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- Title
Incorporating a spiritual history into a psychiatric assessment.
- Authors
D’Souza, Russell
- Abstract
Objective: To explore the importance of incorporatingspiritual history into a psychiatric assessment and to develop andtest a format for taking a spiritual history. Methods: An overview of training and practice issues involvedin taking a spiritual history is dealt with, and then the formalrequirements developed, which include questioning style, contentand form of the spiritual history, the evaluation of values andprecautions to be considered. Finally its integration into clinicalpractice is considered. Results: There are training exercises the clinician can dobefore taking a spiritual history. Clinicians must develop a trustingtherapeutic relationship with the patient and approach the topicof spirituality with sensitivity. For a spiritual history to beuseful an evaluation of the patient's value structure andpossible expectation system needs to be undertaken and then available resourcesneed to be identified. Conclusions: A spiritual history needs to be incorporated intoa psychiatric assessment. Clinicians should be trainedto explore the patient's spirituality with sensitivityand skill so that the information obtained can be integratedinto the greater psychiatric assessment and management of the patient,thus fulfilling the much required whole person assessment and therapyin the biomedical model.
- Subjects
PSYCHIATRY &; religion; SPIRITUALISM; PSYCHIATRISTS
- Publication
Australasian Psychiatry, 2003, Vol 11, Issue 1, p12
- ISSN
1039-8562
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1046/j.1440-1665.2003.00509.x