Abstract
Through questionnaires sent to all priests in a county in northern Norway (n=78) we described and analysed the relations between the priests and a community mental health service. Results showed that the priests had contact with many persons with mental problems and also with many psychiatric patients. Priests described their work with psychiatric problems and psychiatric patients as based on a “holistic” concept of man, which they did not consider was the case in the professional work carried out by the psychiatric services. These ideological differences did not result in the priests being unwilling to motivate persons to contact the mental health organisations, as four out of five priests had referred persons to psychiatric treatment in the 12 months before the study. There was also a strong wish among the priests for more contact with psychiatric professionals.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bergin AE (1991) Values and religious issues in psychotherapy and mental health. Am Psychol 4:394–403
Browning DS, Jobe T, Evisn IS (eds) (1990) Religious and ethical factors in psychiatric practice. Nelson Hall, Chicago
Calhound LG, Abernathy CB, Selby JW (1986) The rules of bereavement: are suicidal deaths different? J Comp Psychol 4:213–218
Frankl V (1967) Psychotherapy and existentialism. Selected papers on logotherapy. Pelican, London
Freud S (1927) The future of an illusion. 21st edn. Hogarth Press, London, pp 3–56
Giglio J (1993) The impact of patients and therapists' religious values in psychotherapy. Hosp Community Psychiatry 8: 768–771
Greely AM (1982) Religion. A secular theory. The Free Press, New York
Jung G (1993) Psychotherapists or the clergy. In: Jung G (ed) Modern man in search of a soul. Harcourt, Brace and Worid, New York
Larson D, Pattison M, Blazer D, Omran A, Kaplan B (1986) Systematic analysis of research on religious variables in four major psychiatric journals, 1978–1982. Am J Psychiatry 143:329–334
Larson DB, Hohmann AA, Kessler LG (1988) The couch and the cloth: the need for linkage. Hosp Community Psychiatry 39: 1064–1069
Larson D, Donahue M, Lyons J, Benson P, Pattison M, Worthington E, Blazer D (1989) Religious affiliations in mental health research samples as compared with national samples. J Nerv Ment Dis 177:109–111
Leighton AH (1982) Caring for mentally ill people. Psychological and social barriers in historical context. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge
Levin JS, Vanderpool W (1989) Is religion therapeutically significant for hypertension? Soc Sci Med 29:69–78
Neelman J, King MB (1993) Psychiatrists' religious attitudes in relation to their clinical practice: a survey of 231 psychiatrists. Acta Psychiatr Scand 88:420–424
Propst R, Ostrom R, Watkins P, Dean T, Mashburn D (1992) Comparative efficacy of religious and nonreligious cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of clinical depression in religious individuals. J Consult Clin Psychol 1:94–103
Sørensen T, Sandanger I (1989) The strategic network position: a feasible model for implementing a decentralized psychiatry. Health Prom 4:297–304
Sørgaard K, Sørensen T (1994) Decentralizing psychiatry in rural areas. Nord J Psychiatry 48:193–202
Sørgaard KW, Sørensen T, Sandanger I, Dalgard OS, Ingebrigtsen G (1995) Religiosity and help-seeking in a rural and an urban area. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (in press)
Zilbergeld B (1983) The shrinking of America. Myths of psychological change. Little, Brown, Boston
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sørgaard, K.W., Sørensen, T. The Church and community psychiatric services in a region of northern Norway. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 31, 266–271 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00787919
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00787919