Psychosis and Spirituality (eBook)

Isabel Clarke is a consultant clinical psychologist, working in acute mental health in the NHS. She is the author of Madness, Mystery and the Survival of God (2008), and co-editor of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Acute Inpatient Mental Health Units: Working with Clients, Staff and the Milieu (with H. Wilson, 2008). For more information, please visit www.isabelclarke.org.

List of Figures.

Acknowledgement.

Notes on Editor and Contributors.

1 Psychosis and Spirituality Revisited: The Frontier is Opening
Up! (Isabel Clarke).

Section 1. Neuropsychology.

2 The Neurophysiology of Religious Experience (Peter
Fenwick).

3 Cognitive Neuroscience, Spirituality and Mysticism: Recent
Developments (B. Les Lancaster).

Section 2. Spirituality Revisited.

4 The Polarities of Consciousness (Natalie Tobert).

5 Missing Stories: Psychosis, Spirituality and the Development
of Western Religious Hermeneutics (Neil Douglas-Klotz).

Section 3. The Mystical Face of Psychosis: The Psychotic Face
of Mysticism. The New Continuum.

6 'On Not Drinking Soup with a Fork': From Spiritual Experience
to Madness to Growth - A Personal Journey (Peter K.
Chadwick).

7 Spiritual Experience: Healthy Psychoticism? (Gordon
Claridge).

8 'Psychopathology', 'Psychosis' and the Kundalini: Post-Modern
Perspectives On Unusual Subjective Experience (Richard
House).

Section 4. The Discontinuity Hypothesis and its Philosophical
Implications.

9 Psychosis and Spirituality: The Discontinuity Model (Isabel
Clarke).

10 Knowledge and Reality (Chris Clarke).

Section 5. Research.

11 Are Delusions on a Continuum? The Case of Religious and
Delusional Beliefs (Emmanuelle Peters).

12 The Paradigm-Shifting Hypothesis: A Common Process in Benign
Psychosis and Psychotic Disorder (Mike Jackson).

13 Transformative Crises (Caroline Brett).

14 Exploring the Transliminal: Qualitative Studies (Sharon
Warwick and Roger Waldram).

Section 6. Clinical Implications.

15 'What is Real and What is Not': Towards a Positive
Reconceptualisation of Vulnerability to Unusual Experiences
(Isabel Clarke).

16 Visionary Spiritual Experiences (David Lukoff).

17 Learning to Become Centred and Grounded and Let the Voices
Come and Go (Nigel Mills).

18 Mapping Our Madness: The Hero's Journey as A Therapeutic
Approach (Janice Hartley).

19 Spirituality, Psychosis and the Development of 'Normalising
Rationales' (David Kingdon, Ron Siddle, Farooq Naeem and Shanaya
Rathod).

20 Endword (Isabel Clarke).

References.

Index.

"The new edition of this successful text builds on the very latest
research to present an original and unique exploration of the
psychology of both spirituality and psychosis. The editor brings
together fascinating perspectives from a broad range of
distinguished contributors." (Studies in Spirituality, 2011)

"This book is an updated and expanded version of a collection of
essays first published about ten years ago, when some of the ideas
it explores were fairly news ... This book is generally written at
an accessible level, and draws on much useful recent research in
this area. Section 5, entitled 'Research', would be the most
fruitful part for a non-specialist to sample." (The Way, 1 January
2012)

"This book is aimed at anyone interested in the phenomenon of
psychosis." (Mental Health Practice, 1 March 2011)

'Spirituality is the key strand that unites the great variety
of cultural understandings of psychosis with recovery. This text
contains contributions from leading authorities in the field; it
points towards a more complete human approach to psychosis, and
challenges long-held assumptions about the nature of human
experience. It should be read by all mental health practitioners
and students, and will be of interest to academics in theology,
anthropology and philosophy, as well as service users and
carers.'

--Professor Philip Thomas, University of Bradford, UK