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Workshop on “Evidence-Based Spiritually Integrated Psychiatric Assessment and Care”: Towards a “Spiritual Psychiatry Fellowship” program
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Workshop on “Evidence-Based Spiritually Integrated Psychiatric Assessment and Care”: Towards a “Spiritual Psychiatry Fellowship” program

Parameswaran Ramakrishnan
Indian journal of psychiatry, v 68(Suppl 1), pp S181-S181
01 Jan 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry_57_26
url
https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry_57_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: Psychiatry originated at the intersection of medicine, philosophy, and spirituality, with its etymology—psyche (soul) and iatrae (healer)—reflecting its foundation in philosophical/theological traditions. Modern practice, shaped by a largely reductionist biopsychosocial model, often overlooks patients’ existential and spiritual dimensions. In India, many patients seek spiritually rooted care through AYUSH systems, even as AYUSH providers report limited training in evidence-based spiritual care. Objective: Workshop examines how clinical-chaplaincy–informed empathic listening (EL) assessments elicit patients’ self-transcendent expressions and healing experiences. We introduce evidence-based methods—including EEG correlates of EL—to help clinicians integrate spiritual dimensions into psychiatric assessment. We also propose a “Spiritual Medicine Fellowship” in India, which is based on the doctoral dissertation “Evidence-based Clinical Chaplaincy–Informed Psychiatry” conducted at the Graduate Theological Union at UCBerkeley and Stanford Medicine, USA. Rationale for Fellowship in India: India’s openness to integrating religious–spiritual traditions in patient care offers a fertile context for adopting an American-accredited, evidence-based training pathway. The Indian model—rooted in Vedantic interreligious theology and adapted to India’s cultural-spiritual diversity—will, in turn, enrich the U.S. spiritual-psychiatric training paradigm by broadening its theological and experiential foundations. Methods: The workshop includes didactics on neurobiological and theoretical foundations, instructor demonstrations, volunteer simulations, reflective group discussions, and consultation on policy and training logistics for establishing the fellowship. Key Takeaways: Participants will (1) illustrate EEG-based spiritually-integrated psychiatric assessments; (2) describe how empathic listening care would unshackle/bridge the divide between modern medicine and religious-theologies; (5) reflect on pathways to developing a “Spiritual-Medicine Fellowship” program in Allopathic and AYUSH medical collages in India.

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