Draft minutes – October 9, 2015

CAUCUS ON SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, AND PSYCHIATRY

Friday, October 9, 2015, noon to 1:30 PM

Sheraton Times Square, New York, NY

Minutes 

I.       Call to order. Mary Lynn Dell (chair) and Francis Lu (recorder)

II.      Introductions: 12 participants including Drs. Dell and Lu

III.     Minutes from last meeting on May 17, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada were approved.

IV.      Review of APA meeting in Toronto, May 2015. About 6 Caucus supported presentations including a Clergy family needs (physical and psychiatric) symposium. Mary Lynn reminded submitters to focus on target audience clearly. Francis Lu offered technical assistance to those who might be interested in submitting for either the Annual Meeting or the IPS. If submitters wish Caucus support, then it needs to be submitted to John Peteet first.

V.        APA Conference on Mental Health for Faith Leaders, first conference in May 2015 in Toronto, was organized by Dr. Alan Fung, in collaboration with the Working Group for the Promotion of Mental Health in Faith Communities – a grassroots organization based in Toronto, Canada. The objectives were to equip local clergy members/faith leaders with the knowledge and skills to provide care to those with mental health issues, as well as for faith leaders to attend to their own mental health.

VI.       Update on the Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership

2 publications:

1)      Mental Health: A Guide for Faith Leaders

2)      Quick Reference on Mental Health for Faith Leaders

Both are free and available for downloading at <www.psychiatry.org/faith>

Clark Aist is working on liaison with Association of Professional Chaplains, Association for Clinical Pastoral Education about these materials.

VII.        Oskar Pfister Award – updates by Francis Lu, MD and Clark Aist, PhD. 1983 was the 1st award. Oskar Pfister was a minister influenced by Freud. A Swiss person sided with Freud in the split with Jung. He was enormously productive in scholarship in this area, for example 1966 letters between Freud and Pfister.  Association of Professional Chaplains co-sponsored the award. Francis went over the nomination, selection, and approval process. Deadline is June 30, 2016. Approval by the Board in December.

2015 recipient – Allan Josephson, MD, lecture today at 2 PM, Sheraton Times Square. It will update on his book on spirituality and world view that was published by APPI in 2005.

VIII.        Update about book project – “Ethical Considerations at the Intersection of Psychiatry and Religion”, Oxford University Press. Editors are Caucus Executive members John Peteet, Mary Lynn Dell, Alan Fung. All authors have been identified. Contract has been signed. Co-authors will include a faith leader. Goal will be an academic-level, clinically oriented work.

IX.           Caucus-sponsored submissions for the May 2016 APA meeting in Atlanta. Francis submitted a symposium on established curricula on religion, spirituality, and psychiatry. A resident who was a Diversity Leadership Fellow expressed interest in developing a curricula in this area. Other symposia submissions include chapter writers of the book and ongoing work on the psychiatry-faith leaders partnership. Also a submission on research in religion, spirituality, and psychiatry as well as one on forgiveness.

X.            World Psychiatric Association Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry and the WPA Newsletter “Psyche and Spirit”

XI.           Future meetings:

– American Psychiatric Association – May 2016, Atlanta, Georgia

– Conference on Medicine and Religion – March 4-6, 2016, Houston, Texas

XII.           Other Announcements: Mary Lynn reviewed resources at the APA and American Psychological Association websites, Oxford University Press, Guilford Press, and Routledge.

XIII.          Caucus to do list:

  1. Oskar Pfister Award funding review with Clark Aist and Francis Lu
  2. Creating a listserv, with permission of members to join need to be obtained.
  3. Possible change in Caucus sign-up process to include an option to sign up for the listserv; this cannot be a default option.
  4. Updating the APA website about resources in this area in addition to the mental health-faith partnership resources. Possible topics: disability theology, spiritual care of the mentally ill, spirituality resources for veterans, palliative care, Alzheimers

XIV.          Adjournment

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