Table Of ContentINSANITY AND DIVINITY
How close is spirituality to psychosis?
Covering the interrelation of psychosis and spirituality from a number of
angles, Insanity and Divinity will generate dialogue and discussion, aid critical
refl ection and stimulate creative approaches to clinical work for those interested
in the connections between religious studies, psychoanalysis, anthropology and
hagiography.
Bringing together an international range of contributors and covering many
different types of religious experience, this book presents its theme in three parts:
• psychoanalysis, belief and mysticism
• anthropology, history and hagiography
• psychology, psychosis and religious experience.
Each section includes discussion of the hinterland between madness and religious
experience from the perspective of a number of religions, autobiographical
accounts of those who have experienced a psychosis in which spirituality played a
key part and a comprehensive review of the position of psychology research into
the meaning and function of spirituality in relation to the psychoses.
Insightful, enlightening and wide-ranging, Insanity and Divinity is ideal for
clinicians, academics and chaplains working in clinical settings.
John Gale is a former Benedictine monk who later trained as a psychotherapist
and is now CEO of the charity Community Housing and Therapy. He is
particularly interested in the interface between philosophy, spirituality and
psychoanalysis.
Michael Robsonis the Director of Studies in Divinity at St Edmund’s College,
Cambridge. He is the author of a number of books and editor of The Cambridge
Companion to Francis of Assisi.
Georgia Rapsomatioti is a community mental health advocate who previously
worked at Community Housing and Therapy as deputy manager at Lexham
House and senior therapist at Highams Lodge. She has an interest in Lacanian
psychoanalysis, trauma and psychosis.
The Book Series of the International Society for
Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis
Series editors:Brian Martindale and Alison Summers
ISPS (The International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to
Psychosis) has a history stretching back more than fi fty years during which it
has witnessed the relentless pursuit of biological explanations for psychosis.
The tide has been turning in recent years and there is a welcome international
resurgence of interest in a range of psychological factors that have considerable
explanatory power and therapeutic possibilities. Governments, professional
groups, people with personal experience of psychosis and family members are
increasingly expecting interventions that involve more talking and listening.
Many now regard practitioners skilled in psychological therapies as an
essential component of the care of people with psychosis.
ISPS is a global society. It aims to promote psychological and social
approaches both to understanding and to treating psychosis. It also aims to
bring together different perspectives on these issues. ISPS is composed of
individuals, networks and institutional members from a wide range of back-
grounds and is especially concerned that those with personal experience of
psychosis and their family members are fully involved in our activities along-
side practitioners and researchers, and that all benefi t from this. Our members
recognise the potential humanitarian and therapeutic potential of skilled
psychological understanding and therapy in the fi eld of psychosis and ISPS
embraces a wide spectrum of approaches from psychodynamic, systemic, cog-
nitive, and arts therapies to the need-adapted approaches, family and group
therapies and residential therapeutic communities.
We are also most interested in establishing meaningful dialogue with those
practitioners and researchers who are more familiar with biological-based
approaches. There is increasing empirical evidence for the interaction of genes
and biology with the emotional and social environment, and there are impor-
tant examples of such interactions in the fi elds of trauma, attachment rela-
tionships in the family and in social settings and with professionals.
ISPS activities include regular international and national conferences,
newsletters and email discussion groups. Routledge has recognised the impor-
tance of our fi eld in publishing both the book series and the ISPS journal:
Psychosis – Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches with the two
comp lementing one another. The book series started in 2004 and by 2012 had
15 volumes with several more in preparation. A wide range of topics are
covered and we hope this refl ects some success in our aim of bringing together
a rich range of perspectives.
The book series is intended as a resource for a broad range of mental health
professionals as well as those developing and implementing policy and people
whose interest in psychosis is at a personal level. We aim for rigorous academic
standards and at the same time accessibility to a wide range of readers, and for
the books to promote the ideas of clinicians and researchers who may be well
known in some countries but not so familiar in others. Our overall intention
is to encourage the dissemination of existing knowledge and ideas, promote
productive debate, and encourage more research in a most important fi eld
whose secrets certainly do not all reside in the neurosciences.
For more information about ISPS, email [email protected] or visit our website,
www.isps.org.
