Opposing Religions and the Therapist/Patient relationship?

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Saying I was raised catholic is an obvious deflection
Ahem, no. Deflection is when you don't actually answer the patient's question. In this case, you provide patient with some information he/she can build their impression on, regardless of how relevant you consider that information to be to your current situation.

That said, nobody is a blank slate, and patients will form an opinion of you regardless of the information you disclose.

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I answer my patient's questions about my religious beliefs by saying that I won't answer their question about my beliefs and I explain to them that their own beliefs are more important than my own. It is the same with politics. I tell them that if any of their beliefs appear connected to their symptoms or illness, I will point that out, just as I have already pointed out the self-defeating belief you stated two minutes ago, but your beliefs are yours. They seem to trust me on this most of the time.
 
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Speaking from the great empty spaces of Fly-over Land, I've found that there is a deep cultural fear and distrust of psychiatry and psychology among people of sincere religious belief. It is not simply superstition, but it does prevent people from taking steps toward healing and wholeness. Of course the numbers bear out that a mental health professional is less likely to hold a religious belief than a member of their community in general, but I can't tell you the number of times a patient has expressed that I would look down on their beliefs, or try to "convert them" away from belief. They're getting this message somewhere. I also know numerous pastors who feel devastated and powerless about the mental illness and related problems they see among their own congregations, and openly encourage their parishoners to "get professional help", but the stigma still exists. The distrust seems to flow in both directions.

Many times I'm asked for a referral by a patient asking for a practitioner who shares their belief system, and my response is almost always that I don't know what Dr. X or Therapist Y specifically believe, but that I know them well enough to trust that they will be respectful of the patient's beliefs and do their best to help them. That's usually enough. Occasionally I have a patient who shares my Protestant heritage to some extent, and I'll do what I can to use their language, bring in a scripture reference or quote from Martin Luther or someone, or use a bit of AA Theology to reinforce a point, etc., but it's never the core content of an interaction. For that we offer Chaplain Consults.

Unfortunately your point from fly-over land is oftentimes a valid patient concern, especially those of us who were once part of the more damaging end of fundamentalist belief systems and/or who experienced attacks of persecution from people of other religions when we decided to change ours.

At the risk of possibly repeating what I may have already said in other post - I was raised loosely Christian, Dad was Catholic, Mum was Presbyterian (now Atheist), no regular Church, but I did attend Sunday School. When I was 11 I joined a very strict fundamentalist Church - full old style hell fire and brimstone, graphic descriptions of Jesus' suffering on the cross followed by admonishments of how unworthy of that we were, and how dare we even look upon the temple of the lord when we were all so unworthy and full of disgusting sin, we should be crawling in the dirt at the Lord's feet, but God still has a place for us if we rise up as warriors of Christ and ready ourselves for spiritual battle against the hordes of Satan preparing to descend upon us, etc etc. Apart from basic medical care, the Church I was with believed that anything outside of the Church, except what the Church leaders deemed acceptable, was a tool of the devil and to be avoided at all costs. I prayed numerous times daily, I read from scripture almost constantly, I tried my best to live as the Bible said I should live, I witnessed to friends and family -- I was devoted enough to my faith that my one ambition back then was to join a missionary team and travel the world preaching the word of God.

But because I also maintained an interest in things like Classical Studies, Ancient Mythologies, learning about other cultures, etc, and had done since I was a little girl, the Church considered me to be filled with a rebellious spirit and practiced a form of shunning. I would attend service and when it came time to greet the person next to you, no one would give me the greeting; I would stand outside after service until the Pastor had finished speaking with everyone, and no one would even look in my direction; even the Pastor himself went so far as to refuse to acknowledge me or shake my hand as I was leaving the service - I was basically persona non grata in their eyes. And yet the sons of the women's group of the Church were bought before the congregation every Sunday, and held up as shining examples to us all, except for the fact that Monday through Saturday they spent their time drinking, taking drugs, getting involved in petty crime, and engaging in promiscuity.

I left the Church when I was 14, after being confronted one too many times by their sheer hypocrisy. I still tried to maintain my Christian beliefs for several months after, but I just no longer believed or felt any connection to them so then I went on a 2 year spiritual quest, studied or looked into almost every single religion or belief system I could think of until one day, quite by chance, I came across an article on Wicca, converted on the spot, and almost 27 years later here I still am. Except those early days in Wicca I got to experience the fun of things like being spat on in the street for wearing a pentagram necklace, or seeing fellow Wiccans having their houses vandalised, religious graffiti being spray painted on their fences, outdoor temples smashed up, car windows broken, and so on.

So yeah, it's unfortunate, but it doesn't matter how many close Christian friends I have these days, or how much I realise that the Church I was involved in was not indicative of Christianity as a whole, based on past experiences if I'm going to have the sort of depth of trust that a therapeutic relationship requires, then I need to know that I can feel comfortable with a therapist, and they with me. I don't make it a blanket rule that I would never see a therapist who held Christian beliefs, or that no one who held such beliefs is capable of helping me, but I do need that aforementioned assurance nonetheless.
 
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Honestly though it is something on my radar, I'm not totally sure how I'm supposed to respond if a patient asks my religious convictions. Saying I was raised catholic is an obvious deflection, saying I'm a godless heathen might cause some friction Sooo :shrug:

Obviously bearing in mind I have no training in these matters, I would probably ask something like 'Is that important to you?' and if they answer yes, and give a good enough reason why it's important (eg the reason is something that has a definite bearing on possible future therapeutic workings) then I'd just be honest, but keep it short, and to the point, and not make a big deal out of it - just be matter of fact. That would be my preference as a patient at least, but then again my Psychiatrist is pretty open with me (as in I'm assuming way more open than what most other Psychiatrists would be) and seeing as I've never really worked with anyone else in the long term I don't have anything to really compare that against so I can only go on what I feel I would prefer (if that sentence makes any sense at all?).
 
As numerous people have noted in this thread, in most situations it really shouldn't be a big deal because most psychiatrists have the capacity to be respectful of others regardless of whether or not they share the same beliefs. However, I do think it's possible that some people hold beliefs that would be incompatible with being a mental health provider, including certain beliefs about sexuality. Could a member of the Westboro Baptist Church be a psychiatrist? Interestingly, a lot of them are nurses and lawyers, but I think the work we do is a little more intimate. That's an extreme example, but what about people in groups like NARTH? It seems like most people involved with them are there due to religious beliefs, and wow, I think they have a lot of capacity to do harm. What about psychiatrists who have religious beliefs that dictate that women are inferior to men? Can they be good providers for their female patients? What about people who believe races should be segregated and are engaged in white supremacy movements (which, btw, happened with a local MH provider near my community -- not a psychiatrist, but still scary)?
 
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