posted April 02, 2009 03:22 AM         

"Ironically,
these people may have a greater need than most
to grapple with questions of ultimate meaning.
According to traditional psychology,
they are also the one group for whom
religion poses an actual danger."

~ Russell Shorto, Saints and Madmen

Saints and Madmen
Psychology Opens It's Doors To Religion
http://www.amazon.com/Saints-Madmen-Psychiatry-Opens-Religion/dp/0805059024

Psychiatry, once famously opposed to religion, has done an about-face. Like the legendary explorers of a century ago, some psychiatrists have set off into what they see as the last frontier: the spiritual self. In this moving and impeccably researched narrative, Russell Shorto tells remarkable stories of people suffering from what once were deemed spiritual afflictions, then came to be seen as purely medical disorders, and now are being treated as both.

In the process, Shorto brings to bear issues from the cutting edge of consciousness studies. He explores the shared territory of psychosis and mysticism; the changing meaning of "self," "soul," "mind," and "brain"; the theory that psychotropic drugs have a spiritual dimension; the meaning of religious terrorism; and the possibility that addiction and depression are spiritual conditions.

In weaving his case studies into a single story, Shorto delivers a concise update on the science of the mind and the newest efforts to probe the deepest meaning of human existence.

Praise
"Russell Shorto's engaging book is a valuable contribution to the development of...a scientific paradigm for the study of spirituality and mental illness."--Common Boundary

"[A] cogent, absorbing book.... A vivid account of psychiatry's recent interest in 'nonrational' cognitive experience."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author
Russell Shorto is the author of Gospel Truth: The New Image of Jesus Emerging from Science and History. He has written for GQ, The New Yorker, The Miami Herald, Travel & Leisure, and The New York Times Magazine. He lives in Putnam Valley, New York, with his wife and their two daughters.

posted April 02, 2009 08:25 PM         

~ Russell Shorto, Saints and Madmen

I really like that second half of the quote.