Introduction

mystical experience as symptomatic of ego regression, borderline psychosis, a psychotic episode, or temporal lobe dysfunction. As well, "dark night of the soul" experiences have been equated to clinical depression. While introduction of the V-code represents a significant first step toward explicit delineation of religious and spiritual clinical foci, it is a modest accommodation of religious and spiritual domains of functioning in diagnostic categories. One limitation is the tendency to compartmentalize clinical focus on religious or spiritual issues, versus viewing them as interwoven among all other areas of functioning. If psychiatrists were to view religion in a holistic perspective, religion might be understood as a significant domain of adaptive functioning, which may be adversely impacted by psychopathology (Scott, Garver, Richards, and Hathaway, 2003).

On average, psychiatrists hold far fewer religious beliefs than either their parents or their patients, and little if any attempt is made to explore the relevance of faith to illness or health. Moreover, despite the importance of religion and spirituality to most patients' lives, psychiatrists are not given adequate training to deal with issues arising from disturbances in these realms. С Jung's work on the importance of recognizing the "shadow" in healing of minds and souls has contributed a great deal to cementing productive relationships between patient and therapist, priest and counselor (Foskett, 1996).

Disorders of the mind raise questions about the meaning of life, the presence of evil, and the possibility that forces beyond the senses are influencing one's life. Contemporary psychiatry and religion can be viewed as parallel and complementary frames of reference for understanding and describing human experience and behavior. Thus, while they place different degrees of emphasis on body, mind, and spirit, integration is possible to achieve comprehensive patient care (Boehnlein, 2000). The interaction of contemporary psychiatry and religion can take place at several levels: patients may have religious beliefs that need to be taken into consideration when planning treatment, and patient's values may affect acceptance of treatment (Lukoff and Turner, 1998).

Only recently have theory and research addressed religion and mental health issues in a systematic and rigorous manner. In large part, results from studies have been consistent in indicating a salutary relationship between religious involvement and health status. The consistency of findings, despite diversity of samples, designs, methodologies, religious measures, health outcomes and population characteristics, serves to strengthen the positive association between religion and health. For several decades, empirical research findings and literature reviews have reported strong positive associations between measures of religious involvement and mental health outcomes. A beneficial impact of religious involvement was observed for outcomes such as suicide, drug use, alcohol abuse, delinquent behavior, marital satisfaction, psychological distress, certain functional psychiatric diagnoses, and depression. A next logical step for research on religion and mental health would be to explore possible explanations for this mostly positive religious effect. A variety of potential factors have already been identified. Social cohesiveness, the impact of internal locus of control beliefs, religious commitment, and faith