Mysticism and Madness: A Matter of Perspective?

Psychoanalysis challenges purely biological models of psychosis by arguing that psychotic symptoms convey a story rooted in intergenerational trauma, even when parenting is otherwise adequate. The chapter proposes that 'madness' is a socially constructed label used to avoid confronting difficult truths, noting that qualities deemed pathological in one culture may be valued in another. It explores overlaps between psychotic, poetic, and mystical experience, and examines how a person's culture can either support or alienate them. The authors contend that limited understanding by those who define such meanings alienates society from qualities of profound human value.

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Abstract

In contrast to organically driven models of distress and disease, psychoanalysis shows that psychotic symptoms tell a story that cannot otherwise be told. The roots of madness are best understood in relation to the intergenerational transmission of trauma that impedes development in spite of otherwise good parenting. Such data invite us to consider ‘madness’ as a socially constructed phenomenon, driven by the desire to avoid facing difficult truths. Meanings are inevitably contextual. Qualities considered problematic through a medical model lens are prized by other cultures as extraordinary. Studies suggest commonalities between aspects of psychotic experience and poetic and mystical consciousness. The chapter will consider commonalities and distinctions between qualities of experiences deemed psychotic or mystical to try and make sense of ways in which a person’s culture can either contain and sustain the individual or, alternatively, literally alien-ate them in ways that drive them mad. We can wonder how the limits in understanding on the part of those who make decisions about such meanings further alienate us all from qualities that have deep and profound social and human value, and therefore, from ourselves and one another.