Purpose: Analyze and apply critical thinking skills in the psychopathology of mental health patients and provide treatment and health promotion while applying evidence-based research.
Scenario: A 44-year-old white Australian man who was not religious was referred to outpatient psychiatric treatment. He had been playing with an Ouija board for two months when he started to believe that a spirit had entered his body through his rectum and was controlling him. He thought the spirit made him move and speak in a certain way.
He sought help from a local church, where he was told it was a psychiatric problem and that he was not really possessed. Two exorcisms at a local church failed to achieve any improvement.
Questions: Remember to answer these questions from your textbooks and NP guidelines. At all times, explain your answers.
- Discuss the relationship between mental illness and religion.
- Is this classified as psychopathology? Support your response using DSM5 criteria.
