SPIRITUAL FOCUS ON BOOKS July 20, 2009 Issue

LIFTING THE BURDEN OF MENTAL ILLNESS

ROSALIE E. DUNBAR, NEWS EDITOR

The Role of religion in public and private life is being hotly debated in many sectors of US society. This little book by Nancy Kehoe, a nun who is also a clinical psychologist, explores the importance of religion to successful treatment of mentally ill patients.

In the 1980s, many therapists never explored the religious life of their patients, even if it played a significant role in their lives. Kehoe noticed this absence while she was working in one of Harvard Medical School's teaching hospitals. Later, after more than two decades in private practice, she was asked to mediate between a patient, who was Lutheran, and his therapist, who was Jewish. The patient felt the therapist needed to become a Christian in order to help him, and they had reached an impasse. Patiently leading the client to understand that respect for each other's religious beliefs was a viable alternative, Kehoe showed them that they could work together.

Afterward, she met with the staff of the treatment center where her consultation took place, and was amazed when they told her "that many clients referred to religion, but the therapists simply ignored it, not knowing how to handle the topic." Kehoe observes: "This was an amazing admission for mental health professionals, who are trained to explore every aspect of a person's life, from the most intimate areas, such as sexuality, finances, and abuse histories, to the most public, such as work histories" (p. xix).

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