Psychiatry and religion circa 1978: Analysis of a decade,part I

Prior tensions between science and religion have dissolved and coalesced into new alliances based on ideology and philosophy. This general cultural pattern is reflected in the realignment of interests and interactions between psychiatry and religion. There are increasing numbers of mental health professionals with devout religious commitments and involvement in religiously oriented mental health activities; while clergy have developed new organizational structures to reflect many diverse mental health interests, including pastoral counseling, community mental health chaplains, hospital chaplains, and expanded parish ministries. Clinical and research literature has continued to rapidly proliferate, while a unique genre of pastoral care and counseling literature has emerged. A decade ago there was hope for an amicable alliance between specialists in psychiatry and in religion. That irenic quest has shifted into overlapping goals and roles, with tensions between those engaged in universalistic norms and those seeking to develop particularistic norms.Dr. Pattison is Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Social Science, Social Ecology; Acting Chairman, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine; Deputy Director, Training, Consultation, Education Division, Orange County Department of Mental Health. His address is UCI Medical Center, 101 So. The City Dr., Orange, Ca. 92668. Part II of this article will be published inPastoral Psychology, Volume 27, No. 2.