Spirit-Health Connections News

Sally Severino, MD, Honored by Cambridge Who's Who for Excellence in Psychiatry

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:00:00 EST

RIO RANCHO, NM, March 31, 2009 /Cambridge Who's Who/ -- Sally Severino, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of psychiatry.

With an impressive background that spans 32 years, Dr. Severino specializes in the study of physical, mental and spiritual integration. She recently co-authored Sacred Desire: Growing in Compassionate Living, published by Templeton Press (2009). The work draws on numerous elements including neurophysiology, research regarding spiritual development, relationship studies and psychotherapy to make a connection between spirituality and the physical being. The book makes a strong case for the theory that human beings are "biologically wired" to seek a connection with the divine--a concept that Drs. Severino and Morrison refer to as "sacred Desire."

Prior to attaining her current position at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Dr. Severino spent 17 years in academic psychiatry at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and five years as Executive Vice-Chair, Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Certified by the American Psychoanalytic Association, she served as the first woman president of the American College of Psychoanalysts. A board certified physician through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc., she earned her MD from Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the recipient of the John J. Weber Prize for Candidate Research, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; the Wholeness of Life Award, Hospital Chaplaincy, Inc, New York City; the Presidential Award and the Laughlin Service Award, the American College of Psychoanalysts.

For more information about Dr. Severino and her new book, Sacred Desire: Growing in Compassionate Living, visit www.neurspirit.net.

To order a copy of Sacred Desire: Growing in Compassionate Living, visit www.templetonpress.org

About Cambridge Who's Who
Cambridge Who's Who is an exclusive membership organization that recognizes and empowers executives, professionals and entrepreneurs throughout the world. From healthcare to law, engineering to finance, manufacturing to education, every major industry is represented by its 300,000 active members.

Cambridge Who's Who membership provides individuals with a valuable third party endorsement of their accomplishments and gives them the tools needed to brand themselves and their businesses effectively. In addition to publishing biographies in print and electronic form, Cambridge Who's Who offers an online networking platform where members can establish new business relationships and achieve career advancement within their company, industry or profession.

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/sally-severino-md-honored-by-cambridge-whos-who-for-excellence-in-psychiatry-94222.php

Medicine, Religion, and Health by Dr. Harold G. Koenig featured on Time.com

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:00:00 EST

Keeping (Or Finding) The Faith

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009

Not all that long ago, you'd have had a hard time finding a research institute, an academic department or even a decent conference exploring the link between spirituality and health. And with good reason. Health is science, spirituality is something else entirely, and people who say otherwise clearly need to sit down with a medical journal or two.

But that's all changing. Everyone's got a stake in getting human health right--whether families and individuals simply trying to stay well or governments trying to build a functioning health-care system that doesn't break the bank. With so much on the line, no one can afford to take options off the table.

For that reason, investigators around the world backed by both public and private money are studying the faith factor in all manner of diseases and conditions. They have examined the spiritual-care needs of children with terminal illnesses and looked at how religion and superstition affect schizophrenia in China and how spirituality influences the well-being of college students in Malta and nuns in India. They have probed the links between religion and psychological woes too: neuroticism in Dutch twins, obsessive-compulsive symptoms in Italians, death anxiety among Egyptian nursing students and substance abuse in adolescents in Jerusalem. They have tried to measure the benefits of Bible therapy for patients with Alzheimer's disease, as well as the impact of religious guilt and congregational criticism on doubting members of the flock. They've looked at the health effects of psychoactive sacramentals (think peyote) and the spiritual preferences of neo-pagans (think Wiccans and druids).

The fact that what began as a trickle of studies has become a torrent doesn't mean that everyone is happy, and many scientists will continue to have nothing to do with what they see as fluff. Still, the movable feast of institutes, academic treatises, self-help books, websites, healing centers and luxury spas with a spiritual bent grows steadily larger. Here is just a sampling of what's available.

Center for Spirituality and The Mind
University of Pennsylvania

Brain Scans: A workshop for high-tech imagery: this is your brain on prayer--or meditation or speaking in tongues. Researchers also study changes in blood pressure, hormones and immune-system function during spiritual practices. www.uphs.upenn.edu/radiology/csm/index.html

Center for Spirituality & Healing
University of Minnesota

Shaman Outreach: Fifty faculty members from a dozen academic areas conduct research into alternative medicine and healing traditions, including those of shamans serving the local community of Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia. www.csh.umn.edu

Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health
Duke University

Community of Scholars: Academic powerhouse that promotes research to improve our understanding of "spirituality, health and human flourishing." Aims to push the interdisciplinary field into a "new era of significance, visibility and impact." spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.html

National Center for Complementary And Alternative Medicine
National Institutes of Health

Federal Faith: Alternative medicine established this beachhead with the Federal Government in 1991. NCCAM funds research and serves as a clearinghouse for consumer information on acupuncture, herbs, hypnosis and more. nccam.nih.gov

Templeton Foundation
West Conshohocken, Pa.

