Can a spoonful of religion really help the psychology go down? It?s not a dose you would usually expect to find at the psychologist?s office.

However two of Bermuda?s newest psychologists, Dr. Philip Brownell and Dr. Patricia Schneider, have been known to mix the two ? and, in a country with one of the highest numbers of churches per capita in the world, the formula could prove most effective.

First exposed to psychology in the US Navy during the Vietnam war, Dr. Brownell enrolled in a seminary after college.

After 13 years in full-time ministry he returned to school for his doctorate in clinical psychology, discovering that a marriage between the those two unlikely partners could indeed prove successful.

?Psychologists are not largely enamoured of religion,? Dr. Brownell, who is also a student of Gestalt therapy, admitted in an interview with last week.

Nevertheless, his clients appear to respond to it. ?I put out who I am, I want people to know something about my background so they can connect with me,? he said.

?It just seems that both here and in Portland (Oregon, where she has worked) people find their way to me who either have a strong belief in God, and so they have wanted to include that spiritual side in counselling.

?Or they have gone through such a horrible experience in the Church or a religious group that they were scarred and wanted to move past that. I find myself moved by the things people struggle with.?

In fact, with a holistic approach to counselling, Dr. Brownell said when a connection is made between himself and a client the experience can be very intense.

?It can be scary, when you?re right there looking at each other. I have to know how to be able to support and ground myself.

?Well-documented research has shown that a close connection between therapist and client is perhaps the most therapeutic. It?s important to make and nurture.

?So, if I?m feeling lousy, I have to be honest. I say to the client that I?m not feeling well ? I don?t give details, but it allows me to be more real. I give myself a break.?

Allowing his clients to see that he is sharing some of their experience also helps to form a connection. ?Some of the things people talk about can be really terrible for them. I let my face show it ? but it?s important for a therapist to also do their own therapy.?

Dr. Brownell moved to Bermuda in November, accepting a job with the Island?s largest psychological practice, Ashton Associates.

Working at Ashton gives him the autonomy he could not find in the US, he said. ?There?s more freedom here. I wanted to do something where I could continue working with people. Psychology is definitely where I need to be.?

Though they have different backgrounds, at times Dr. Schneider also mixes religion with psychology.

?Of late, I have had the good fortune to indulge in intense theological study and its relationship to the psychological and philosophical issues descriptive of mankind.

?This has added to my sensitivities to variations in religious beliefs and practices.?

A psychologist can often learn as much from their client as their client may from them, she said.

In fact, it was the vast, often unexpected potential inside every individual was the driving force behind her desire to reach the top of her field.

Armed with a four-year postdoctoral specialisation in Frommian psychoanalysis, Dr. Schneider has practiced psychology all over the world, from Switzerland to Mexico.

In late September she arrived in Bermuda to begin practicing with Ashton Associates. The difference in psychological perspective between herself and Dr. Brownell, she said, is testament to the diversity of psychological services available at Ashton Associates.

?My patients have been my greatest teachers,? she said. ?I?ve always had a great love for people, and the vastness of the resources inside of us.?

Her multi-cultural background has given her a special kind of empathy that also allows her to work with those adapting to a new culture for the first time, while her experience in Frommian psychoanalysis, obstetrics, diagnostics, and chemical/substance use and abuse ? among many other areas ? have left her with much experience in human suffering.

In fact, her time working as the chief of psychology at various tertiary care hospitals in Mexico City still resonates powerfully.

?I saw individuals who were not only struggling with mental illnesses, but physical illnesses also ? often life-threatening.

?It does teach you. It teaches in a way that every day offers a new perspective regarding the value of life and the possibilities that life has ? even for a day.?

While massive medical advances have been made regarding physical health over the last century, research has shown that a significant deterioration in mental health has quietly been taking place.

Increased life expectancy means that more and more people are reaching a sensitive age where a sense of isolation can peak and the need for a human link is most necessary.

The link between psychiatric disorders and morbidity is even larger than that with non-communicable diseases like diabetes, Dr. Schneider said. ?Yet only one percent of people suffering become psychological patients.?

Being able to access people in their own worlds creates an entirely new spectrum of life experiences, she said. ?When you suddenly can access someone?s own internal psychological territory, whole new avenues of possibility open up.?

A German philosopher put her love for her practice into perspective for her, Dr. Schneider said. ?He said, ?In a stranger, man discovered the idea of humanity?. Psychology really sums that up.?