This essay, acclaimed as a historic landmark in psychiatry, defines the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model, and restores dignity and excitement to the profession. For psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and psychotherapists who appreciate the complexity and depth of human nature in suffering and healing, Spiritual Aspects of Psychiatric Practice provides authoritative validation. Unique in language and concept, it enables the professional reader to awaken to the spiritual dimension of clinical practice without devaluing biology and psychodynamics.
Dr. Paul R. Fleischman graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago, and is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society. He graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and trained in Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, where he also served as Chief Resident. He has been in the private practice of psychiatry in Amherst, Massachusetts for over thirty years.
He has been a psychiatric consultant to the University of Massachusetts Student Mental Health, the Northampton State Hospital, McLean's Hospital, Providence Hospital, Enfield Mental Health Center, and the Hilltowns Health Center. He was a psychotherapy supervisor and seminar leader in Psychiatry and Religion at Yale University, Department of Psychiatry. He has been nominated for a Ford Foundation Fellowship and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and has been a Manealof Travel Fellow and a Research Assistant for the United States Public Health Service.
Dr. Fleischman has published articles in Nature, Landscape, the Yale Review, The University of Chicago Magazine, The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Contemplative Psychiatry, and Insight. His eight published books include a collection of poetry; a second collection is forthcoming. He was anthologized in The Power of Prayer, a book which included essays by Mother Teresa and Jimmy Carter. Karma and Chaos was a Book of the Year Finalist with Foreword Magazine.
In 1993 he became the fifth American Psychiatrist to be honored by the American Psychiatric Association with the Oskar Pfister Award for being an "...outstanding contributor to the humanistic and spiritual side of psychiatric and medical issues."
Dr. Fleischman has lectured at many conferences, universities and institutions, including as the Williamson Lecturer in Medicine and Religion at the University of Kansas Medical School, and the Special Guest Lecturer at Smith College Chapel. He has been longtime consultant to Amherst Interfaith Clergy.
Internationally he has lectured at Jaipur Medical College, Bombay Psychiatric Society, World Presidents' Assn/Mumbai, McGill University/Canada; and in Mexico: Foros University, Co-Planet Conference, and UNAM.
Dr. Fleischman has practiced Vipassana meditation under the guidance of Mr. S.N. Goenka for thirty years and has been asked to take up the responsibility of explaining Vipassana to professional audiences in the West.
