The Roman Catholic Psychiatrist
by Luz G. Gabriel, M.D.
Introduction
The psychiatrist who is zealous for the Catholic Faith, obedient to
the Church's Magisterium and earnest in the support of traditional
family values sees in bold relief the reciprocal relationship and the
common relevance of Roman Catholicism, the family and the medical
science of psychiatry. I write from my own personal impressions and
clinical experience; my training in child psychiatry and family
therapy has intensified my staunch conviction that interviewing the
family members of any particular patient, child or adult, contribute
to an understanding of family psychodynamics. On another and a more
elevated level, the discovery of the richness of the Catholic Faith
and the examples of the saints expanded my outlook and augmented my
therapeutic armamentarium.
The Catholic psychiatrist has numerous opportunities to induce others
to the virtuous life, and to evangelize. The amassed myriad pieces of
knowledge of the Catechism or of the chronicles of holy men and
women, fortunately, are stored in the memory bank of the brain, (the
hippocampus) and spring to life in definitive recollections, and are
used in concrete events of a patient's life. This article will focus
on three key items: (1) some vital concepts of the traditional
family; (2) an overlooked technique or approach in clinical practice;
and (3) the wisdom of Catholic precepts.
The Family
Traditionally, the family is viewed as the basic social and cultural
unit crucial to the survival of the human race. The family starts
with the marriage of two opposite sexes, a man and a woman, in a
lifelong holy bond, a sacrament instituted by Christ Himself at the
wedding feast in Canal The Church's esteem for the family is
envisioned in these metaphors: the family as the most complete school
of humanity, a domestic church, a fountainhead of sanctity and the
<terra firma> of the world. Pope John Paul II reiterates that "the
future of mankind passes through the human family." In an
increasingly secular world we need the guidance of the Church's
Magisterium and the Holy Father as the families we treat contend with
formidable choices and confront divorce, abortion on demand,
violence, homicide, suicide, euthanasia and many other social ills.
Truly, life has become cheap while truth and morals are no longer
absolute, but relative. The world is tottering on the brink of self-
destruction. Indeed, our Holy Father sums up the contemporary scene
in his apt comment, "We have become a culture of death, not a
civilization of love and life."
In family therapy, the psychiatrist evaluates the essential family
functions of problem-solving, communication, affective involvement,
autonomy and role definition. He must unravel the roots of marital
conflicts and motivate the couple to give up sinful habits for
reciprocal satisfaction and fulfillment.
Psychiatry And Religion
As a medical discipline, psychiatry delves into the genetic and
biochemical etiology of brain disorder; as such its practitioners
prescribe neuroleptics, antidepressants and other psychopharmacologic
agents which potently alleviate suffering and normalize mental
functioning-albeit appropriately, and competently. Some psychiatrists
specialize in group therapy or individual counseling. The
aforementioned are modes of treatment on the biological and natural
level.
Religion and mental illness, many a time, intertwine; this bare fact
becomes clear as we skim over a brief historical profile of the
medical specialty of psychiatry. It is roughly categorized into three
overlapping periods beginning at the dawn of human history. For the
first 1800 years A.D., sickness of the mind was baffling,
inexplicable and mysterious. Then, psychiatry was not a medical
specialty. Theories of mental diseases commixed with philosophy and
religious beliefs. Often the causation was ascribed to evil spirits
or divine chastisement; remedial steps were, repeatedly, inhumane,
and the patients, stigmatized. With the outset of the second phase,
circa. 180 years ago, the field of psychiatry became more cohesive
and comprehensible. This ushered in humane reforms in the then so-
called "hospitals for the insane." The third or current period, also
dubbed the scientific era, commenced about a hundred years ago with
the combined research in psychology, psychiatry and neurology.
The Neurosciences And the <Catechism of the Catholic Church>
The past ten years or so have been designated as the decade of the
brain, inasmuch as the neurosciences advanced by leaps and bounds;
consequently, psychiatry, too, accelerated its pace, with perfected
diagnostic tools and more precise differential diagnoses. The far-
reaching positron emission tomography, often termed by its acronym,
PET, tracks down psychopharmacologic medications into discrete brain
areas; working together, neurologists and psychiatrists, enhance
their diagnostic acumen, as they view physiologic processes inside
the living brain.
Psychiatry, an empirical science, based on direct observation and
experimentation, ordinarily, focuses merely on one aspect of the
human person, and one constituent of human reality.
The <Catechism of the Catholic Church> (no. 1703) teaches that man is
"endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul; the human person is the
only creature that God has willed for its own sake. From his
conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude." And in no. 1702,
we read that "The divine image is present in every man." Man's
likeness to God and his spiritual nature amplifies our present
Pontiff's categorical affirmation of the "whole truth about man."
Sadly, the supernatural factor is either shunned or decreed non-
existent, even by good psychotherapists. The aforementioned factor
is the neglected complementary, but obligatory part of treatment.
