17 - Religion and mental health from the Jewish perspective

Abstract

This chapter describes the religion and mental health from the Jewish perspective. Along with the terms Jews and Jewish, Israel has been used to designate Jewish people even long before the establishment of the modern state with that name because Israel connects Jews to a specific group. There are some issues which are related to psychiatric treatment, like Jews frequently may suggest about themselves some variation of “Jews are like everybody else, only more so.” However, the clinician may encounter Jewish persons who subscribe to the possible reality or myth of such distinctiveness. Such persons may evidence a considerable element of denial, guilt, or shame with regard to emotional fragileness on their part. To need a mental health professional and, especially, to be emotionally ill may be viewed as a horrendous embarrassment for the individual, the family network, and, in rare circumstance, the extended community. One additional factor which impacts Jewish persons in treatment is the long history as a minority community. Regarding any preferences for a specific treatment theory or technique, a pharmacological repertoire, family systems theory, and psychotherapeutic models are all potential therapies that may be recommended. Trust between the patient and caregiver is far more essential than a particular prejudice favoring one theory of intervention over another.