Customer Reviews

Saints and Madmen: Psychiatry Opens Its Doors to Religion

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found Russell Shorto's Saints and Madmen very compelling in the beginning of the book when it presented actual case histories of people with mental illness and their spiritual experiences. The second part of the book seems to be a set-up for Mr. Shorto's final conclusions. I believe that the first part of the book shows that Russell Shorto is an excellent journalist. Unfortunately, he follows the footsteps of too many print and TV journalists of the the past twenty years or so who believe that being a good journalist also makes them good philosophers and experts on every topic. If you want a read philosophers on this topic, you would do well to read just about anything by Ken Wilber. John Nelson's Healing the Split is should have been discussed in Saints and Madmen, because it deals quite thoroughly with the same topic. However, had Wilber and Nelson been included, it may been more difficult for Shorto to come to the conclusions he proposes, because both Wilber and Nelson address some of the errors in reasoning the Russell Shorto seems to rely upon---primarily the pre/trans fallacy and flatland objectivism. Mr.Shorto concludes that simply because there are biological changes in the brain during a transcendent experience, mysticism is created by these chemical changes. That would be like saying the grooves in the phonograph record created Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I do agree with Mr. Shorto's final words of advice, and I am now going to "lighten up and move on."

While this book had the noblest of intentions, it dwelt too often on the politics of American Psychiatry and not enough on the actual Saints and Madmen. Where the author did cover accounts of psychotic/mystical experiences - he handled them extremely well - it is a pity he lost his focus.

I was a bit disappointed in this book. It gave examples of a very few clients with psychosis, nothing at all about saint's religious experiences and was basically a history about psychiatrists and psychologists focusing about the era of psychedelic drug usage. I thought it would be a comparison between psychosis and religious experience which it was not at all. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It was written in a very scholarly manner and addressing neuropsychology in an area that is not well understood. Was it helpful? I don't think so.

Mind stretching introduction to the field of spirituality and psychiatry. Entertaining case histories. Definitely worth the read for those interested in mind/body or spiritual healing.

I found this book very interesting. Speaking as the world's first post-op transsexual Two-Spirit Shaman and Chi Gung master, I am drawn to this subject since it is who I am and what I do. In fact, I have been this way since a near-death incident at the age of 5 just as have so many others that are covered in this book. The book shows that throughout history there have been those who have experienced things on the edge of most people's reality. It's easy to scoff, but when you experience it yourself, you realize that there is a lot more out there than anyone imagines.

Lily of the Valley Carnie, author of Chi Gung: Chinese Healing, Energy, and Natural Magick