Birth, Suffering, and Rebirth in Psychiatry, Religion, and Spirituality

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

“Thought that your article was very appropriate. Watching the prep and pre-launch C-Span streaming put me into a different ‘world,’ a world of what can actually happen when we all work together, no division, no hatred, so our humanity of being there for each other while utilizing each one of our individual pieces of the puzzle. A world of reaching ahead, having dreams and positive feelings of nothing is impossible. These feelings have always been with me, going back to earliest years in school, boosted by my student teacher who believed in me and my ‘projects.’ While in high-school, I reached out to NASA to see how I could become an astronaut or some other space related specialist.” -Excerpt of feedback from Randy Levin, retired emergency medicine physician

This feedback seems to segue way so well into today’s intended column, which also conveys a striving toward a different way forward to that seemingly “impossible dream” of unity and peace.

It is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter. These are Christian holidays commemorating the death and rebirth of Jesus, respectively. Jesus was born, raised, and lived as a Jew.¹ He came to be devoted to helping others recover from suffering.

Now we are also in the midst of the 8 days of Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the journey of the rebirth of the Jews from the suffering of slavery in Egypt well before Jesus was born.

The birthday of the historical Buddha is a holy occasion for all Buddhists, but celebrated on different days, depending on the school or country of a particular subgroup of Buddhism. In some countries, that day is soon, on April 8. Born as Siddhartha, he was sheltered by his family, but then could not help but witness sickness and suffering, and try to address them.

Now we have an unusual confluence of holidays that reflect challenges in life that we also can see in psychiatric practice. People are born, inevitably suffer in life, and sometimes the suffering results in psychiatric disorders. All religions and medicine have ways to respond to and relieve suffering.² Sometimes they are combined, as in certain meditation practices. Understanding the meaning of the suffering may elicit much reflection.³ For religions, that focus on suffering includes faith, community, and possible afterlife.

In several psychiatric disorders, it is as if the person has disappeared to some degree. That is often noticeable in those with schizophrenia, posttraumatic stress disorders, and dementias. The challenge for loved ones and psychiatric clinicians is to empathize with—and understand—the suffering. Sometimes there is patient denial due to psychological pain or brain damage factors.

All psychiatric treatment is inherently devoted to relieving that suffering and a kind of psychological rebirth. The public often tries to do this healing on their own with street drugs of one sort or another, or life changes. The drugs with seemingly the most potential for a psychological rebirth seem to be psychedelics, but they are still being research in psychiatry, not formally approved or available.

Combining a birthday and rebirth has elicited the concept and celebration of what is called a rebirthday. Such a rebirthday has been used in recovery celebration from cancer using stem cells, transgender identity change, adult baptism, sobriety, and the belief in reincarnation.

This confluence of birth and rebirth includes nature in the Northern Hemisphere. Nature produces new and rebirth plant growth. Beauty can unfold from desolation.

Here we are now at a time when the benefits of the connection of religion, spirituality, and psychiatry are so promising for growth and wellness. In a way, that affirms the wisdom of the traditional holding of the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting in May, in the transition of spring to summer. The meeting provides an annual opportunity to not only present the cutting edge of what we know in psychiatry, but with collegial support and socialization. Challenges in our field can also be processed, including desired research, diagnostic advances, new treatments, and our role in regard to wider social psychiatric problems.

Often the best opportunities for mental health growth come when psychiatry, religions, and spirituality can enhance one another.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specializes in the social, cultural, ethical, spiritual, and religious aspects of psychiatry, and since 2012 is in retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekdays column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He has been an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physical burnout, and xenophobia, among other social justice causes, serving on many related local and national community and professional Boards. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Moffic E. What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus: A New Way of Seeing the Most Influential Rabbi in History. Abingdon Press; 2016.

2. Fitzpatrick SJ, Kerridge IH, Jordens CFC, et al. Religious perspectives on human suffering: Implications for medicine and bioethics. J Relig Health. 2016;55(1):159-173.

3. Cassell EJ. Recognizing suffering. Hastings Cent Rep. 1991;21(3):24-31.