Do you think that drs. (esp. psychiatrists) should take a course (s) in paranormal &parapsychology?

Question

If they don't at least take a class in it...and don't believe in it..then you know what they do with you if you're going through paranormal experiences! Do you know if they DO take classes/courses in this? (Are the classes/courses given by skeptics or believers?)

Answer 1

Sure if they have an interest.I doubt you'll find many medical schools offering such courses.Maybe if Franklin Pierce College has a medical school.I'd think twice if I saw that degree on my Doctors wall.

  Edit Deenie I think they'd know what a doppelganger is.They learn about it as a mental illness as they should.A minor course or not most schools don't offer them.For good reason.

Answer 2

How about instead of doctors learning about things which have no scientific basis, we have a course in high school which teaches children the difference between reality and pretend and how to investigate things scientifically and logically. Maybe then we won't have so many people who think their house is haunted when they hear some rats in the wall, or because their lights flicker.

And then the only people who will think those type of things are the genuinely mentally ill who no amount of education or logic is ever going to convince.

Answer 3

No. Science is built on observable facts. No respectable medical school or university would teach such a course.

Answer 4

I have advocated this for some time now. There are distinct differences between what for lack of a better term could be called a normal paranormal experience and a psychotic episode that can have hallucinations as part of the episode. As you can see by most answers most people are unaware and choose to stay uneducated in these matters and feel free with no education or training to comment on both paranormal and mental health matters as if they were qualified to do so.

In fact many psychology doctoral programs address this (albeit still informally) and many other practice issues in their weekly colloquiums for doctoral students.

Also, many universities allow doctoral dissertations on parapsychology subjects. Carl Jung's dissertation was on the psychological study of a trance medium.

Some universities offer parapsychology and complementary and alternative medicine (now required in most medical schools) classes albeit many are still offered as electives.

I have links below to two books specifically written by psychologist/psychiatrist about the paranormal and they both include addressing these issues in practice.

Psi

Licensed Mental Health Counselor (New Mexico)

Answer 5

No.  Frankly, it's a waste of time.  Those are the people who tell you that you're hallucinating (my grandfather is much better off knowing that he was hallucinating from the medication mix he was on than having someone tell him that his dead friends really were visiting at night), that you have mental disorders, that you have vision problems, etc.  I know, you don't want to hear this, you've told me that before.  But I really wish you could consider the potential harm of letting someone think that they were being visited by ghosts or angels when it turns out they had serious medical problems.  It is MUCH more common than you might think.

Answer 6

some do.