Hagiotherapy is the medieval practice of using religious relics, prayers, pilgrimages, etc. to alleviate sickness. It was used to treat epilepsy during the Middle Ages with

Saint Valentine Saint Valentine ( it, San Valentino; la, Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with a ...

particularly associated with the treatment as an 'epilepsy specialist'.

Tomislav Ivančić

A known practicing therapist is

Tomislav Ivančić Tomislav Ivančić (30 September 1938 – 17 February 2017) was a Croatian theologian and academic. Biography Ivančić was born in Davor. After the study of philosophy and theology in Zagreb and Rome he was ordained priest of the Zagreb Archdio ...

, who founded Center for Spiritual Help in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. Prokop Remeš in the Czech Republic is treating addicts in Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital in Prague. His style of hagiotherapy is a type of group

existential psychotherapy Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence inclu ...

( Yalom,

Frankl Frankl is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ludwig August von Frankl (1810–1894), Austrian writer and philanthropist * Michal Frankl (born 1974), Czech historian * Nicholas Frankl (born 1971), British-Hungarian entrepreneur ...

), which focuses on eliminating dysfunctional behaviour patterns from one's life. This hagiotherapy uses biblical text as background to project one's own experiences against to active a greater understanding of text: one of the main instruments of hagiotherapy is projective work with biblical texts. Ivančić recently defined hagiotherapy as a scientific discipline which aims to heal the human soul. His thesis was that every human being does not have only physical and psychological dimension, but also spiritual dimension (human soul) that has its own scientific laws and it should be subject of scientific research. One of examples Ivančić gives is addiction. He was concerned with the fact that so many patients relapse some time after treatment. He explained it with the fact that they were treated only on mental level, and not on spiritual level. According to his opinion, addiction is basically spiritual issue, so it needs to be treated on spiritual level.Říčan, Pavel ''Psychologie náboženství a spirituality'' Portál, Praha, 2007, p. 306; Adamkovičová, Denisa ''Aplikácia psychologických aspektov biblických príbehov vo vybraných psychoterapeutických smeroch'' RKCMBF UK Bratislava, 2011, http://www.ctar.sk/wp-content/uploads/DP_adamkovicova_PK.pdf; Friedlová, Anna ''Hagioterapie'' TF JU České Budějovicíce, 2007, http://theses.cz/id/esctxh/; Holubová, Marie ''Hagioterapie – využití biblických příběhů pro práci s klientem'' KSPSP FSS MU Brno, 2012, https://is.muni.cz/th/184105/fss_m?fakulta=1423;obdobi=5465;studium=601387;info=1;zpet=%2Fvyhledavani%2F%3Fsearch%3Ddiplomov%C3%A9%20pr%C3%A1ce%20hagioterapie%26start%3D1; Pitlachová, Klára ''Biblické příběhy jako zrcadlo životní zkušenosti člověka léčeného ze závislosti na alkoholu'' FSS MU Brno, 2006, http://is.muni.cz/th/41485/fss_m/

References

{{reflist Supernatural healing Psychotherapies History of medicine Science in the Middle Ages