Mental disorder and mysticism in the late medieval world.

In the later Middle Ages, people sometimes behaved in ways that seem unusual today, yet they were rarely considered mentally disordered. This article reviews medieval ideas about mental disorder and the discernment of spirits—how to decide whether an experience or impulse came from God, a good or evil spirit, or a purely human cause. Criteria for discerning a good spirit were behavioral, such as consistent humility and discretion, and clearly differed from signs of mental disorder. Comparing criteria for mental disorder with those for discerning spirits shows how the distinction could be made and why confusion between the two appears to have been rare.

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Abstract

During the later Middle Ages, a number of religiously oriented people behaved in ways that we would consider unusual, yet it was unusual for them to be regarded as mentally disordered. This article reviews late medieval thinking and practice with regard to mental disorder and also with regard to the discernment of spirits, that is, how it could be decided whether an experience or impulse to do something was the consequence of God or a good spirit, an evil spirit, or some purely human cause. Many of the criteria for discerning a good spirit were behavioral, for example, consistently showing humility and discretion, and were clearly distinct from those displayed in mental disorder. A comparison of the criteria for mental disorder with those used to discern spirits shows how the distinction between mental disorder and religious experience could have been made and why confusion of the two seems to have been rare. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).