McCarthy, Raphael C.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 14 | Number 4 Article 210-1-1947Common Grounds for Psychiatrists and PriestsRaphael C. McCarthyFollow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqPart of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, and the Medicine and Health SciencesCommonsRecommended CitationMcCarthy, Raphael C. (1947) "Common Grounds for Psychiatrists and Priests," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 14 : No. 4 , Article 2.Available at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol14/iss4/2FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC PHYSICIANS' GUILDS President De. JoHN W. SPELLMAN 1101 Beacon Street Brookline 46, Mass. First Vice-President DR. ''hLI.IAJ\1 P. CHES'l'ER 7.J.2-68 Maccabees BuildingDeh'oit, Mich. Second Vice-President DR. M. F. THIDERGE 846 Audubon Building New Orleans, La. 'l'hird Vice-President De. MELVIN YEIP 10824 St. Clair Avenue Cleveland 8, Ohio ilfoderator and Editor REV. ALPHONSE M. SCHWITALLA, S. J. 1402 South Grand Boulevard St. Louis 4, Mo. Secretary DR. NICHOLAS FEDER 126A East Main Street Belleville, Ill. Treasurer De. JOSEPH TOLAND 4605 Leiper Street Philadelphia, Pa. Acting Ea:ecutive Secretary M. R. KNEIFL 1438 South Grand Boulevard St. Louis 4, Missouri • AFFILIATED GUILDS MANHATTAN GUILD BROOKLYN GUILD ·BRONX GUILD BOSTON GUILD BELLEVILLE GUILD CHICAGO GUILD SAN FRANCISCO GUILD LITI'LE ROCK GUILD CLEVELAND GUILD PHILADELPHIA GUILi) GREAl' FALLS GUILD DUBUQUE GUILD S'1'. Loms Gun.D \VILMINGTON GUILD NEW ARK GUILD DETROIT GUILD WICHITA GUILD HAMILTON (CANADA) GUILD NEW ORLEANS GUILD ii VoL. XIV OCTOBER, 1947 No. 4 C01\fl\10N GROUNDS FOR PSYCHIATRISTS AND PRIESTS RAPHAEL C. McCARTHY, S.J., Pn.D. President, Regis College, Denver, Colorado THE Catholic church has sometimes been charged with being hostile to psychiatry and occasionally the statements of a Catholic spokes­man are quoted, or misquoted, in proof of this contention. The assertion must be distinguished. The church is not antagonistic to true, scientific psychiatry, but she docs condemn certain fallacies that mas­querade under that term. It is true that she is unalterably opposed to certain theories that are advanced by some psychiatrists and to certain prnctices that may follow from such theories . Her protests arc not prompted by narrow-mindedness or obscurantism, rather they arc tltc results of her enlightenment and of her deep understanding of the nature of man. She cannot approve of speculations that deny free will, that contend that man is only a physiological machine, a slave to his un­christian hormones or as powerless again ·t his animal impulses as is a sparrow against the fury of a cyclone. Such assertions run counter to sane philosophy. They contrarlict divine revelation. They are unscientific. In conrlcmninO' them the church rlocs a service to science and to truth. Unfortunately, such false teachings are all too common in psychiatry. No field of medicine has been so hampered by rash speculations and h_y mystical, far fetched theories as has psychotherapy. Neurology, fm· example, has not fallen so readily a victim to such excesses. It is not necessary to dilate upon the many causes underlying the muddled think­ing that is found so frequently in medical psychology torlay. Suffice it to say that such thinking has hindered the progress of ps_ychiatry. Ithas provoked the amusement, or the impatience of other medical men 2 THE LINACRE QUARTERLY who are accustomed to deal with more tangible diseases and who demand objective data as foundations of acceptable theories. Of course, not all psychiatrists have fallen victims to the fallacies into which some of them have stumbled. A great many of them recognize that man has a spiritual .nature. They realize, therefore, that since he is a composite being, made up of a body and a soul, his behavior, whether healthy or pathological, cannot adequately be explained as organic responses alone. They do not fall into the mistake of attempting to describe man's activities in terms of merely bodily responses anymore than they would give full credit to one of two engines that laboriously rlrag a heavy train to the top of a mountain. This sane, scientific kind of psychiatry the church welcomes. She recognized its value and its need. She is happy to profit by its gcnninr· findings. She encourages priests who deal with mentally ahnornrn penitents to enlist the aid of reliable psychiatrists. Sneaking generally, it is not psychotics who constitute the re:-. probl-em for a priest. Occasionally these do find their way to a priest".; parlor or to the confessional, but they are easy to recognize and a1 � rare compared to the number of psychoneurotics who seek counsel an l comfort from a confessor. Many of these individuals need the help of ,t physician before they respond to the guidance of. a