Spiritualizing psychiatry

Transpersonal psychology, DSM, and Brazilian research about spirituality

Bibliographic Data

ID2319206
AuthorsLucas Baccetto (0000-0003-4367-6839, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume70
Issue4
Pages481-497
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7686 • E-ISSN: 1461-7404
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00377686231212783
OpenAlexW4390405196
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

This article analyzes the trajectory of the diagnostic category 'Religious or Spiritual Problem', included in 1994 in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the main diagnostic manual of North American psychiatry. Three moments of this trajectory are highlighted here: the beginning with transpersonal psychology, the debate around its inclusion in the DSM-IV, and the mobilization of the category in psychiatric research about spirituality in Brazil. Drawing on an array of material gathered through archival, bibliographical, and ethnographic research, I point out that the trajectory of 'Religious or Spiritual Problem' mirrors the shifts in spirituality scholarly debates in social sciences, from New Age practices to their institutionalized forms. Although psychiatry is known to historically pathologize religious or spiritual experience, I argue that the mobilization of such category acts toward legitimizing contemporary psychiatric research about spirituality

Alternative medicine · Ethnography · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Sociology · Spirituality · Transpersonal · Transpersonal psychology · Anthropology · Medicine · Psychology · Psychology and Mental Health · Religion and Society in Latin America · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology

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