Dr Simon Dein

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Personal Profile

Name: Simon Dein Email: s.dein@ucl.ac.uk
Title: Dr Tel:
Department: Mental Health Sciences Unit Fax:
Position: Senior Clinical Lecturer Address: Charles Bell House , 67-73 Riding House Street, London, W1W 7EJ
Research Domain: Neuroscience, Population Health Web Page:  

Profile

Research Description

'Religion and healing among ultra-Orthodox Jews'

* Examined how notions of the body and sickness are derived from Jewish mystical texts and how "symbolic" healing comes into play when purely pragmatic measures fail.
* Published in Medical Anthropology Quarterly; Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry and The International Journal of Social Psychiatry and in one book Religion and Healing among the Lubavitch Community of Stamford Hill: A Case Study of Hasidism.


'Religious Movements and failed prophecy'

* Examined this issue in relation to the Hare Krishna movement and Lubavitch, arguing against the idea that new members generally suffer from mental illness, with a focus on millennial and apocalyptic groups and examining responses to failure of prophecy.
* Published in international journals including Sociology of Religion, Journal of Contemporary Religion; International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Anthropology and Medicine; Mental Health, Religion and Culture and in a number of book chapters.

'Religious experience and agency'

* Discussed the phenomenology of religious experience in a number of publications, examining the experience of 'hearing God's voice' among Pentecostal Christians and its relationship to agency using ethnographic interviews. Together with Professor Roland Littlewood I hold a British Academy grant to examine the phenomenology of prayer in Liberal Anglicans, Pentecostal Christians and Sunni Muslims.
* Published in Anthropology and Medicine.

'Religion and coping with chronic illness'

* Examined the use of prayer in women with breast cancer and the ways in which psychiatric patients deploy religious frameworks for coping with their illnesses.
* Published in European Journal of Cancer Care; Palliative Medicine; Primary Care and Community Psychiatry and Healing Ministry, and in a number of book chapters.

'Traditional healers and healthcare'

* Conducted ethnographic fieldwork among traditional healers in the Philippines, looking at the relationship between biomedical and traditional healing and examining explanatory models of mental illness and the use of traditional healers among South Asians in the UK.
* Various streams of this research have appeared in Social Science and Medicine; Transcultural Psychiatry and Mental Health, Religion and Culture.

'Cultural aspects of cancer'

* Examined how cultural factors influence explanatory models of, the reaction to, coping with and help-seeking in relation to cancer, with particular focus on how cultural factors impinge upon communication and care in oncology.
* Theoretical and empirical papers have appeared in Lancet Oncology; Journal of Cultural Diversity; European Journal of Cancer Care; International Journal of Cancer Prevention and in one book Culture and Cancer Care.

Research Activities

Culture and coping with cancer

Medical Anthropology

Psychiatric drugs

Religion and Coping

Education Description

? Played a major role in designing and implementing a Masters Degree in Culture and Health, to which I have attracted a large number of overseas students; the programme is intended to provide health professionals who are already working in counselling, mental health and related areas with specialist qualitative skills of social anthropology as applied to psychiatry and medicine.
? The course includes advanced training in the concepts and practice of transcultural psychiatry, particularly when working in Britain, and the methods and techniques required for research into this area
? From 2004 I have acted as Chair of this MSc and have responsibility for its overall organisation and running
? I teach three courses: Research Methods, focussing on ethnographic research; Religion and Health; and Culture and Physical Health (my book Culture and Cancer Care (Open University Press) is used by students on this course.

Other MSc Teaching

? Taught Classics in Anthropology course on the MSc Medical Anthropology UCL (2000-2004), and Cultural Psychiatry on the MSc Culture and Mental Health (2000-2003).
? Currently teaching a range of MSc modules at UCL, including: Research Methods, on the MSc in Psychiatric Theory and Research; Cultural Aspects of Aging, on the MSc in Ageing and Mental Health; lectures on Cultural Aspects of Health and Religion and Health on the MSc in Health Psychology; and Cultural Psychiatry on the Royal College of Psychiatrists revision course.

