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

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 paychiatry 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, hospitals 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 Director of Training, Orange County Department of Mental Health and Professor and Acting Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California Irvine Medical Center, 101 City Drive South, Orange, California 92668. Part I of his article appeared in the Fall, 1978 issue ofPastoral Psychology.