An Interview with Dr. Harold Koenig. An Interview with Dr. Harold Koenig Teresa Hsu Harold G. Koenig, M.D., M.H.Sc., received his training in both geriatric medicine and geriatric psychiatry at the Duke University Medical Center. He is currently on the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and of Internal Medicine. Most of his research involves depression among the hospitalized, medically-ill elderly. Teresa Hsu, a Trinity senior, spoke with Dr. Koenig about his work and about what an understanding of religion can offer the science of psychiatry.
Religion operates on a different framework than psychiatry does.
Psychiatry tends to explain psychological states and behaviors in terms of psychological principles, dynamic factors, the unconscious, and so forth. On the other hand, many of my religious acquaintances discount the psychological forces and biological aspects of the human mind. But it does take a great deal of open-mindedness on both sides of the issue. Open-mindedness in terms of my faith, and in terms of my rigorous, scientific way of approaching the human mind. I don't think so.