Psychiatrists are the least religious of all physicians

A national survey said only 29% of shrinks reported attending religious services twice a month, compared to 47% of other docs.

Psychiatrists are the least religious of all physicians.

But one explanation for the results seems suspect to me:

“Something about psychiatry, perhaps its historical ties to psychoanalysis and the anti-religious views of the early analysts such as Sigmund Freud, seems to dissuade religious medical students from choosing to specialize in this field,” said lead study author Farr Curlin, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.

An alternate explanation: as physicians learn more about the mind, the more they realize how the mind is designed to see patterns and connect the dots—even when patterns and dots aren’t really there.  Modern shrinks, focused as they are on neurochemistry, are especially reductionist/materialist in their views on the mind/brain question.

Throw the idea of a soul into the theoretical mix and no wonder they prescribe so much Prozac!

—Dennis Wilen

Group therapy as seen by Israeli TV sketch comedy show