Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between religious experience and mental health. Beginning with a discussion of the general distrust of religious experience among health care professionals, it examines Sigmund Freud’s reductionistic interpretation of a physician’s religious experience; Andrew Sullivan’s sympathetic interpretation of his own religious experience in the wake of learning that he was HIV+; Fred Frohock’s agnostic interpretation of Helen Thornton’s near-death experience; and William Styron’s metaphorical interpretation of his depression. Then, with a focus on recent scholarship, it suggests some other ways of studying the intersections of religious experience and mental health.

INTRODUCTION

Donald, a divinity school student, was having problems. He was having difficulty concentrating in his classes and was having trouble sleeping. He went to see Sara, a therapist, for help. Things were going well between Donald and Sara until he found out that she was Jewish. Donald, a Lutheran Christian, insisted that if the therapy were to continue Sara would have to convert to Christianity. The director of the day treatment program called Nancy Kehoe, a Roman Catholic nun and a clinical psychologist, to help deal with the impasse between Donald and Sara. Donald explained: