Religion in the psychotherapeutic process! Does this dimension exist in this area?

The question of spirituality in psychology and psychiatry often arises, and sometimes continues to be a point of debate, especially in our Moroccan society, so called Muslim.

Clinically speaking, religious beliefs help mental health specialists understand the social and cultural background from which the patient comes. And to better understand the educational style of the patient.

Although confused beliefs between medicine and religion and between psychology and spirituality. However, many studies that have looked at religious practice and mental health have found that religious people have better mental health.

In contrast, the causes of psychiatric illness are commonly far from spirituality, which are genetic, biological in nature, physical and/or psychological trauma, infections, chemical imbalances in the brain.

These etiologies have been proven by extensive bibliographic studies, which put an individual in a position of vulnerability. What makes the religion limited in front of the intensity of the symptomatology of these sufferings, as for the prevention and the intervention.

As it is important to mention that in people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders, the religious theme often appears in the scene of the themes of these obsessions, which oblige the subject to refrain from carrying out cyclical gestures, such as prayer or ablutions as an example, in the form of obsessive rituals.

On another symptomatic register, the religious aspect is often observed in cases of schizophrenia, more precisely in delusions, notably mystical-religious delirium. This last one is about a delirium that has an interpretation of religious theme. This interpretation is, in most cases, inspired by the patient’s society and culture.

The one who suffers from it has the conviction that he was chosen to carry out a divine mission or that he has a supernatural power which must be estimated “I am ELMEHDI MONTADAR”; “I am the new prophet”; “God sent me to save the world”; “God speaks to me all the time”.

In this debate, the problem of the ethics of the psychologist or the psychiatrist does not allow the adoption of the religious perspective at the bedside of the patient, because the ethical codes of the profession of the psychiatrist consist in being neutral in this sense, and not showing any direction in that direction.

For this reason, scientific investigations have succeeded in demonstrating that religion could represent a protective factor, compared to several factors and mental health problems, such as suicidal risk, depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse. , etc.

To conclude, I can add that the influence of religion on mental health has been the subject of a literature characterized by many methodological difficulties of the implication of religion in health in general and in psychological suffering in particular.

Religion in the psychotherapeutic process! Does this dimension exist in this area?