Does God Help?

'At long last there is a book that brings the issue of religious belief into the consulting room. Deliberately avoiding the one debate about whether or not God exists, the editors have marshaled papers that take seriously the fact that patients are affected by their religious convictions. Experts on Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam refract the clinical process through the prisms of these religions, and commentaries on their papers are offered by distinguished psychoanalysts who provide vigorous challenges and supplementary visions. Therapists will be informed by reading this book and will find their understanding of patients enriched.' —David M. Sachs

_At long last there is a book that brings the issue of religious belief into the consulting room. Deliberately avoiding the one debate about whether or not God exists, the editors have marshaled papers that take seriously the fact that patients are affected by their religious convictions. Experts on Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam refract the clinical process through the prisms of these religions, and commentaries on their papers are offered by distinguished psychoanalysts who provide vigorous challenges and supplementary visions. Therapists will be informed by reading this book and will find their understanding of patients enriched._ —David M. Sachs

Salman Akhtar, M.D., is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training supervising analyst at the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute. Henri Parens, M.D., is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute.