Abstract
This article is a reflection on pastoral method in light of the metaphor of madness. I consider the notion of madness in terms of how it is represented in Western thought and take these representations as prisms to reflect on the attributes of pastoral methodology. More specifically, I use the notions of unreason, otherness, creativity, rage, and folly to think about the strengths of pastoral method.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Boisen also struggled with mental illness, believing that it could be “a chaotic encounter with God that could lead either to new integration of the personality or to a fall into total inner disarray” (Holifield 2005, pp. 104–105). Thus, his concern for the mentally ill stemmed from his own experiences of mental suffering, which he argued could be a source of creativity.
Zizioulas (2006) argued that otherness is necessary for the possibility of communion. Yet, there are also occasions when the socially constructed other is barred from communion. Madness reflects the construction of otherness that leads to alienation—not alienation that is the result of madness.
Winnicott (1953), in his discussion on illusion in development and human life, uses madness metaphorically in terms of the creativity of infants and reserves literal madness for adults when the adult “puts too powerful a claim on the credulity of others, forcing them to acknowledge a sharing of illusion that is not their own” (p. 90).
For a more in-depth discussion on John Nash’s madness, see Donald Capps (2010, pp. 139–157).
I know one pastoral theologian who adamantly argues, somewhat persuasively, that there is no “unconscious.” At the same time, he will agree that we can lack awareness of something. So, if one does not accept the notion of an unconscious, perhaps we can agree that there are times we can lack awareness of something.
The acceptance of mystery does not suggest that there is an absence of critical and constructive analysis of the context, our knowledge, and our methods. We can and do know a great deal, but our knowledge and our ways of using that knowledge never fully account for the complexity of human life and the world.
Philippians 2:4–7, NRSV.
References
Baldwin, J. (1963). The fire next time. New York: Dial Press.
Bion, W. R. (1970). Attention and interpretation. London: Tavistock.
Bonhoeffer, D. (1953). In E. Bethge (Ed.), Letters and papers from prison. New York: Collier Books.
Bromberg, P. (1998). Standing in spaces: Essays on clinical process, trauma, and dissociation. Hillsdale: Analytic Press.
Capps, D. (2008). Jesus the village psychiatrist. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Capps, D. (2010). Understanding psychosis: Issues and challenges for sufferers, families, and friends. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Carlin, N. (2014). Religious mourning: Reversals and restorations in psychological portraits of religious leaders. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
Cooper-White, P. (2011). Many voices: Pastoral psychotherapy in relational and theological perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Dykstra, R. (2005). Images of pastoral care. St. Louis: Chalice Press.
Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. New York: Grove.
Fanon, F. (2008/1952). Black skin, white masks. New York: Grove Press.
Farley, E. (1990). Good and evil. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Farley, E. (1996). Divine empathy. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Fortune, M. (1999). Is nothing sacred? Cleveland: United Church Press.
Foucault, M. (1965). Madness and civilization. New York: Vintage Books.
Foucault, M. (1972). Power/Knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, M. (1987). Mental illness and psychology. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Original work published 1954).
Foucault, M. (1988). Madness and civilization. New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1965).
Gilman, S. (1985a). Difference and pathology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Gilman, S. (1985b). Picturing health and illness: Images of identity and difference. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Grob, G. (1994). The mad among us. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Haley, A. (1964). The autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Ballantine Books.
Holifield, B. (2005). Anton Boisen. In R. Hunter (Ed.), Dictionary of pastoral care and counseling (pp. 104–105). Nashville: Abingdon.
Holton, J. (2013). Building the resilient community: Lessons from the lost boys of Sudan. Eugene: Cascade Books.
King, M. L. (1998). In C. Carson (Ed.), The autobiography of Martin Luther King. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Kolbert, E. (2014). The sixth extinction: An unnatural history. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Laing, R. D. (1969). The divided self. New York: Penguin.
Miller-McLemore, B. J. (1994). Also a mother: Work and family as theological dilemma. Nashville: Abingdon.
Milner, M (1969). The hands of the living God: An account of a psychoanalytic treatment. International Psychoanalytic Library, vol. 76. London: Hogarth Press.
Mitchell, S. (1993). Hope and dread in psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books.
Nandy, A. (1983). The intimate enemy: Loss and recovery of self under colonialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Phillips, A. (2005). Going sane. New York: Harper Perennial.
Poling, J. (1991). The abuse of power. Nashville: Abingdon.
Poling, J. (2002). Render unto God: Economic vulnerability, family violence, and pastoral theology. Eugene: Wipf and Stock.
Porter, R. (1991a). The Faber book of madness. London: Faber.
Porter, R. (1991b). A social history of madness. New York: Dutton.
Redfield-Jamison, K. (1993). Touched by fire. New York: Free Press.
Redfield-Jamison, K. (1995). An unquiet mind. New York: Vintage Books.
Rogers-Vaughn, B. (2014). Blessed are those who mourn: Depression as political resistance. Journal of Pastoral Psychology, 63(4), 489–502.
Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Scull, A. (2015). Madness in civilization: A cultural history of insanity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Shannonhouse, R. (2000). Out of her mind: Women writing on madness. New York: Modern Library.
Siegel, R. (1994). Whispers: The voices of paranoia. New York: Touchstone Books.
Smith, A. (1982). The relational self: Ethics and therapy from a Black church perspective. Nashville: Abingdon.
Solomon, A. (2001). The noonday devil: An atlas of depression. New York: Scribner.
Szasz, T. (1977). The manufacture of madness. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
Szasz, T. (1987). Insanity: The idea and its consequences. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Ussher, J. (2011). The madness of women. London: Routledge Press.
Weisel, E. (1972). Souls on fire. New York: Summit Books.
Winnicott, D. (1945). Primitive emotional development. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 26, 137–143.
Winnicott, D. (1953). Transitional objects and transitional phenomena—A study of the first not-me possession. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 24, 89–97.
Winnicott, D. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Routledge Press.
Zizioulas, J. (2006). Communion as otherness. New York: T&T Clark.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LaMothe, R. Madness and Method: a Pastoral Theological Reflection. Pastoral Psychol 65, 787–802 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0709-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0709-1