Theorising disruption at the intersection of madness, mental disorder and acute religious experiences: a mad studies approach
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Date
29/07/2020Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
29/07/2021Author
Saville-Smith, Richard
Metadata
Abstract
This thesis is derived from my own experience that: When I am sane, I am an atheist,
but when I am Mad, I am driven by the Hand of God. From this paradoxical position I
hypothesise a non-binary Intersection of Madness, Mental Disorder and Acute
Religious Experiences. To establish and develop this Intersection I explore the way
Madness, Mental Disorder and Acute Religious Experiences have been constructed and
how they do and do not construct their referent realities. I explore the interrelation of
these ideas showing how these have been addressed, but also remain undertheorised
in the Academic disciplines of Psychiatry and Religious Studies. This thesis draws on my
experiences but also an extensive bibliography of over six hundred texts split evenly
between the sciences and the humanities.
I introduce three innovations: 1.) Mad Studies: This approach privileges the voices of
those who have experience of Madness. By applying this approach to both Psychiatry
and Religious Studies for the first time, traditional models of understanding can be redescribed. 2.) Acute Religious Experiences: I conceptualise these as a distinct category
which is competent to address species wide behaviours, in the same way that the
categories of ritual or worship are not limited by particular instances. I propose that
Acute Religious Experiences as a category is competent to address the full diversity of
instances of extreme experiences articulated by humans in ‘religious’ terms. 3.)
Disruption: DSM-5 (APA 2013), the dominant psychiatric text, introduces Disruption as
a new approach to cultural relativism. I theorise Disruption as a placeholder for the
Intersection of Madness, Mental Illness and Acute Religious Experiences. The work of Part II is to develop and establish my theoretical approach. I draw on
historical understandings only insofar as they provide context and expose the
antecedents on which contemporary understandings of these terms have been
constructed. The concern of this thesis is always with the existential states of
Disruption and developing my argument that understanding these at the Intersection
of Madness, Mental Disorder and Acute Religious Experiences provides new insight
and understanding.
Part III sets out three very different applications, based on the previous work of theory
development: 1.) A critique of contemporary psychiatric research into Religion from a
Mad Studies point of view. 2.) An Autoethnographic account of one of my own
experiences of Disruption in South India in 1985 and 3.) A radical re-description of the
life of the Historical Jesus which becomes possible as a result of my Mad Studies point
of view.
As the result of the work of this thesis I am able to demonstrate that the non-binary
Intersection of Madness, Mental Illness and Acute Religious Experiences provides
immediate advantages and also new directions for the Academic disciplines of
Psychiatry and Religious Studies and these are set out in my conclusions.