Short courses

? In 2000 I ran a short course for 2 weeks on Anthropology and Medicine at UCL

Undergraduate Teaching

? Extensive experience of teaching psychiatry and palliative medicine to undergraduate students both in the university and in the hospital context. Played a role in implementing Problem Based Learning curriculum in psychiatry .
? Between 1998 and 2002 I was Chair of an intercalated BSc in Medical Anthropology at UCL, where I taught courses on medical anthropology and ethnographic research. I played a major role in setting up and administrating the course, which was highly rated; over the four years I taught the course many of my students achieved first class honours degrees

Teaching abroad

? Taught cultural psychiatry in Egypt (Ain Shams University 1992-95, Diploma in Mental Health) and Rome (2004, Narni, Rome: short course on Culture and mental Health)
? From Dec 2008, I have been invited to teach for 1 week a year at the University Catholica on a new MSc in Migration and Mental Health as Visiting Professor

UCL Collaborators

Dr Audrey Prost; Dr Joanna Moncrieff; Prof Sonia Johnson

External Collaborators

Publications

    2012

    • Bache R, Bhui K, Dein S, Korzun A (2012). African and Black Caribbean origin cancer survivors: a qualitative study of the narratives of causes, coping and care experiences.. Ethnicity and Health, 17(1-2), 187 - 20114.
    • Dein SL, Pargament K (2012). On not praying for the return of an amputated limb: Conserving a relationship with God as the primary function of prayer.. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic: a journal for the mental health professions, , 235 - 259.
    • Dura Villa G, Dein SL, Littlewood R, Leavey G (2012). The Dark Night of the Soul: Causes and Resolution of Emotional Distress Among Contemplative Nuns.”. Transcultural Psychiatry, 47(4), 548 - 570.
    • Dein SL, Cook CC, Koenig H (2012). Religion, spirituality, and mental health: current controversies and future directions. Journal Nervous and Mental Diseses a, , 852 - 855.
    • Dein SL (2012). Religious Visions and Voices. In (Ed.), Mental Health and Anomalous Experience (pp. - ). : Nova Science.
    • Dein SL (2012). Psychosis And Religious/Spiritual Experience: Ethnographic, Cognitive And Neurobiological Perspectives. In (Ed.), Mental Health and Anomalous Experience (pp. - ). : Nova Science.

    2011

    • Dura Villa G, Haggar M, Dein S, Leavey G (2011). Ethnicity, Religion and Clinical Practice. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 14(1), 53 - 64.
    • zanatta F, Dein SL, Littlewood R (2011). Communication as magic: An ethnographic study on child-God communication in Northern Italy. World Association Cultural Psychiatry Research Review, 6(1), - .
    • Dein S (2011). Lubavitcher Messianism.
    • Dein SL (2011). Drawing Together psyche, Soma and Spirit: My Career in Cultural Psychiatry’.. Transcultural Psychiatry, 48(1-2), 115 - 126.
    • Dein SL (2011). Ritual: the forgotten dimension in mental health. Psyche and Geloof, 22(2), 91 - 101.
    • Dein SL, Loewenthal K, Lewis C (2011). Psychiatrists views on the place of religion in psychiatry: An introduction to this special issue of Mental Health, Religion & Culture. Mental Health, Religion and Culture 14(1): 1-8. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 14(1), 1 - 8.
    • Dein SL (2011). Religion and Psychosis: A Common Evolutionary Trajectory. Transcultural Psychiatry, 48(3), 318 - 335.
    • Dein SL (2011). The Difficulties Assessing Spirituality in Palliative Care: A Focus Group Study’.. Mental Health , Religion and culture, 14(4), 341 - 352.
    • Band M, Dein SL, Loewenthal K (2011). Religiosity, Coping and Suicidality Within the Religious Zionist Community of Israel: A Thematic Qualitative Analysis. Mental Health , Religion and Culture, 14, 1 - 17.
    • Dein SL (2011). Healthcare Behaviours and Beliefs in Hasidic Jewish populations: a systematic review of the literature. , 50(2), 422 - 436.

    2010

    • Dein SL, Dein K (2010). ‘Islamophobia and the Mental Health of Muslims in the West Post September 11’.. Curare, 33(4), 176 - 181.
    • DEIN S (2010). A Messiah From the Dead: Cultural Performance in Lubavitcher Messianism. Social Compass, (57(4)), 537 - 554.
    • DEIN S, Racin L (2010). Jewish-Arab Couple Relationships in Israel: Underlying Motives for Entering and Engaging in Intermarriage.. Journal of Muslim Mental Health, 5, 278 - 300.
    • Dura Villa G, Dein SL, Littlewood R, Leavey G (2010). The Dark Night of the Soul: Causes and Resolution of Emotional Distress Among Contemplative Nuns.”. Transcultural Psychiatry, 47(4), 548 - 570.
    • Dein SL (2010). ‘Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health: Theoretical and Clinical Prespectives’.. Psychiatric Times, 27(1), 1 - 3.
    • Dura Villa G, Dein SL, Hodes M (2010). Children with Intellectual Disability: a Gain not a Loss. Parental Beliefs and Family Life’. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 15, 171 - 184.
    • Dein SL (2010). Neuroscience, Psychology and Religion: Illusions, Delusions and Realities about Human Nature. (Book Review). British Journal Psychiatry, 197, 249 - 249.
    • DEIN S (2010). Judeo-Christian religious experience and psychopathology: the legacy of William James.. Transcultural Psychiatry, 47(4), 523 - 547.

