Integrating religion and spirituality in mental health: the promise and the challenge.

Today's mental health system is largely a product of western science. Like a one-eyed giant, it has great power, but it lacks the wisdom which makes life sacred and meaningful. The challenge for today's mental health system is to unite East and West; to integrate wisdom and science; to make room for the sacred as well as the practical. One of the most critical domains for integration-and one of the most difficult to address-is the area of religion and spirituality. The purpose of this paper is to review the historical tension concerning the integration of religion and the science of mental health; to explore current social trends that are creating new opportunities and pressures to move in this direction; and to discuss strategies for the integration of religion and spirituality in mental health services and practice.