Integrating Redemption in Psychiatry, Part 3: A Nod to the Late Brian Wilson

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Parts 1 and 2 of the columns considering redemption in psychiatry have found that redemption can seem to apply beyond its usual well-known references in most all religions. A broader definition refers to compensating for some sort of failure or falling short, and can therefore be easily applied to general society, and perhaps to psychiatry, too.

Just take this major news item recently. After an escalating conflict between President Trump and Elon Musk, Musk wrote that he “went too far” in criticizing Trump’s new economic bill. President Trump seemed to publicly appreciate this response. It was not an apology or request for forgiveness, but an attempt at redemption in the sense of admitting falling short in his prior criticisms. Nothing religious or spiritual was mentioned.

Another example in the news was the recent death at age 82 of the well-known musician Brian Wilson, one of the original Beach Boys. After his innovative and successful 1966 song, “Good Vibrations,” which came out right when my wife and I started dating, Wilson soon slipped into overeating, drug abuse, and what came to be a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. After much psychiatric treatment, personal management, and a second marriage, he made a relatively successful comeback around 2005 with a tour of his previously unfinished masterpiece album titled “Smile” (I wear the t-shirt of his Milwaukee performance as I write this). Wilson died a little over a year after his second wife passed away.

In a rare interview in 2006 titled, “Brian Wilson - A Powerful Interview” for Ability Magazine, devoted to connecting authentic disabled talent, Wilson revealed some of what sounds like his redemption.¹

Brian Wilson: “Oh, I knew right from the start something was wrong. I’d taken some psychedelic drugs, and then about a week after that I started hearing voices, and then have never stopped. For a long time I thought to myself, ‘Oh, I can’t deal with them.’ But I learned anyway.”

Gillian Friedman, MD: “When did you start getting treatment?”

Brian Wilson: “Not until I was about 40, believe it or not. A lot of times people don’t get help as early as they should.”

Psychiatric clinicians often hear a story like this one. A patient comes to understand that they did not seek the right help when they should have, and then may try to redeem themselves with pursuing what is more likely to help.

Redemption also comes out in novels, especially mysteries, perhaps not a surprise since they and their characters often reflect real life.² In his September 1, 2018, blog titled “Achillean Romance With Fangs,” D.N. Bryn described “Writing Redemption Arcs.” He defines redemption in that broader way of: “An act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake.” The 4 steps are:

1. The character must first be in need of redemption
2. Character growth
3. They must give up all the benefits they receive from their wrong actions, in exchange for stopping the pain their actions have caused others
4. It takes time and effort to form into a habit

Once it is clearer that redemption also occurs outside of religion, as in these examples, we can also see it in psychiatry, even if the term itself is not used. Take the Moral Injury and Distress Scale out of the National Center for PTSD.³ Common examples include health care workers that make ineffective decisions; parents that hurt their children by prioritizing their own needs; careless diving causing an accident; and in terms of our current national protests, second-guessing for the actions after it is over. So, the first item in the 5-point scale is:

1. “I acted in ways that violated my own morals or values.

1a. I am bothered by what I did.”

Colleagues who responded to my redemption query mentioned how redemption seems present without saying directly so in the work of the psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl,⁴ in the developing intervention of religion-adapted cognitive behavior therapy,⁵ in forgiveness literature, in human flourishing, and compassion.

Besides individuals, organizations often fall short or fail. The American Psychiatric Association fell quite short about homosexuality and racism, among other opportunities, but has made some amends over time.

Ultimately, the reason to make redemption more explicit in psychiatry is to increase study of its possible influence and connections, as well as to increase the intersection of religion and psychiatry where each can be of added value. But that begs the question: what is that added value that psychiatry, religions, and spirituality share that should guide attempts at redemption? To say that in the opposite way, redemption can refer to failure or falling short of all kinds of values.

Psychiatry’s clear essential value is mental health. Each of the various religions have some goals in common, some not, which is why we have had—and do have—religious-based wars. Spiritual beliefs are more personal and individual. Some secular values overlap religious and spiritual ones, too. In that overlapping and possibly overriding sense, could peace and humanitarian values be a prime collective guiding goal for redemption in psychiatry and religion?

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

References

1. Brian Wilson — a powerful interview. Ability Magazine. 2006. Accessed June 13, 2025. https://abilitymagazine.com/brian-wilson-a-powerful-interview/

2. Bryn DN. Order Still (No Man’s Lander). Kraken Collective; 2022.

3. Norman SB, Griffin BJ, Pietzrak RH, et al. The Moral Injury and Distress Scale: psychometric evaluation and initial validation in three high-risk populations. Psychol Trauma. 2024;16(2):280-291.

4. de Abreu Costa M, Moreira-Almeida A. Religion-adapted cognitive behavioral therapy: a review and description of techniques. J Relig Health. 2022;61(1):443-466.

5. Moreira-Almeida A. Mental health and spirituality: the contemporary relevance of the work of Viktor Frankl. Journal of Judaism and Civilization. 2022;16:40-54.