Psychiatric consultation with general hospital chaplains.

Overview

This article describes a program in which psychiatrists serve as consultants to a group of chaplains working in a general hospital. The chaplains learn to use specific concepts and techniques from liaison psychiatry to evaluate and refine their own work. The consultants teach them about psychopathology in the medically ill, about the awareness and use of transference and countertransference reactions, and about how to define an appropriate role within the medical ward milieu. The article discusses the benefits of this consultation to chaplains and psychiatrists, especially in clarifying the role distinctions between the two groups.