--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Keep clear of psychiatrists unless you…" description: "\"Keep clear of psychiatrists unless you know that they are also Christians. Otherwise they start with the assumption that your religion is an illusion a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/c-s-lewis-2-132_assumption_keep-clear-of-psychiatrists-unless-you-k_59956.png" --- # Keep clear of psychiatrists unless you know that they are… ![“Keep clear of psychiatrists unless you know that they are also Christians. Otherwise they start with the assumption that your religion is an illusion and try to 'cure' it: and this assumption they make not as professional psychologists but as amateur philosophers.” quote by C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/c-s-lewis-2-132_assumption_keep-clear-of-psychiatrists-unless-you-k_59956.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/c-s-lewis-2-132_assumption_keep-clear-of-psychiatrists-unless-you-k_59956.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b47/c-s-lewis-2-132_assumption_keep-clear-of-psychiatrists-unless-you-k_59956.png) > “Keep clear of psychiatrists unless you know that they are also Christians. Otherwise they start with the assumption that your religion is an illusion and try to 'cure' it: and this assumption they make not as professional psychologists but as amateur philosophers.” [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Warns that mental‑health professionals lacking shared faith may treat religious belief as a pathology, imposing secular assumptions rather than therapeutic care. **In simple terms:** Caution when seeking therapy without shared religious worldview. Key Takeaway Religious belief can be misinterpreted as delusion by non‑believing clinicians. Themes faith psychology authority bias ethics Mood skeptical cautious Type advice caution When to use this quote - seeking counseling - religious crisis - interfaith counseling - mental health assessment Key Concepts religious identity professional boundaries cultural competence Practical Applications - choose therapist aligned with faith - advocate for spiritual sensitivity in care Questions to Reflect On - How can therapists balance respect for belief with clinical objectivity? - What safeguards protect patients from religious bias in therapy? A Different Perspective Many clinicians are trained to respect diverse beliefs and do not aim to eradicate religion; they focus on mental health, not doctrine. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian/) [Christianity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christianity/) [Clear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clear/) [Clear Psychiatrists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clear-psychiatrists-820698/) [Cures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cures/) [Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illusion/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Psychiatrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychiatrist/) [Psychiatrists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychiatrists/) [Psychiatrists Unless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychiatrists-unless-820697/) [Psychologist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychologist/) [Psychologists Amateur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychologists-amateur-820699/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Religion Illusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion-illusion-707520/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) ## Related quotes > [Isn't it boring ... how people always want to tell you their own stories instead of listening to yours? 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Psychiatrists are also medical doctors and increasingly offer medication and do less and less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jed-diamond/psychotherapy-is-a-practice-that-many-different-professional/) [Jed Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jed-diamond/) > [“Typically, a psychiatrist can fool a patient by telling him the root of his problem can be fixed with this pill, that support group,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-matthew-nespoli/typically-a-psychiatrist-can-fool-a-patient-by-telling-him-the-root/) [J. Matthew Nespoli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-matthew-nespoli/) > [Medicine was certainly intended to be a career. I wanted to become a psychiatrist, an adolescent ambition which, of course, is fulfilled by many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-g-ballard/medicine-was-certainly-intended-to-be-a-career-i-wanted-to-become-a/) [J. G. Ballard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-g-ballard/) > [The psychiatrists say that everybody should have a hobby. The hobby I recommend is advertising](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/the-psychiatrists-say-that-everybody-should-have-a-hobby-the-hobby-i/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [I smile, now, thinking: we all like to think we are important enough to need psychiatrists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/i-smile-now-thinking-we-all-like-to-think-we-are-important-enough-to/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [As artists, are we quasi psychiatrists who mend the soul? Do we provide the consolations, escapes, and reassurances which enable us to survive? Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-sherman/as-artists-are-we-quasi-psychiatrists-who-mend-the-soul-do-we-provide/) [Russell Sherman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-sherman/) > [Psychiatrists say that 1 of 4 people are mentally ill. Check 3 friends. If they are okay, you're it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henny-youngman/psychiatrists-say-that-1-of-4-people-are-mentally-ill-check-3-friends/) [Henny Youngman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henny-youngman/) > [Throughout history, humankind has been resistant to change and to the acceptance of new ideas... When Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the astronomers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-weiss/throughout-history-humankind-has-been-resistant-to-change-and-to-the/) [Brian Weiss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-weiss/) > [I expect most psychiatrists have a patient or two they'd like to refer to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-harris/i-expect-most-psychiatrists-have-a-patient-or-two-they-d-like-to/) [Thomas Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-harris/) ## More by C. S. Lewis > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Either Jesus is the Son of God ; or a madman or worse. But His being just a great teacher? He's not left that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/either-jesus-is-the-son-of-god-or-a-madman-or-worse-but-his-being/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [To every soul, God will look like its first love because He IS its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/to-every-soul-god-will-look-like-its-first-love-because-he-is-its/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Don't you understand anything? Isn't it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/don-t-you-understand-anything-isn-t-it-absolutely-essential-to-keep-a/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that. As”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/really-great-moral-teachers-never-do-introduce-new-moralities-it-is/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“When He died in the Wounded World He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/when-he-died-in-the-wounded-world-he-died-not-for-men-but-for-each/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [All I am in private life is a literary critic and historian, that's my job...And I'm prepared to say on that basis if anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/all-i-am-in-private-life-is-a-literary-critic-and-historian-that-s-my/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [If a man is going to write on chemistry, he learns chemistry. The same is true of Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/if-a-man-is-going-to-write-on-chemistry-he-learns-chemistry-the-same/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number of people who say they have seen the Resurrection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/the-first-fact-in-the-history-of-christendom-is-a-number-of-people/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [I#pray because the need flows out of me all the time-walking and sleeping. It does not change # God - it changes me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/i-pray-because-the-need-flows-out-of-me-all-the-time-walking-and/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Are the gods not just?' 'Oh no, child. What would become us us if they were?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/are-the-gods-not-just-oh-no-child-what-would-become-us-us-if-they-were/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Love is more than an emotion, it is a decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/love-is-more-than-an-emotion-it-is-a-decision/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Ink is the great cure for all human ills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/ink-is-the-great-cure-for-all-human-ills/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [A man may have to die for our country: but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. 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Lewis quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) ## More Assumption quotes > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. If the risk among non-smokers is taken as unity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-doll/the-risk-of-developing-carcinoma-of-the-lung-increases-steadily-as/) [Richard Doll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-doll/) > [Fortunately, the mind is restless; when it uncovers a layer of its own deception, gives up an illusion, exposes a lie, it does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-chernin/fortunately-the-mind-is-restless-when-it-uncovers-a-layer-of-its-own/) [Kim Chernin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-chernin/) > [The possibility of saying anything about a thing rests on the assumption that it preserves its identity, or continues to be the same thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-knight/the-possibility-of-saying-anything-about-a-thing-rests-on-the/) [Frank Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-knight/) > [She spent hours drawing on her own, trying to perfect her craft. 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That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/pussy-riot-have-certainly-changed-some-people-s-assumptions-about-the/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) [Browse all 1,277 Assumption quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Keep clear of psychiatrists unless you know that they are also Christians. Otherwise they start with the assumption that your religion is an illusion and try to 'cure' it: and this assumption they make not as professional psychologists but as amateur philosophers.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "C. S. 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