Scrutton, AP (2015) Two Christian Theologies of Depression. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, 22 (4). ISSN 1071-6076
Abstract
Some recent considerations of religion and psychiatry have drawn a distinction between pathological and spiritual/mystical experiences of mental phenomena typically regarded as within the realm of psychiatry (e.g. depression, hearing voices, seeing visions/hallucinations). Such a distinction has clinical implications, particularly in relation to whether some religious people who suffer from depression, hear voices, or see visions should be biomedically treated. Approaching this question from a theological and philosophical perspective, I draw a distinction between (what I call) ‘spiritual health’ (SH) and ‘potentially transformative’ (PT) theologies, arguing that a PT model is therapeutically and philosophically more sound than a SH one. I then apply this to the clinical debate in critical dialogue with Dein and Durà-Vilà’s 2009 article, ‘The Dark Night of the Soul: spiritual distress and psychiatric implications’. My primary focus is on depression, though the discussion is also relevant to debates about psychosis and schizophrenia.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 by The Johns Hopkins University Press. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | suffering, mystics, pastoral, Dark Night of the soul; Mother Teresa, biomedical, mental illness |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > Theology and Religious Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Jan 2017 12:47 |
Last Modified: | 03 Jan 2017 12:50 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2015.0046 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1353/ppp.2015.0046 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:110009 |