Isabel Clarke – Psychosis and spirituality

Madness, Mystery and the Survival of God
Isabel Clarke Out Now!

Why do people still believe in God and the supernatural in a scientific age?
How come madness and mysticism are so similar?
What can we learn from this?
Psychological science offers an intriguing new perspective on these questions: one that relates the great challenges that face us, whether of ecology or fanaticism, to our basic limits as human beings.
It is a perspective that places human beings in the context of relationship with a larger and ever mysterious whole.

Publications

Information about the edited book: "Psychosis and Spirituality: exploring the new frontier" Chichester: Wiley. 2001 (see also presentation)
Madness and Mysticism: clarifying the mystery. Network. The Scientific and Medical Network Review. 72, 11 - 14. 2000
Psychosis and Spirituality; finding a language. Changes. 18, 3, 208-214 2000
Psychosis and Spirituality 2000 and 2001. Full reports of University of Southampton conferences.
Is there anything there? The problem of Spirituality considered, The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2, 261-266, 2002. (Special issue: "Taking Spirituality Seriously")
Critical discussion of the above issue: The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, 3, 69-73 2003.
Paper given as part of Symposium "Theory of Mind: Cross-Cultural and Transpersonal Perspectives", BPS Conference 2005, entitled The Clinical Perspective; grounding the transpersonal in Cognitive Theory
"Psychosis and Spirituality: the journey of an idea". Article requested for Royal College of Psychiatrists Spirituality Special Interest Group Newsletter. June 2006. http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/college/specialinterestgroups/spirituality.aspx

Psychosis and Spirituality Discussion List

There is a private e-mail list, the psychosisspirituality yahoo group, for anyone who would like to engage in discussion of these issues: see the application form

For anyone undergoing a spiritual crisis, or who is supporting someone who is, I thoroughly recommend the spiritual crisis network website.

Past Conferences and Talks

Quaker Dialogues 3: Spirituality, Creativity and Mental Illness Saturday 27th September 2008

Susan Mitchell and Isabel Clarke, chair: David Saunders
2.00 pm – 5.00 pm Friends House, Small Meeting House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ

Bridge Pastoral Foundation. Annual Conference 2008. 28th July – 1st August. Hayes Conference Centre, Derbyshire.
Where Two Worlds Meet. A Psychologist's perspective on Spirituality.

3 Keynotes:

Encounter with the Threshold. A Psychological Understanding of Spirituality.
Crossing the Threshold. Implications for the personal journey and personal growth.
Managing the Threshold. Working with those who have lost their way.

www.bridgepastoral.org.uk

Confer Conference in London Friday 30th and Saturday 31st May 2008.

Spiritual Narratives in Psychotherapy: working with Spiritual Issues in Clinical Practice.
Talk: Revisiting the concepts: framing anomolous experience; psychosis; spiritual crisis etc. in non stigmatising ways for effective therapeutic approaches.
Workshop: Reaching out beyond the Threshold. What do you say?

Tauton Association for Psychodynamics. OTHER DIMENSIONS OF THE PSYCHE? An Enquiry into Spirituality, Counselling and Psychotherapy
Talk title: Across the Threshold: the Role of Spirituality in the Journey of Life
Saturday 15th March 2008, 9.15 am – 4.30 pm,

Confer Conference 'Spiritual Narratives in psychological therapies',

St. John's College Cambridge. 4th and 5th April 2007
Talk called: 'Beyond the frontiers of reason:how the therapist can nurture healthy spirituality and avoid the psychotic danger zone.' Followed by a parallel workshop.

Seminar given as part of a series on 'postive psychology and the cognitive science of religion'. University of Oxford.
(NB 2.7 Mbyte file!) “A cognitive perspective on spirituality - with a little help from psychosis"

ISPSS-UK Conference in London. Spirituality and Psychosis: Continuity and Discontinuity. Report of conference for The Friend magazine ISPS-UK Conference programme.
Talk: "Continuity and Discontinuity: Cognitive Science and Psychotherapeutic perspectives" Friday 28th April. 2006

Institute of Nursing and Midwifery Mental Health Nursing Forum. University of Brighton.
Conference: Encompassing the Spiritual Dimension in Recovery. Greynore Hall, Eastbourne.
Talk: "Enabling Recovery and Spiritual Awareness Among Mental Health Staff." Wednesday April. 12th 2006

Quaker Universalists Gathering at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre near Birmingham.
Title of talk: "Spirituality at the Heart of Being Human". Saturday April 1st. 2006

ICS Day Conference in Hertfordshire. 24th November 2005.
ICS and Severe Mental Health Problems

Seeing Angels, Hearing Voices - Mini Conference. Cambridge. November 10th 2005.

Presentation given at BPS Transpersonal Conference, September 2005. "Psychic Phenomena and the Relational Mind"

Presentation given at the Symposium: Theory of Mind: Cross-Cultural and Transpersonal Perspectives, BPS Conference 2005.

Presentation given at the "Ways of Knowing " Conference, Winchester, 2nd - 4th September 2005.

The Web of Connection and the New Human Story

The primacy of connectivity (with Chris Clarke), Network. The Scientific and Medical Network Review, 76, 4 - 6, 2001

The New Human Story, GreenSpirit Journal, Spring 2004, pp. 18-21

"There is A Crack in Everything: That's How the Light Gets In" Chapter in "Ways of Knowing" 2005. Edited Chris Clarke. Imprint Academic. (Presentation)

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