Spiritualizing psychiatry: Transpersonal psychology, DSM, and Brazilian research about spirituality

The diagnostic category 'Religious or Spiritual Problem,' introduced in 1994 in the DSM-IV, has followed a trajectory that reflects broader shifts in scholarly debates about spirituality, moving from New Age practices to institutionalized forms. Drawing on archival, bibliographical, and ethnographic research, the article shows that the category originated in transpersonal psychology, was debated during its inclusion in the DSM-IV, and is now mobilized in psychiatric research on spirituality in Brazil. Although psychiatry has historically pathologized religious or spiritual experience, the author argues that using this category actually legitimizes contemporary psychiatric research on spirituality.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article analyzes the trajectory of the diagnostic category ‘Religious or Spiritual Problem’, included in 1994 in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the main diagnostic manual of North American psychiatry. Three moments of this trajectory are highlighted here: the beginning with transpersonal psychology, the debate around its inclusion in the DSM-IV, and the mobilization of the category in psychiatric research about spirituality in Brazil. Drawing on an array of material gathered through archival, bibliographical, and ethnographic research, I point out that the trajectory of ‘Religious or Spiritual Problem’ mirrors the shifts in spirituality scholarly debates in social sciences, from New Age practices to their institutionalized forms. Although psychiatry is known to historically pathologize religious or spiritual experience, I argue that the mobilization of such category acts toward legitimizing contemporary psychiatric research about spirituality.