‘Psychologisation’ of Madness: The Problem of Possession
Mira Marcinów
April 8, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/9781848880986_004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Population | Polish psychologists' narratives about the idea of madness |
| Key points | The author argues that contemporary psychology holds at least three constructions of madness—mental disorder, altered states of consciousness, and disinhibition via Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking—and that in Poland a tension persists between these psychological constructions and the Roman Catholic Church's view, particularly regarding possession, which ICD-10 classifies as trance and possession disorder (F44.3) while the Church treats as diabolic and addresses through about one hundred authorized exorcists. |
Abstract
In this chapter I aim to present other than only a historical distinction criteria of the psychological characteristics of madness. Michel Foucault was the first person who tried to define this problem in his book Mental Illness and Psychology (1954/2000). Between the two well known processes: ‘medicalization’ and ‘romanization’ of madness we have got one of the most influential approaches today: the so-called ‘psychologisation’. Nowadays in psychology there are at least three constructions of madness: (1) as mental disorder (2) as altered states of consciousness (ASC) (3) as a disinhibition—the element of Sensation Seeking in the theory of Zuckerman (1979). My chapter is based on the research into Polish psychologists’ narrations about the idea of ‘madness’. We can see that, for example, in this country a strain between psychological constructions of madness and the approach of Roman Catholic church to this concept is still present. It is clear in the case of possession. In clinical psychology, according to ICD-10, ‘trance and possession disorder’ (F44.3) belongs to dissociative (conversion) disorders. On the other hand, the Church sees in this phenomenon diabolic force and fights with it (in Poland there are about one hundred authorized exorcists). Finally I point to the main area of using the construct of ‘madness’ in contemporary psychology and I try to explain its connections with such influential psychological ideas as unconsciousness or agency.