This is a good book. The relationship between spirituality and psychiatry has always been tense and fraught, sometimes for good reasons. The need for clarity, thoughtfulness and balanced thinking is paramount if this aspect of the patient's experience is to be recognised and cared for sensitively. This book makes a useful contribution to enabling such a process. It provides a clear and well structured overview of some of the ways in which spirituality, in both its religious and non-religious forms, relates to psychiatry, and offers theoretical and practical insights that help readers to see the possibilities and the pitfalls of exploring this aspect of care.

The book consists of 14 essays written by psychiatrists from a variety of different theoretical backgrounds, all of whom have been deeply involved in exploring spirituality and psychiatry for a number of years. The book functions on two levels. At one level, it is a textbook which provides information and evidence that helps to show the significance of spirituality for practice. The chapters on suicide, psychotherapy, substance misuse, psychotic disorder and neuroscience help to locate the text firmly within mainstream psychiatry, thus enabling the reader to see the strong connections between the spiritual dimension and what is currently going on. Similarly, the chapters on assessing spiritual needs and the role of spirituality in the National Health Service help to ground the text in contemporary systems and practices. Second, the fact that the authors are embedded practitioners who have reflected on this dimension of patient care for many years means the text is grounded in the day-to-day reality of psychiatric practice. The book is therefore both informative and practical.

Importantly, the text is not idealistic or overly optimistic. Crowley & Jenkinson's chapter on pathological spirituality brings to the conversation an important self-critical dimension that is often missing from publications like this. It is of course not possible to cover all of the ground necessary within a single text. The omission of affective disorders and dementia for example, two areas where spirituality can be particularly significant, leaves the reader wishing for more. But that might not be a bad thing and may simply indicate the need for a second text that develops the issues raised and begins to cover the ground that has been missed.

This book is valuable for people who are already interested in spirituality as it relates to psychiatry, but it is also a very useful introduction for those who might be more sceptical but open to the conversation.