ABSTRACT
This chapter will address how religion plays a role in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness. We will discuss issues of both religion and spirituality. Research in this area has not provided a single defi nition of either of these concepts; rather defi nitions vary from study to study.1 Hill and colleagues2 attempt to conceptually integrate the concepts of religion and spirituality, and suggest that the two concepts are by no means incompatible. In support of this approach are findings that individuals’ self-descriptions tend to include labels of both “religious” and “spiritual”.1 Thus many individuals who think of themselves as “religious” also think of themselves as “spiritual” (and vice versa). However, many researchers (and many of the studies described in this chapter) explicitly distinguish between the constructs of religion and spirituality, and many authors recommend making this distinction.3 Defi nitions of spirituality often defi ne the spiritual domain as the aspects of life involving transcendental or existential concerns (e.g., reference 4), the search for meaning, purpose, truth, and values (e.g., reference 3), and containing either secular or religious content (e.g., reference 5). Spirituality may be found in diverse domains – through religion; a relationship with a divine being, nature, music, and the arts; a set of values or principles; or a pursuit of scientifi c knowledge.3 Although not holding in all circumstances, religious expressions tend to be public, whereas spiritual expressions tend to be private.4 In this manner, spirituality is often defined
as an attribute of individuals, while religion (and religiosity) is defi ned as the beliefs, rituals, and practices of an institution.6 As religion may be one avenue for spiritual expression, Richards and Bergin4 conceptualize religion as a subset of spirituality. In this chapter, we use Richards and Bergin’s4 conceptualization of religion and spirituality as related concepts. For convenience, we use the term “religion” to refer to both spiritual expressions and religious practices (unless noted otherwise).
