FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon or get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

Arrives: Tuesday, Jan 12 Details

Only 12 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from	Amazon.com
Sold by	Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Add a gift receipt with prices hidden

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon or get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by designcentral

Fulfilled by Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

$21.73
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: SuperBookDeals-

$25.73
+ Free Shipping

Sold by: Publisher Direct

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

Jean-Claude Larchet

Mental Disorders & Spiritual Healing: Teachings from the Early Christian East Paperback – July 1, 2005

by Jean-Claude Larchet (Author), G. John Champoux (Translator), Rama P. Coomaraswamy (Translator)

19 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$24.95

$16.10

Paperback

"Please retry"

$16.95

$11.95

This work, the third panel of a triptych dedicated by the author to the notion of illness derived from the patristic and hagiographic texts of the Christian East from the first to the fourteenth centuries, makes an essential contribution to the history of mental illnesses and their therapies in a domain very little studied until now. Confronted by the numerous problems still posed today in understanding these illnesses, their treatment, and their relationship to those who are sick, he shows the importance offered for reflection and current practice by early Christian thought and experience. After indicating how the Fathers understood the psyche and its relationship with body and spirit, the author gives a detailed analysis of the different causes they attribute to mental illness and the various treatments recommended. At the same time he shows how, relying on fundamental Christian values, they manifest a constant solicitude and respect for the sick, and how they are at pains to integrate them into community life and have them participate in their own healing, foreshadowing in this way the needs and aspirations of our own time. The last part discloses the deep significance of one of the strangest and most fascinating forms of asceticism the Christian East has known: 'folly for the sake of Christ', a madness feigned with the goal of attaining a high degree of humility, but also a way well-suited, through a close experience of their condition, to help those who are often among, today as in the past, the most destitute. Jean-Claude Larchet is docteur dès lettres et sciences humaines, docteur en théologie, and docteur d'État en philosophie. The author of Thérapeutique des maladies spirituelles (Paris: Editions de l'Ancre, 1991) and The Theology of Illness (Crestwood, New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2002), he is a specialist in questions of health, sickness, and healing. He is today one of the foremost St Maximus the Confessor specialists.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $49.95

One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:Mental Disorders & Spiritual Healing: Teachings from the Early Christian East by Jean-Claude Larchet Paperback $16.95
Only 12 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
The Theology of Illness by Jean-Claude Larchet Paperback $17.00
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details
Theology of the Body by Jean-Claude Larchet Paperback $16.00
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00. Details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Jean-Claude Larchet

31

Paperback
$17.00
Jean-Claude Larchet

22

Paperback
$21.95
Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).
Jean-Claude Larchet

9

Paperback
$16.00
Archim. Hierotheos…

26

Paperback
$23.99
Alexis Trader

13

Hardcover
$49.30
Only 15 left in stock (more on the way).
Dr Jean-Claude…

5

Paperback
6 offers from $127.95

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Product details

Publisher : Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis; English ed. edition (July 1, 2005)
Language: : English
Paperback : 180 pages
ISBN-10 : 159731045X
ISBN-13 : 978-1597310451
Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
Dimensions : 6 x 0.41 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #515,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #310 in Adult Christian Ministry (Books)
- #705 in Popular Psychology Psychoanalysis
- #1,109 in Christian Pastoral Counseling

Customer Reviews:
19 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		89%
4 star		11%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

John Khalil

Great focus on acedia (despondency) and sadness (apathy)

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

As the headline says, this has a great deal of focus on acedia (i.e. despondency, mental sloth) and sadness (apathy), something I struggle severely with.

So many highlights in this one. While a lot of it wasn't necessarily new information to me, it was written in a way that I felt exposed and woke me. Hope this isn't biased.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Father Silouan

An excellent synthesis of the Eastern Fathers.

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

An excellent book, while some of the language in this book is a bit clinical requiring me to look up a few words, I found that as a layman Larchet did an excellent job of synthesizing and condensing the understanding of the Eastern Church Fathers on mental illnesses without becoming to wordy and overwhelming. At around 170 pages this was a delightful read and answered many of the questions I have long had about the connections between the demonic realms and mental illnesses.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

PtrIoannis

Fools for Christ

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2009

Verified Purchase

This 2005 translation of 'Therapeutique des maladies mentales' (1992, Les Editions du Cerf) offers access to the well-heeled research of the author. Jean-Claude Larchet has built a steady foundation of criticism concerning so-called scientific approaches to treat mental and spiritual diseases. His thesis advances the view that ancient Fathers of the Church offer insights to treating mental and spiritual maladies, which contemporary theories of psychiatry either ignore or rebuff. Moreover, while acknowledging the gaps in source material from the Fathers, he identifies the explanatory gaps in psychiatric theories and treatment modalities all the same.

Theological anthropology, derived from the Fathers, constitutes the general theme of the first chapter. The author devotes a chapter to each grouped domain of causes for mental illness according to the Fathers: a) insanity due to somatic origins, b) insanity due to demonic origin, and c) insanity of spiritual origin. Of particular note are 24 pages devoted to acedia -- its nosology, and treatment of sadness and acedia.

