In their article on religion, spirituality and mental health, Dein et al ^{Reference Dein, Cook, Powell and Eagger1} make some important points. I was especially interested in ‘enquiry into meaning’ and some ways of handling prayer. But I wondered why they did not mention attachment theory, which has been used by Kirkpatrick ^{Reference Kirkpatrick2} to elaborate or explain many phenomena of religion.

I am left with one big question about declaration of interest. I thought it meant anything about us that might make us less of a ‘disinterested’ observer, researcher, etc. The four authors here declared ‘none’, so I found out more about them: one is a priest in the Church of England, one spent 7 years living in an orthodox Jewish community, one published in support of spirit release therapy.

I have no objection to how the authors spend their time outside their psychiatric jobs, but am I misunderstanding declaration of interest? I think that in the spirit of openness with us, and of ‘disinterestedness’ in relation to the subject of their article, those are important matters. That they were not disclosed leaves me ethically puzzled.