Private Philanthropy: Family foundation established by the late philanthropist Sir John Templeton. Its mission is to address big questions and foster dialogue between science and religion through grants, prizes and book publishing. templeton.org

Books. Reads that range from self-help to scholarly

How God Changes Your Brain By Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman; Ballantine

Authors Newberg and Waldman have written a self-help field guide to the health benefits of spirituality. Just minutes of daily meditation can slow the aging process, build intimacy with family and friends and provide broader rewards even for nonbelievers. It appears that positive thinking is one of the many names of God.

Medicine, Religion And Health By Harold G. Koenig; Templeton Foundation Press

Koenig is a co-director of Duke's Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. His latest book on the subject offers an overview of research into faith's effect on mental health, cardiovascular disease and mortality, as well as guidelines for health-care professionals on how they can integrate spirituality into the care they offer patients.

Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion And Medicine By Richard P. Sloan; St. Martin's Griffin

Dragging religion into clinical medicine, argues Sloan, is bad for both. Too much of the research is sloppy and funded by folks who have a stake in finding that belief is good for us. The result is bad science, bad medicine--and even bad religion when faith is trivialized by being treated like just another item in the health-care system's bag of tricks.

Religion and Healing In America Edited by Linda L. Barnes and Susan S. Sered; Oxford University Press

This rich collection addresses the multicultural world of spirituality that immigration has created in the U.S. The authors explore healing traditions usually left out of mainstream research into belief and health, such as those with roots in the Caribbean, Mexico and South Asia.

Pilgrimages. When a spa is spiritual enough, thank you very much

1. Chiva-Som, Hua Hin, Thailand

2. The Raj Maharishi Ayurveda Health Spa Fairfield, Iowa

3. Mii Amo Spa at Enchantment Resort, Sedona, Ariz.

4. Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya Playa del Carmen, Mexico

5. Ten Thousand Waves Santa Fe, N.M.

6. Ananda in the Himalayas Rishikesh, India

7. Canyon Ranch, Lenox, Mass.

8. COMO Shambhala Retreat Uma Paro, Bhutan

Websites. Online sources for seekers

The Government on Health
Washington weighs in with a guide that includes an A-to-Z index of topics, including spirituality and health.

One-Stop Faith Shop: Beliefnet.com
Explore your faith, and check out tips on health, finance, love and more. Also has blogs, prayers, news, and guidance for contacting your guardian angel.

Onscreen Magazine: Spirituality-Health.com
A bimonthly that celebrates the "Soul/Body Connection" and "reports on the people, the practices and the ideas of the current spiritual renaissance." Polls and self-tests too.

The Doctors Speak: webmd.com
Medical site that also covers prayer, spirituality and health topics.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1879175,00.html

Dr. Harold Koenig, author of Medicine, Religion, and Health presents testimony to the US house of Representatives

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Dr. Harold Koenig, author of Medicine, Religion, and Health presents testimony to the US house of Representatives.

Harold Koenig, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center and associate professor of medicine, was scheduled to testify yesterday in Washington, D.C., at a hearing of the House Science and Technology Committee’s subcommittee on research and science education.

Koenig — founder and former director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health and founding co-director of the current Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center — was to offer an overview of original research published in social, psychological, behavioral, nursing and medical journals since the 1800s examining relationships between religion/spirituality and health.

Koenig was to discuss what the research implies for improving public health and patient care, promoting community resiliency following natural disasters or acts of terrorism, and easing the economic burden of providing health care and protecting our population.

http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2300

Read the Testimony here:
http://science.house.gov/publications/Testimony.aspx?TID=14951

http://insidedukemedicine.org/home/2008/09/18/koenig-is-in-the-house/

Spirit-Health Connections website officially launched

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST

Spirit-Health Connections
Resources for Integrating Health and Healing
From Templeton Foundation Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...

October 1, 2008/West Conshohocken, PA—A recent article on CNN.com titled "How to Talk to Your Doctor about God" quoted one physician as saying, "religion is the last taboo in medicine." Religious belief can indeed be one of the most difficult things for patients to discuss with their health care providers, but that may be changing as more and more health care professionals are equipping themselves with the tools they need to help address the spiritual needs of their patients.

Now medical professionals, patients, spiritual care providers, researchers, and students have online access to resources for integrating health and healing. Spirit-Health Connections is a new website containing cutting edge research, information on recent publications, and news about this relatively young field of study.

Visitors can browse the content either by subject or by their own personal role in the spirit-health arena. Doctors, nurses, and anyone in the allied health care professions will find a great deal of information particularly relevant to their work in pages crafted especially for Health Care Providers. Pages for Spiritual Care Providers is designed principally to meet the needs of parish nurses, hospital or military chaplains, palliative care providers, and others who are often called upon to provide comfort to those who are suffering. Researchers and educators who will be shaping the future of the medical profession will also find special sections just for them, full of bibliographic and pedagogical resources to help with their efforts.