priest. a�rl so t,,:cphysician and the priest can work together to then· mutual aid and : o the common advantage of the patient. It is not a quest.ion of the priest functioning as a psychiatrist 01· I 11c physician assuming the role of a priest. In either case grievous ha ,·111 may result. noth indeed are interested in the same individual, but fr,)ln very different points of view. The priest's concern is in the moral wd]­being of his patient, while the physician's aim is to find the c�uscs of the patient's trouble and to restore him to merital health. Tins lnl tC'r objective will often be realized more fully through the wise coopcrn' ion of a priest. The therapeutic power of healthy religious faith is recognized <'l'C'n by numbers of psychiatrists who are not religious themselves. They l1avc observed, for instance, the calming effects that sane religious at.ti tu des exert on their patients. Often they arlvise their Catholic patients to make a goorl confession, not because they admit its sacramC'ntal YttlnC', hut because they have seen that it makes the afflicted person 111ore responsive to medical treatment.. They arc gla<l to have an undersl an cl­ing priest to whom they may refer patients for spiritual dirccti011. There is another genuine way in which a psychiatrist may prnfit h_v the assistance of a priest. The neurotic is not cured simply hy clispelling his symptoms. He must build a healthy attitude toward life. He rnnst THE LINACRE QUARTERLY 3 break the habit of running away from reality or compronnsrng with it. I IL u thcr w�rds: he must learn to face difficult facts squarely and maket.hc must uf_ tlungs he <:anuot change. Otherwise it is exceedingly }Jrob­able tha� 1us �ld phobias or compulsions or scruples or anxieties will engulf lllm agam . A priest, because of the confidence that his Catholic pcovlc have in him, n'.ay be of v1tst assistance in hclpiug a person build up the wlwlcsome attitude that wiII protect him against relapsing iuto his neuroses. It is not necessary that_ a priest be a specialist in psychiatry in order to play a real part in a patient's rehabilitation. It is desirable, however, that h� I_iave some knowledge about the mechanisms underlying mental ab­normalities. He should, moreover, be able to recognize conditions that call for expert psychiatric care and refer them to a trustworthy specialist. _It is not ab.sol_utely essential that the specialist be a Catholic providedhe 1s a man of high moral and professional standards and has at least a respect for his patient's religion. As a general rule, however� a com­petent Catholic psychiatrist is likely to have the best success with Cath­olic patients, as he understands their viewpoint, and should their case be accompani:� by religious doubts or anxieties, as sometimes happens, he may appreciate these better than could his n on-Catholic confrere. It is not the psychiatrist's function to preach to his patients or to cuudenm them for moral delinquencies. They may resent such a ventureon his part and his influence over them is lost when their confidence inhi� is we�kened. He makes suggestions rather than proposes motives.II1s l�opc 1s that the patient, as a result of the suggestions, will buildup his own motives, but he can frequently SUO'O'est ideas that are at� . ee 1c same tune good medicine and good morality. For example he canemphasize the truths that abnormal impulses arc not irresistible even111 the neurotic.* . He c_an impress a homosexual with the conviction that his problem Ji; essentially the same as that of a normal man: they both must keep thc1w,elvcs clean, they both must protect themselves a "'ainst temptationsd . b an avoid situations which experience has proved dangerous. It is, of course, true that social traditions and customs are an aid to the hetero­sexual in his struggle, while they are likely to multiply difficulties forthe homosexual; I am referring to the familiarities allowed to members of the same sex. nut the great majority of homosexuals are able tosafeguard themselves provided they become convinced that the/ are notamong the hopelessly damned and are encouraged to make the effortthey must make if they are to be moral. The likelihood of their success"This statement would need qualifications in the case of psychotics.• 4 THE LINACRE QUARTERLY is heightened when the same advice is given by a psychiatrist on medical grounds and Ly a priest on religious grounds. This positi,·e healthy influence exerted by high-minded psychiatrists is real and eminently worth while, but they confer negative benefits also. They spare the patient the danger of falling into the hands of those practitioners who are hostile to religion. The suggestible, self-centered neurotic is in real danger of having his own faith harmed, when a man with the reputation of an expert scorns religion as an outgrowth of primitive fears, or of ignorant superstitions as a threat to mental health and unworthy of our enlightened scientific age. When the patient is assured with a great show of learning that religion is a myth, that God is simply the figment of a despondent mind that is struggling to recapture a sense of uterine omnipotence, he may come to regard faifr and its teachings as such lowly things that they have power neither tc encourage nor to stimulate. Thus, he is robbed of his confidence in .­provident God, of his hope in prayer and the sacraments, in a futun· life, and in the other consoling truths of religion which are at the sarnl' time the best preservatives of mental health and one of the most power ful agencies for its restoration. There are two medical specialties in which religious-minded doctor:, arc urgently needed, obstetrics and psychiatry. It is true, there arc many Catholics eminent in both of these fields. Some of the outstanding psychiatrists of the country are exemplary members of the church. There is need for more of them and it is to be earnestly hoped thu t many of our young men from our Catholic medical schools will take up this specialty. Psychiatry has ceased to be regarded as the stepchild of medicine. It not only has become "respectable" but has proved ii s value and need in these days when men and women are battered by the e111otional strains of our complex modern life. To fulfill its functi011s perfectly, it must regard its patients not as sick bodies, but as sick persons with spiritual 11atures and spiritual destinies. It must recognize that a man who is to live a full, contented, healthy life must have moral itlcals and live up to them. And one of the surest protections agaimt devastating conflicts and a most effective means of recovering from them is a trust in a provident God, the aid of religion, and the hope of uncml­i11g happiness. Such a goal can best be achieved by team work between a psychiatrist who knows something about sin and a priest who kno1rs something about psychiatric symptoms. • THE LINACRE QUARTERLY BERA VIOR AND SYMPTOl\1S RALl'H A. KINSELLA, l\I.D. Professor and Director of the Department of Internal Medicine, St. Louis University School of Medicine D OUGHL Y thirty per cent of the people who consult doctors pre­.I"'- sent symptoms that are not based on disease. If the doctor fails to recognize this, all sorts of needless treatment may be used, even to the extent of performing major operations. There are generally two types of people who express their conflicts, discontents, or efforts to escape the unpleasant tasks of life through symptoms which may be attached to almost any anatomical system of the body. One of these types is represented in the individual who wilts under environmental stress. This person reacts with a depressive response. The other type reacts more excitedly. There is no way of separating the types by assigning either one to a particular part of the autonomic nervous system, since both types of people may utilize the sympathetic Md parasympathetic systems. Type one is a patient familiar to all practitioners,  and is rcprescntccl in many hospital admissions, and continue to be frequently misunder­stood, and often badly treated. A study 1 of this type of person grew out of the observations made at numerous record meetings, and showecl that many patients with a variety of chief complaints really represented a common type of behavior. In this study 242 patients were analyzed, and it was found that their chief diagnoses included such states as hypothyroidism, neurocirculatory asthenia, visceroptosis, and the various organ-neuroses, such as gastric neurosis. An analysis of this group showed that no matter what their diagnoses might be, their complain-ts were strikingly similar. Two-thirds of these patients complained of weakness, nervousness, and headache, and about one-third complainccl of palpitation, dizziness, and abdominal pain. The study had for its further purpose the determination of physical features which might serve to identify this type of person. Among these physical features were: (I) Low basal metabolic rate; (2) Low blood pressure; (3) Low gastric acidity; ( 4) Flat sugar tolerance curves. In view of the similarity of some of these reactions, to con<litions in which failure of the adrenal glands is suspected, a number of patic�ts were given potassium tolerance tests, but these were found to be normal. There was no special anatomical type that dominated this group, al­though the hyposthenic habitus was more frequent. There was no evidence of glandular dysfunction in any of these patients. As in the case of type two, there was a definite history of the same type of distur-

Common Grounds for Psychiatrists and Priests

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Common Grounds for Psychiatrists and Priests

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