The capstone of the text is a study of the fool for Christ. The goal of life in Christ is not only to be free of mental illness, but also to achieve harmony among body, mind, and spirit. Such harmony is represented by the fool for Christ, who is motivated by humility, detachment from the world, and charity.

I offer an enthusiastic recommendation to consider this text as essential reading for spiritual formation in Christ, comprehensive treatment of sadness and acedia, and reappraisal of conventional medical modalities for treatment of mental illnesses. The text appeals to scholars and many others who share interests in etiology and management of mental illnesses. There are sufficient references in the bibliography to enhance additional exploration in themes addressed by the text.

45 people found this helpful

Helpful

PhiloX

Short, Fast, and to the Point

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

Jean-Claude Larchet writes the basic facts about ancient Eastern Christian views on mental illness in 171 pages. His style of writing or better yet his translation of by Rama Coomaraswamy & G. John Champoux makes a fast easy read for the general public while expressing the basics for the professional scholar. The chapter headings are as follows:

1. Anthropological Background: The Human Composite
2. Insanity Due To Somatic Problems
3. Insanity Of Demonic Origin
4. Insanity Of Spiritual Origin
5. A Most Singular Kind Of Folly - The Fool For Christ

Each chapter goes through the fast basics with defining the meanings, forms & causes, & treatment to each type of cause. The Fool for Christ might turn a couple of modern heads but is a historical practice of some Saints to confound the wise of the world.

A good read & highly recommend

14 people found this helpful

Helpful

Yolande Suzin

Observations on Psychological Conditions of the First Millennium

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent tool to locate within the writings of ancient Church writers their notations regarding psychological conditions. However it should be understood their works were written with a slant towards conditions found in the pious person or one trying to attain piety in the first millennium. A very different human being than one found in the Western world today. Apparently the 19th and 20th century psychologists didn't find anything new ,they just had to put new names on considerations and disturbances that a more comfortable society submits to. The ancients had a natural bent for understanding of the primacy of the invisible over the visible. Our society does not. It is therefore tremendous difficult to draw out comparisons between the sweet conditions observed in modern times against those of the ancients who were dealing with the "noonday devils". If the reader is to appreciate this book it helps to be trained in modern psychology, and to be pious as well. Not a big readership I daresay.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

Laura K. Smith

Helpful for mental health professionals who realize illness is more spiritual than biological

Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

It's a little murky, but well worth the read. I'm working on it. I was really wanting to read Life After Death According to the Orthodox Tradition by the same author, but have some family with mental illness, and thus thought I could be enlightened by this book. It is indeed helpful, especially if you read it after being trained in mental health and counseling concepts according to being "in the world."

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

E.Hessamfar

Very insightful

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2009

Verified Purchase

Thank God for this book. For a long time I have been looking for a book to give me insight into how the church has perceived mental illness. This was a great summary of how the church fathers in the Eastern Christianity saw mental illness and how they dealt with it. Very helpful!

22 people found this helpful

Helpful

Steven J Rhudy

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2014

Verified Purchase

Thanks

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Tonia Bilous

Highly recommended to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

Кожний психолог чи психіатр повинен цю книгу прочитати і навіть вивчити, святі отці християнства ще дві тисячі років тому знали істинні причини психічних захворювань, не послуговуючись ніякою сучасною апаратурою та експериментами з лікарськими препаратами. Людські пристрасті це вхід для бісів в нашу душу, які гублять її божественну природу, і лише віра в Бога як лікаря наших душ через церковні таїнства та покаяння може уздоровити хвору душу. Надія лише на медикаменти як гальма для психозів та депресій це шлях в нікуди, це найчастіше катування психічно хворих людей. Ця книга це вікно в світ людського божевілля і шлях уздоровлення через віру в Христа-Спасителя та Лікаря душ наших через благодатну дію Святого Духа.

Each psychologist or psychiatrist should read this book and even explore it, the Fathers of Christianity knew the true causes of mental illness already two thousand years ago without any using of modern equipment and experiments with drugs. Human passions is the entrance for demons into our soules who destroy its divine nature, and only the faith in God as the Healer of our souls through the church sacraments and confession can cure the sick soul. The hope only on medicines as a brake for psychosis and depressions is a road to nowhere, it's often the torture for mentally ill people. This book is a window into the world of human madness and the path of healing through faith in Christ as the Redeemer and Physician of our souls through the gracious action of the Holy Spirit.

Simion Vasile

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

treasure

Floyd Frantz

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

Excellent reading.....

See all reviews

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Jean-Claude Larchet

31

Paperback
$17.00
Jean-Claude Larchet

9

Paperback
$16.00
Jean-Claude Larchet

22

Paperback
$21.95
Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).
Archim. Hierotheos…

26

Paperback
$23.99
Metropolitan of…

19

Paperback
$34.99
St. Athanasius Academy…

1,585

in Christian Orthodoxy
Hardcover
$30.99

Buy used: $15.95

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Mental Disorders & Spiritual Healing: Teachings from the Early Christian East Paperback – July 1, 2005

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Special offers and product promotions

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Customers who bought this item also bought

Buy used:

$15.95