Spiritual Needs of Patients in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and Their Utilization of Spirituality as Part of a Coping Strategy

Abstract

Introduction The aim of this study was to find out attitudes and convictions patients have, What are their spiritual /religious (spir/rel) needs and whether and how they want to be addressed. There we asked which professions they want to be referred to and how this could look like. We have given the options of all professions that are available. Methods 248 Patients at admission, 228 at discharge, Mean age 39.6 ± 13.4 years, June 2010 – December 2011 all new inpatients, open, prospective, explorative, cross-sectional Standardised Questionnaires developed by Arndt Bussing et al. & Questionnaire „Expectations towards the Clinic. Results In the Self-rating whether clients call themselves as religious and/or spiritual the Distribution is similar to the regional general population. SPREUK-15 shows a higher percentage of patients are in a period of Reflection than in trusting in a higher guidance. Within the needs questionnaire patients significantly look for inner peace than rel/spir needs. Interestingly there is a percentage that feels it relevant that rel/spir is part of therapy (1/4), a high percentage think it is not so important and less 1/4 do not want it to be part. With whom that should happen number one are the psychotherapist followed by the chaplains. Conclusion This study provides first evidence that there might be different groups of patients who want rel/spir be part of therapy where others do not. Future studies are needed to be able to differentiate early enough and to find out what health care professionals should provide to meet these needs.