclusions
  • Christopher C. H. Cook, Durham University
  • Book: Spirituality in Mind
  • Online publication: 15 May 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009629201.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusions
  • Christopher C. H. Cook, Durham University
  • Book: Spirituality in Mind
  • Online publication: 15 May 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009629201.010
Available formats
×