    2009

    • Dein S (2009). Becoming a Fulfilled Jew: An Ethnographic study of a British Messianic Jewish Congregation. Nova Religio, 12(3), 77 - 101.
    • Dein SL (2009). The role of health professionals in spiritual care: attitudes, practices and interventions. European Journal of palliative Care, 16(5), 296 - 300.
    • Dura Villa G, Dein SL (2009). The Dark Night of the Soul’. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 12(6), 543 - 559.

    2008

    • Dein S, Bartocci G (2008). Christian Healing and Review of Efficacy'. In Pappas J, Smythe W, Baydala A (Ed.), Cultural Healing and Belief Systems (pp. - ). : AB:Detselig Enterprises Ltd.
    • Bhui K, King M, Dein S (2008). Ethnic Variations in Use of Religious Coping for Mental Distress: a qualitative study from a national sample in the UK. Journal of Mental Health, 17(2), 141 - 151.
    • Dein S (2008). Jewish Messianism and Violence. In Shtetin M, Al Rasheed M (Ed.), Dying for Faith: Religiously Motivated Violence in the Contemporary World (pp. - ). : IB Tauris.
    • Dein S, Littlewood R (2008). The Psychology of Prayer and the Development of the Prayer Experience Questionnaire. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 11, 39 - 52.
    • Dein S (2008). Martyrdom, Monotheism and Terrorism. In Lewis C (Ed.), Aspects of Terrorism and Martyrdom: Dying for Good, Dying for God (pp. - ). : Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press.
    • Lewis C, Breslin M, Dein S (2008). Prayer and mental health: An introduction to the special edition of Mental Health, Religion and Culture. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 11, 1 - 7.
    • Dein S, Dawson L (2008). The "Scandal" of the Lubavitch Rebbe: Messianism as a Response to Failed Prophecy. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 23(2), 163 - 180.
    • Dein S, Alexander M, Napier D (2008). Jinn, Psychiatry and Contested Notions of Misfortune among East London Bangladeshis. Transcultural Psychiatry, 45(1), 31 - 55.

    2007

    • Dein S, Littlewood R (2007). The voice of God. Anthropology and Medicine, 14(2), 213 - 228.
    • Dein K, Williams S, Dein S (2007). Ethnic bias in the use of the Mental Health Act. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 13, 350 - 357.
    • Dein S (2007). Seraphs and Snakes: Spirituality, Agency and Psychopathology. Primary Care and community Psychiatry, 12(4), 117 - 123.
    • Leavey G, Guvenir T, Haase Cassenove S, Dein S (2007). Finding Help: Turkish-speaking Refugees and Migrants with a History of Psychosis. Transcultural Psychiatry, 44(2), 258 - 274.
    • Dein S, Bartocci G (2007). Religion and Mental Health. In Bhui K, Bhugra D (Ed.), Textbook of Cultural Psychiatry (pp. 47 - 53). : Cambridge University Press.
    • Dein S (2007). Explanatory Models and Oversystematisation in Medical Anthropology. In Littlewood R (Ed.), The Importance of Knowing About Not Knowing (pp. 39 - 53). : Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.

    2006

    • Dein S (2006). Depression,spirituality and religion: Implications for research and treatment. Primary Care and community Psychiatry, 11(2), 67 - 72.
    • Dein S (2006). Race, Culture and Ethnicity in Minority Research: A Critical Discussion. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 13(2), 68 - 75.
    • Dein S (2006). Working with Conversation Disorders. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 12, 152 - 157.
    • Dein S (2006). The use and expectations of prayer in women with breast cancer. Healing Ministry, 13(4), 23 - 31.
    • Dein S (2006). The mystical roots of psychoanalytic theory. World Cultural Psychiatry Research Review, , 133 - 137.

