Volume 36 · Number 3
MARCH 2006
Spirituality in Clinical Practice
By
In August 2000, Psychiatric Annals published a special issue entitled “Spirituality and Clinical Practice”, which I had the pleasure of editing. In the late 1990s, many adults were searching for ways to incorporate spirituality in their daily lives. This resulted in patients requesting or expecting psychiatrists and other clinicians to incorporate the spiritual dimension in psychotherapy and other psychiatric treatments and raised many questions for clinicians. Among them were: Do mental health professionals recognize and respond to these patient requests? Are clinicians adequately trained to respond to these requests? How specifically do they assess and provide interventions?
ABOUT THE GUEST EDITOR
Len Sperry, MD, PhD, is professor and coordinator of the doctoral program in counseling at Florida Atlantic University and clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he had been a tenured professor and vice chair. He is board-certified in psychiatry, preventive medicine, and clinical psychology and is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine. He was a member of the GAP Committee on Psychiatry and Religion and is a fellow of the Division of Psychology and Religion of the American Psychological Association.
Among his 50 published books and 300 articles are 75 articles and five books on spirituality and the spiritual dimensions of clinical practice. He is a member of eight editorial boards, has practiced spiritually sensitive psychotherapy for more than 30 years, and consults with organizations on professional, ethical, and spirituality issues.
Besides spirituality, his research interests include the treatment of personality disorders, the integration of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, clinical outcomes research, executive coaching, and organizational psychiatry. He is the recipient of two lifetime achievement awards, the Harry Levinson Award from the American Psychological Association and the Alan McLean, MD, Award from the Academy of Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry.
What is Spirituality?
Jan Fawcett, MD
A 42-Year-old Woman Who Refuses to Eat Based on a ‘Religious Vow’
George Isaac, MD;
Judith Mayans, MD;
Kamil Jaghab, MD
Spiritual Assessment in Clinical Practice
Christina Puchalski, MD, MS
Fostering Spirituality and Well-Being in Clinical Practice
C. Robert Cloninger, MD
Working with Spiritual Issues of Adults in Clinical Practice
C. Paul Yang, MD, PhD;
David Lukoff, PhD;
Francis Lu, MD
Working With Spiritual Issues of Children
Mary Lynn Dell, MD, MTS, ThM;
Allan M. Josephson, MD
Working With Spiritual Issues of the Elderly and Their Caregivers
Len Sperry, MD, PhD
Managing Religious Countertransference in Clinical Settings
James L. Griffith, MD
