1. Recovery means recovering the divine from within the disorder, seeing that its contents are authentically religious. James Hillman

2. A system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else...but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Future of an Illusion

3. "Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift.” Socrates

4. The Old Testament uses the same term, in reference to madness sent by God as a punishment for the disobedient, and to describe the behavior of prophets.

5. People with psychotic disorders report many experiences that occur during spiritual episodes: Visions 18% Voices 7% Telepathy 4% Contact with the dead 8% Sense of enlightenment 19% Ecstasy 5% Sense of purpose behind events 11% Jackson, 2001

6. I have found their stories to be quite genuine, quite believable. Their experience of the divine, the spiritual, is healthy and life giving. Of course, discernment is important, but it is important not to presume that certain kinds of religious experience or behavior are simply “part of the illness. Jerome Stack Catholic Chaplain at a State Hospital in California for 25 years

7. Mental Illness as a Spiritual Journey Jay Mahler My being aware that I'm on a spiritual journey empowers me to deal with other enormous parts of the puzzle! The big, human 'spiritual' questions---

8. Why is this happening to me? Will I ever be the same again? Is there a place for me in this world? Can my experience of life be made livable? If I can't be cured can I be recovering? Has my God abandoned me?

9. Mental Illness & Religious Experience Not a single aspect of my spiritual experience at the IOL was recognized as legitimate; neither the spiritual difficulties nor the healing that occurred at the end. Sally Clay

10. Religious practices (such as worship and prayer) appear to protect against severity of psychiatric symptoms and hospitalization, and enhance life satisfaction and speed recovery in mental disorders. Koenig et al., 2002

11. 74 patients with acute psychotic symptoms followed up every 6 months for 2 years 30.2 % of these patients reported an increase in religious faith after the onset of the illness 61.2 % reported they used religion to cope with their illness and to get better Kirov, Kemp, Kirov, & David (1998)

12. Spiritual Support Recovery as a spiritual journey Involvement with a spiritual or other community Seek support from appropriate spiritual teachers or experts Participation in spiritual practices (eg, prayer, meditation, reading spiritual books, ritual) Model therapist’s spirituality (eg, meaning, hope, and faith in something transcendent)

13. 52 seriously mentally ill patients who were diagnosed with major depression, schizophrenia, manic episodes, personality disorder, and anxiety disorder 23% thought that their illness was a result of their sins Sheehan and Kroll (1990)