For more information about the journal Psychosis visit www.isps.org/index.
php/publications/journal
MODELS OF MADNESS: PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND
BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO SCHIZOPHRENIA
First edition
Edited by John Read, Loren R. Mosher & Richard P. Bentall
PSYCHOSES: AN INTEGRATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Edited by Johan Cullberg
EVOLVING PSYCHOSIS: DIFFERENT STAGES,
DIFFERENT TREATMENTS
Edited by Jan Olav Johanessen, Brian V. Martindale & Johan Cullberg
FAMILY AND MULTI-FAMILY WORK WITH PSYCHOSIS:
A GUIDE FOR PROFESSIONALS
Gerd-Ragna Block Thorsen, Trond Gronnestad & Anne Lise Oxenvad
EXPERIENCES OF MENTAL HEALTH IN-PATIENT CARE:
NARRATIVES FROM SERVICE USERS, CARERS AND
PROFESSIONALS
Edited by Mark Hardcastle, David Kennard, Sheila Grandison & Leonard Fagin
PSYCHOTHERAPIES FOR THE PSYCHOSES: THEORETICAL,
CULTURAL, AND CLINICAL INTEGRATION
Edited by John Gleeson, Eión Killackey & Helen Krstev
THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITIES FOR PSYCHOSIS:
PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY AND CLINICAL PRACTICE
Edited by John Gale, Alba Realpe & Enrico Pedriali
BEYOND MEDICATION: THERAPEUTIC ENGAGEMENT AND
THE RECOVERY FROM PSYCHOSIS
Edited by David Garfi eld & Daniel Mackler
MAKING SENSE OF MADNESS: CONTESTING THE MEANING
OF SCHIZOPHRENIA
Jim Geekie & John Read
PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC APPROACHES TO
SCHIZOPHRENIA PSYCHOSIS
Edited by Yrjö O. Alanen, Manuel González de Chávez,
Ann-Louise S. Silver & Brian Martindale
CBT FOR PSYCHOSIS: A SYMPTOM-BASED APPROACH
Edited by Roger Hagen, Douglas Turkington, Torkil Berge
& Rolf W. Gråwe
PSYCHOSIS AS A PERSONAL CRISIS: AN EXPERIENCE-
BASED APPROACH
Edited by Marius Romme & Sandra Escher
PSYCHOSIS AND EMOTION: THE ROLE OF
EMOTIONS IN UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOSIS, THERAPY
AND RECOVERY
Edited by Andrew Gumley, Alf Gillham, Kathy Taylor
& Matthias Schwannauer
EXPERIENCING PSYCHOSIS: PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES
Edited by Jim Geekie, Patte Randal, Debra Lampshire & John Read
INSANITY AND DIVINITY: STUDIES IN PSYCHOSIS
AND SPIRITUALITY
Edited by John Gale, Michael Robson & Georgia Rapsomatioti
SURVIVING, EXISTING, OR LIVING: PHASE-SPECIFIC
THERAPY FOR SEVERE PSYCHOSIS
Pamela Fuller
MODELS OF MADNESS: PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND
BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO PSYCHOSIS
Second edition
Edited by John Read & Jacqui Dillon
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INSANITY AND DIVINITY
Studies in psychosis and spirituality
Edited by
John Gale, Michael Robson and
Georgia Rapsomatioti
First published 2014
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 John Gale, Michael Robson and Georgia Rapsomatioti
The right of the editors to be identifified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice:Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Insanity and divinity : studies in psychosis and spirituality/edited
by John Gale, Michael Robson, and Georgia Rapsomatioti.
pages cm
1. Psychoses—Etiology. 2. Mental illness—Religious aspects.
3. Psychiatry and religion. 4. Spirituality—Psychological aspects.
I. John, Gale. II. Robson, Michael J. P., 1946- III. Rapsomatioti,
Georgia.
RC512.I45 2013
616.89—dc23
2012049618
ISBN: 978-0-415-60861-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-60862-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-69424-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond
by Refifi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk, UK
This book is dedicated to Dom Aelred Baker osb who fifirst introduced me to
patristic studies almost forty years ago. His erudition and guidance has been
an inspiration to me ever since. And it is to his continued encouragement,
enthusiasm and kindness that I owe so much.
–John Gale
