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A conference “Interaction between clergy and practical healthcare workers providing psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care” was held in Kursk
On December 16, in Kursk, at the Center for the Diagnosis of Mental Illnesses and the Prevention of Functional Disorders of the Regional Psychoneurological Dispensary, a conference "Interaction between clergy and medical workers of practical health care providing psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care" was held. The forum participants were welcomed by the chief psychiatrist of the Health Committee of the Kursk region, the head physician of the Regional Psychoneurological Dispensary V.G. Sevostyanov and Archbishop of Kursk and Rylsk Herman.
According to V.G. Sevostyanov, holding such a conference became possible due to a change in the approach to the treatment of the mentally ill and the recognition by doctors of the importance of the religious factor. Archbishop German said that "this conference is being held under the auspices of the recently formed Public Council for the interaction of the Kursk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and the healthcare and social protection authorities of the Kursk region. Today, one of the highest priority tasks in the framework of the interaction of priests and psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and psychologists is to approach the problem treatment of mental illness by combining the scientific medical and Christian understanding of man, the human person. The head of the diocese also emphasized "the confessional coloring and categorical apparatus of Orthodox-oriented psychotherapy, which differs from similar areas of knowledge, both modern scientific psychotherapy and psychology, and non-Orthodox religious systems."
According to Sedmitsa.ru , the Missionary Department of the Kursk diocese, "the conference touched upon problematic issues, such as various approaches to the phenomenon of demonic possession, the limits of the use of psychopharmacological agents, etc."
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