    2005

    • Dein S (2005). Attitudes towards cancer among elderly Bangladeshis in London: a qualitative study. European Journal of Cancer Care, 14, 149 - 150.
    • Dein S (2005). Cognitive behavioural therapy in the palliative care setting. European Journal of Palliative Care, 12(4), 174 - 176.
    • Dein S (2005). Culture and Cancer Care: Anthropological Insights in Oncology.
    • Bartocci G, Dein S (2005). Detachment: Gateway to the World of Spirituality. Transcultural Psychiatry, 42(4), 545 - 569.
    • Dein S (2005). Sanity & Sanctity: Mental Health Work Among the Ultra Orthodox in Jerusalem. Geeenberg,D.,Witztum,E (Eds). Transcultural Psychiatry, 42(2), 334 - 335.
    • Dein S (2005). Working with denial. European Journal of Palliative Care, 12(6), 254 - 256.
    • Dein S, Bhui K (2005). Informed consent for medical research among non-Westernised ethnic minority patients: A discussion paper. Journal Royal Society Medicine, 98(8), 354 - 356.
    • Dein S (2005). Opinions of medical practitioners completing a certificate in medical education with regard to 'culture' in the undergraduate medical training: a pilot project. Diversity in Health and Social Care, 2, 63 - 69.
    • Dein S (2005). Spirituality, Psychiatry and Participation: A Cultural Analysis. Transcultural Psychiatry, 42(4), 526 - 544.
    • (2005). The stresses of volunteering in a hospice: a qualitative study. Palliative Medicine, 19, 58 - 64.
    • Dein S, Littlewood R (2005). Apocalyptic suicide: from a pathological to an eschatological interpretation. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 51(3), 198 - 210.

    2004

    • Dein S (2004). Cultural variations in understandings of and attitude towards cancer. The Lancet Oncology, 4, 119 - 124.
    • (2004). Suicide and the apocalypse: A review. Psychiatry, 3(8), 21 - 23.
    • Dein S (2004). Culture and Delay in Help Seeking for Breast Cancer: What are the Implications for Communication and Prevention?. International Journal of Cancer Prevention, 1(5), 331 - 339.
    • (2004). Explanatory models of and attitudes towards cancer in different cultures. The Lancet Oncology, 5, 119 - 124.
    • (2004). Working with patients with religious beliefs. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 10, 287 - 295.
    • Dein S (2004). Psychogenic death: The individual effects of sorcery and taboo violation. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 6(3), 195 - 2002.
    • Dein S (2004). Religion and Healing Among the Lubavitch Community of Stamford Hill. a Case Study of Hasidism.
    • (2004). The Individual Effects of Sorcery and Taboo Violation: Psychogenic Death. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, (6 (3)), 195 - 202.
    • (2004). From Chaos to Cosmogeny: A comparison of understandings of the narrative process among Western academics and Hasidic Jews. Anthropology and Medicine, 11(2), 135 - 147.

    2003

    • (2003). The Usefulness of Explanatory Model Research in Medical Anthropology. Social Theory and Health, (1), 149 - 162.
    • (2003). Psychiatric Liasion in a Palliative Care Service. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, (9), 241 - 248.
    • (2003). Mind-body therapies and the psycho-oncology debate. European Journal of Palliative Care, (10 (1)), 30 - 32.

    2002

    • (2002). The power of words: healing narratives amongst Lubavitcher Hassidim. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 16(1), 41 - 63.
    • Dein S (2002). To tell or not to tell: cultural and religious factors related to the disclosure of a fatal prognosis. European Journal of Palliative Care, 8(6), 209 - 212.
    • Dein S (2002). Psycho-oncology debate and mind –body therapies. European Journal of Palliative Care, 10, 30 - 32.
    • Dein S, George R (2002). A place for psychostimulants in palliative care?. Journal of Palliative Care, 18(3), 196 - 199.
    • Dein S (2002). Ending one's life during the terminal phase of an illness. Palliative Care Today, 10(1), 20 - 21.
    • Dein S (2002). Mosiach is Here Now: Just open your eyes and you can see him. Anthropology and Medicine, 9(1), 25 - 36.

