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Evidence-based medical model of studying scriptures for inter-religious theology of healing in psychiatry: Unshackling psychiatry and theology for society’s mental health
Abstract   Open access

Evidence-based medical model of studying scriptures for inter-religious theology of healing in psychiatry: Unshackling psychiatry and theology for society’s mental health

Parameswaran Ramakrishnan, Joseph Pinto, Mubasheer Hussaini, Vipul Janardan and Shivarama Varambally
Indian journal of psychiatry, v 68(Suppl 1), pp S141-S142
01 Jan 2026
url
https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry_62_26View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY-NC-SA V4.0,  Open

Abstract

Conferences and conventions Conferences, meetings and seminars Crisis intervention (Psychiatry) Evidence-based medicine Medical colleges Patient compliance Social aspects Public Health
Background: Modern psychiatry has embraced biopsychosocial-spiritual models of care, yet systematic and evidence-based engagement with scriptural traditions remains limited. Recent work in chaplaincy-integrated psychiatry has advanced this dialogue: EEG studies of empathic listening reveal neurophysiological markers of self-transcendence, while medical-model hermeneutics offer operational definitions of constructs such as spirituality, soul, and the Divine. To validate these definitions, clinicians have been encouraged to reflectively study scriptures in dialogue with their own and patients’ lived clinical experiences. Objective: Our aim is to develop and illustrate a ground-breaking medical model for studying scriptures across religions, establishing a practical and interreligious theology that can inform and enrich psychiatry. Methods/Approach: The symposium integrates structured empathic listening encounters with hermeneutical methodologies, including Collingwood’s Reenactment Hermeneutics, Clooney’s Comparative Theology, and Boisen’s Living Human Document approach. Case studies from the Bible, Hadith, and Valmiki Ramayana illustrate how scriptural portrayals of Jesus, Mohammed, and Vishnu’s healing mirror empathic listening assessments in psychiatry. Neurophysiological data from EEG research are correlated with qualitative narratives of patients’ lived spiritual experiences. Results/Insights: Findings suggest that spiritual constructs and self-transcendent states can be empirically validated through neuroscience while remaining grounded in diverse traditions. This equips psychiatrists to recognize and therapeutically engage spiritual experiences without pathologizing them, while offering theology clinically meaningful applications. Conclusion: By correlating lived spiritual experiences with neuroscience and scriptural hermeneutics, psychiatry gains a validated spiritual framework and theology gains clinical utility. This approach reframes psychiatry as a spiritual care discipline, advancing holistic mental health and social well-being.

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