"Human virtues are purified and elevated by divine grace. With
God's help, they forge character" (CCC, no. 1810).
Treatment Hierarchy: Natural And Supernatural
Catholic psychiatrists can be evangelizers of the Catholic Faith; too
often psychiatric patients pine for God and require instruction in
and direction to the knowledge and truth of our Faith. "The desire
for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God
and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to Himself. Only in God
will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for"
(CCC, no. 27).
Families, too, need help on both natural and supernatural levels of
treatment. We aid them to identify dysfunctional coping mechanisms or
psychopathological behavior and also to grasp the sublime efficacy of
supernatural grace as an antidote to family difficulties, for our
"growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic
Communion, the Bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death"
(CCC, no. 1392). Only then will family members be capable of heroic
virtues; only then will their mutual devotion intensify while
selfishness fades away.
The fields of psychology and psychiatry have rightly been censured by
many, not only for their shortcomings, but also for their morally
offensive theories. Both fields, however, have wise and competent
experts who proffer more tenable and realistic views of the human
person. Increasingly, Christian health workers, concede to the God-
given dignity of the human person and their responsibility to respect
moral values and family traditions. Our present Holy Father lauds
psychiatrists who practice judicious therapy and dispense medications
prudently.
The Catholic Psychiatrist As Evangelizer
The Roman Catholic Church has sounded the clarion call to duty:
"Conserve Truth; preserve the family." She has singled out the laity
as a major player in rebuilding the Mystical Body of Christ and
uplifting society from its moral turpitude. The lay person, in the
midst of the world, has a unique vocation, whatever the state of life
or whatever the expertise. We are to proclaim and put into practice
the Gospel of Christ in the classrooms and tribunals of justice, in
the family abode, in the marketplace and in clinics and hospitals.
Psychiatrists, too, are not to separate the Catholic Faith from daily
life but to unify our natural existence with the supernatural vision,
in ourselves and in the patients we treat.
Evangelization for the Catholic psychiatrist implies assent to the
authoritative and irrefutable definition of man, "a being at once
corporeal and spiritual" (CCC, no. 362), equipped with intelligence
and a free will, with the capacity to ponder and to choose. This
authentic model of the human person is the logical and sane
replacement for the rampant deterministic, absurd and purposeless
psychological and psychiatric theories.
There are some caveats to this approach to treatment which may not be
applicable to some for sundry reasons. Only after a thorough analysis
of the patient's past and present life history can one be confident
in the pursuit of spiritual objectives.
The Catholic psychiatrist as evangelizer must avoid the extreme
positions of naturalism (treating <only> the body or mind) on one
hand, and of pure supernaturalism or angelism (faith <alone> can
heal), on the other. Many forget that we are not angels who are pure
spirits; our bodies can be defective, our intellects, obscured, and
our wills, rebellious. On the natural level, "human virtues can be
acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-
renewed in repeated efforts" (CCC, no. 1810). Reassuring for all of
us is the realization that the effects of original sin, and our own
nothingness can be supplanted by the certainty of grace, and the
human heart, filled with the fullness of God. This is therapy at the
highest level. "It is not easy for man, wounded by sin, to maintain
moral balance. Christ's gift of salvation offers us the grace
necessary to persevere in the pursuit of the virtues. Everyone should
always ask for this grace of light and strength, frequent the
sacraments, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and follow His calls to
love what is good and shun what is evil" (CCC, no. 1811). We need to
reflect on the latent capability in all of us, either to soar to the
towering heights of grace, or plunge down into the abyss of sin,
decadence and despair. I will always marvel at the amazing effects on
how a deepening faith and love of God in patients have strengthened
their character and re-integrated their personalities.
Holiness And The Holy Spirit
Evangelizing others can lead to our own sanctification. Holiness is
not a monopoly of the clergy, or monks and nuns. People of deep faith
are invited not only to renew the temporal order, but also to a deep
prayer life. Sanctity is not the discretion of a few but a duty and
responsibility of all. This is made possible by the graces that
accompany our state in life. "Having gifts that differ according to
the grace given us, let us use them" (CCC, no. 2004).
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are
varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of
working, but it is the same God Who inspires them all in every one.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to
another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the
one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy,
to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another
various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit Who apportions to
each one individually as He wills. For just as the body is one and
has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are
one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12: 4-12).
Dr. Luz G. Gabriel is a psychiatrist from Pittsburgh with
postgraduate residency training at McGill University and the
University of Missouri-Columbia. She is a member of the Fellowship of
Catholic Scholars and Vice President of the Steubenville/Western
Pennsylvania Chapter of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.
This article was taken from the March/April 1996 issue of "The
Catholic Faith". Published bi-monthly for 24.95 a year by Ignatius
Press. To subscribe, call: 1-800-651-1531 or write: The Catholic
Faith, P.O. Box 160, Snohomish, WA 98291-0160.
Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN
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