    2001

    • Dein SL (2001). What really happens when prophecy fails: the case of Lubavitch. Sociology of Religion, 62(3), 383 - 402.
    • Dein S, George R (2001). Waiting to die: symbolic factors relating to the time of death. Mortality, 6(2), 201 - 210.
    • (2001). The use of traditional healing in South Asian psychiatric patients in the UK: Interaction between professional and folk psychiatries. Transcultural Psychiatry, 38(2), 245 - 259.
    • (2001). The management of psychological distress in terminal illness. Primary Care Psychiatry, 6(3), 123 - 126.
    • (2001). Mental capacity assessment of terminally ill patients. European Journal of Palliative Care, 6, 250 - .

    2000

    • (2000). Apocalyptic Suicide. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 3, 109 - 114.
    • (2000). Cultural Psychiatry and Medical Anthropology.
    • Dein S (2000). Religious Issues in Psychiatry. In Cox J, Skultans V (Ed.), Anthropological Approaches to Psychological Medicine: Crossing Bridges (pp. 172 - 183). : Jessica Kingsley.

    1999

    • Dickens S, Dein S (1999). Mental health and the anthropologist. In Bhul K, Oludide D (Ed.), Cross cultural mental health care (pp. - ). : Gaskell.
    • (1999). Why do people join the Hare Krishna movement?. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2, 75 - 84.

    1998

    • Dein S (1998). The end of all evil: forensic aspects of new religious movements. In Gordon H (Ed.), Religion and forensic psychiatry (pp. - ). : .
    • Dein S (1998). Religious issues for psychiatrists. In Cox J (Ed.), Anthropological appraoches to psychological medicine (pp. - ). : Jessica Kingsley.
    • Dein S (1998). Negotiating Across Class, Culture and Religion: Psychiatry in the English Inner City. In Okapaku S (Ed.), Clinical Methods in Transcultural Psychiatry (pp. 137 - 150). : American Psychiatric Press Inc.
    • Dein S (1998). Mental Health in a Multi Ethnic Society. In (Ed.), ABC of Mental Health (pp. 56 - 59). : BMJ Books.
    • Dickens H, Dein S (1998). Mental Health and the Anthropologist. In Bhui K (Ed.), Ethnic Minority Mental Health Care (pp. 43 - 53). : Gaskell Press.
    • King M, Dein S (1998). The spiritual variable in psychiatric research. Psychological Medicine, 28, 1259 - 1262.
    • Sembhi S (1998). The use of traditional healing by Asian psychiatric patients in the UK: A pilot study’. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 1, 123 - 133.

    1997

    • Dein S, Huline Dickens S (1997). Cultural aspects of ageing and psychopathology. Aging and Mental Health, 1(2), 112 - 120.
    • Dein S, Stygall J (1997). Does being religious help or hinder coping with chronic illness: a critical literature review. Palliative Medicine, 11, 291 - 298.
    • Dein S (1997). Lubavitich:a contemporary messanic movement. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 12(2), 191 - 204.
    • Dein S, Stygal J (1997). Religion and coping with chronic illness. Palliative Medicine, 1, 291 - 298.
    • Dein S (1997). When Prophecy Fails: Failed Messianism Among Lubavitcher Hasids. In Bowie F (Ed.), The Coming Deliverer: Millenial Themes in the World Religions (pp. 238 - 258). : University of Wales Press.

    1996

    • Dein S (1996). Depression and Chronic Illness. In (Ed.), Perspectives in Mood Disorders (pp. - ). : Medicine Publishing Group.

    1995

    • Periera S, Bhui K, Dein S (1995). Making sense of possession states: psychopathology and differential diagnosis. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 53(11), 582 - 586.
    • Dein S, Littlewood R (1995). The Effectiveness of Words: Religion and Healing Among the Lubavitch of Stamford Hill. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 19, 339 - 383.

    1994

    • Bhui K, Herriot P, Dein S (1994). Patients Attending a Psychosexual Clinic. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 40(80), 86 - .
    • Dein S (1994). Reading About Cross Cultural Psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 561 - 564.

    1992

    • Dein S (1992). Letters to the Rebbe: Millennium, Messianism and Medicine Among the Lubavitch of Stamford Hill. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 38, 262 - 272.
    • Dein S (1992). The Management of Illness by a Filipino Psychic Surgeon: A Western Physician's impression. Social Science and Medicine, 34(4), 461 - 464.

    • Dein S (). Healing the Spirit. In (Ed.), Spiritual healing: Theological & Scientific Perspectives (pp. - ). : Cambridge University Press.
    • Dein S (). Jinn, Evil Eye and Witchcraft among East London Bangladeshis'. In La Fontaine J (Ed.), The Devils Children (pp. - ). : Ashgate.