Harold G. Koenig

Harold G. Koenig is a psychiatrist on the faculty of Duke University. His ideas have been covered in Newsweek and other news media with regard to religion, spirituality and health, a focus of some of his research and clinical practice.

Koenig graduated with a B.S. in history from Stanford University (1974), later receiving his MD (1982) from University of California, San Francisco. He became Clinical Assistant Professor in Psychiatry (1992) and has been Professor of Psychiatry (2004-) at Duke University Medical Center.

He is currently director of Duke's Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health.

Koenig has published over 280 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, scholarly professional journal articles and 60 chapters in professional books. In a cooperation with Raphael M. Bonelli from Sigmund Freud University Vienna he undertook the first systematic evidence based analysis on the connection between mental disorders and religion. The researchers conclude that there is good evidence that religious involvement is correlated with better mental health in the areas of depression, substance abuse, and suicide; some evidence in Stress-related disorders and dementia; insufficient evidence in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and no data in many other mental disorders.

Koenig's ideas have been covered in a wide variety of news media, ranging from BBC radio to the Vatican Radio. Examples include:

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