1424 – Postsecular Psychiatry

The renaissance of religion and religious influence on secular events in the beginning of 21th century and postsecular atmosphere has launched a process of desecularization of psychiatry. It can best be seen through the changes in attitude towards spiritual and religious in the process of patients’ evaluation, quality of life assessment, respect for the spiritual needs of patients in the process of clinical treatment, and objective consideration of the phenomenon of religiosity by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Without the ambition to precisely explain and define this notion, the basic sketch of what a postsecular psychiatry is and what it is not will be outlined in this paper. The goal is to open a professional debate over the issue, which would contribute that psychiatry, despite the ongoing challenges and provocations, maintains its essence as a medical discipline and adequately respond to all the needs of its patients, including those related to spirituality and religion. Overcoming rigid secular framework, psychiatry becomes more human and more close to human. In this way, psychiatry does not lose its “scientific component” because the effects of spiritua