Beginning this month, a media section will feature video and audio files available for free downloads, and, in the bookstore, visitors can purchase any of the resources from which most of this content has been drawn. If one gets through all of these materials and still has unanswered questions concerning the relationship between religion and health, Spirit-Health Connections offers an Ask the Expert section, where visitors can interact with recognized experts on the subject.

Please visit Spirit-Health Connections at: www.spirit-health.org

CONTACT: Sharon Kelly, Publicist, 484-531-8380, publicity@templetonpress.org

http://www.spirit-health.org

CNN article, "How to talk to your doctor about God", features Dr. Harold Koenig, the author of Medicine, Religion, and Health

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST

CNN article, "How to talk to your doctor about God," features Dr. Harold Koenig, the author of Medicine, Religion, and Health

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/11/ep.faith.medicine/index.html

Aging in the Church: How Social Relationships Affect Health by Neal Krause is now available

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:35:00 EST

Aging in the Church: How Social Relationships Affect Health by Neal Krause is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=127

Medicine, Religion, and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet by Harold G. Koenig is now available

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:35:00 EST

Medicine, Religion, and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet by Harold G. Koenig is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=124

Harold Koenig, author of Spirituality in Patient Care, featured in Newsweek

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EST

The Advocate: 'Patients Want To Be Talked To'
A Duke Professor Says Religion Has A Place In Medical School--And In Practice

By Claudia Kalb | NEWSWEEK
Nov 10, 2003 Issue

Harold Koenig, director of the Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke, has been studying the role of faith in healing for almost 20 years. A leading researcher in the field, he recently wrote "Spirituality in Patient Care." He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Claudia Kalb:

KALB: How did you get interested in the intersection of religion and health?

KOENIG: It seemed amazing that some patients with devastating illnesses like stroke or cancer coped as well as they did. And so I wanted to find out what they did to help them through these difficult circumstances.

How accurate would you rate the research?

In the area of mental health, I think it's pretty good. So many studies have been done in so many different populations by so many investigators with the vast majority--two thirds--finding significant association between religious beliefs and well-being: life satisfaction, hope, purpose, meaning, lower rates of depression, less anxiety, lower suicide rates. The research in the area of physical health is not as solid.

Should medical students be required to take a religion-and-health course?

Yes. I think unless medical students have that training, they are not going to address those issues, or they're going to do it in a way that may interfere with the patient's rights.

Should doctors take spiritual histories of patients?

Yes. If we didn't ask questions for fear that they would induce guilt, we wouldn't ask about smoking, drinking or sexual activity.

Is it acceptable for doctors to pray with patients?

Certainly, if the patient asks the doctor, "Would you pray with me?" and the patient is religious and from the same background--and the situation is serious. If the doctor has tried everything and is running out of things to do, I think it's appropriate to bring it up. Before the doctor asks the question, though, he or she needs to be absolutely certain that the patient's answer is going to be yes. That's why the spiritual history is critical.

What is driving the interest in religion and health?

As we moved into the later 20th century, we recognized that there are questions of meaning and purpose that science just doesn't have very good answers to. Also, patients want to be talked to. They are tired of [being] treated like bodies, just physical bodies. Plus, older adults in America today are a very religious population.

How do you respond to critics?

If the critics say physicians shouldn't address spiritual issues, doctors may avoid it completely rather than do it in a sensitive way or refer patients to chaplains.

What are your religious beliefs?

I'm a Christian, and Christianity is an important part of my life. It helps me to cope with my illness [a form of arthritis], raise my children and stay married.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/60520

Authors Dr. Harold Koenig and Verna Carson will be featured as keynote speakers of the 14th Annual Dynamics of Elderly Caregiving Conference

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST

Authors Dr. Harold Koenig and Verna Carson will be featured as keynote speakers of the 14th Annual Dynamics of Elderly Caregiving Conference. The conference is scheduled for Thursday, April 3, 2008, 6-9 p.m. and Friday, April 4, 2008, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at the St. Clair Street Senior Center.

Duke Doctors Explore Spirituality and Healing

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:30:00 EST

A group of doctors at Duke University think belief plays an important role in patients' recovery and overall health.

http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/health___fitness.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-02-12-0009.html

Spirituality in Patient Care: Why, How, When, and What, Second Edition, by Harold G. Koenig, M.D. is now available

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:30:00 EST

Spirituality in Patient Care: Why, How, When, and What, Second Edition, by Harold G. Koenig, M.D. is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=105

Dr. Harold G. Koenig, author of Spirituality and Patient Care, was recently featured in an article by the Los Angeles Times

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:30:00 EST

Dr. Harold G. Koenig, author of Spirituality and Patient Care, was recently featured in an article by the Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-bestyounow25jul29,1,3175989.story

What Do I Say? Talking with Patients about Spirituality by Elizabeth Johnston Taylor is now available

Wed, 30 May 2007 11:00:00 EST

What Do I Say? Talking with Patients about Spirituality by Elizabeth Johnston Taylor is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=102