The British Journal of Psychiatry (1969) 115: 457-463. doi: 10.1192/bjp.115.521.457
© 1969 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Psychiatric Illness in the Clergy

M. F. A'BROOK M.B., M.R.C.S., D.P.M.1, J. D. HAILSTONE B.Sc., M.B., M.R.C.S., D.P.M.2, and I. E. J. McLAUCHLAN M.B., M.R.C.S., D.P.M.3

1 Rotating Senior Registrar, St. George's Hospital, London S.W.1, and Spring field Hospital, London, S.W.17
2 Senior Registrar, Department of Psychiatry, St. Mary's Hospital, London, W.2
3 Consultant Psychiatrist, St. Andrew's Hospital, Northampton

This paper reports the findings of a study of 51 clergymen who were seen as psychiatric out-patients or in-patients during the ten-year period, 1 January, 954, to 1 January, 1964. The results were compared with a previously reported sample of medically qualified patients and their controls.

(1) The clerical patients had a higher average age at breakdown and presented on average nearly seven years later than the doctor patients.

(2) There was a significantly higher incidence of both organic psychoses and sexual deviation in this sample.

(3) There were no specific environmental stress factors found common to the majority of these clergymen.

It is suggested that more attention paid to the teaching of the basic principles of psychology and psychiatry during their training would be of personal and professional benefit to the clergy.

Submitted on September 26, 1967