Is faith delusion? Is religion bad for your health? How, in a scientifically and technologically advanced age, can people still believe in God/spirit/'other'? Clearly not all believers are primitive and ill-educated; an alternative explanation is that they must be mad, or at least severely neurotic (as suggested by Freud).
This book starts by looking at, and giving reasons for, the connection and the division between Christian faith and psychiatry. It asks whether science challenges Christians involved with psychiatry, as patients or professionals, and whether the spiritual needs of patients are recognised. The author examines the scope and use of the neuro-sciences and considers cause and effect, natural selection and determinism. He explores the overlap (and the difference) between psychiatric symptoms and religious belief, the possible association between demon possession and mental illness, and the idea that some people are intrinsically religious and some are not. The variations of personality are examined, with their implications for belief.
Posited as a statement, that faith is delusion is always hostile, but outcome studies (reviewed here) show that in general religious belief and practice convey good mental health. Religious faith and mental illness are different, and their concepts come from different world-views. A consideration of them in relation to each other is long overdue.
The author is a former Professor of Psychiatry and President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and has also been Chairman of their Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group, so is exceptionally well qualified to address the subject. Although the book is technically proficient, it is aimed at the general reader and is illustrated with stories, brief case histories and anecdotes.
Andrew Sims is an independent mediator, trainer and consultant.
He studied social psychology at university and comes from a business background. Andrew is an accredited family mediator (FMCA), a PPC and a registered civil and commercial mediator, and mediates with a range of practices in London and the South-East. He specialises in mediating high-conflict disputes in a variety of fields, including family, civil and commercial, inter-generational, community, workplace and employment mediation. Andrew held the post of Service Manager at the South-East London Family Mediation Bureau from 2016–19 and prior to this acted as a Mediation Development Consultant to an independent homeless charity, advising its specialist mediation team.He has been a Trustee with Southwark Mediation Centre for eight years. During this period, he worked as a coach for Talking Works in Schools and as an Assessor to the Peer Mediation Training programme at Bacon's College, London. In 2016 he was invited to speak about the value of peer mediation to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on ADR. Andrew is a member of the College of Mediators' Professional Standards Committee.
