Madness as religious experience: The case of Allen Ginsberg
Various writers have considered madness to be a religious experience. On the basis of the literature in the area and conversations with psychiatric patients, it is argued that madness as a religious experience can be viewed as a four-stage developmental process. The four stages are: 1) The hurt-and-...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[1982]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and health
Year: 1982, Volume: 21, Issue: 2, Pages: 145-151 |
| Further subjects: | B
Religious Experience
B Developmental Process B Psychiatric Patient B Psychotic Episode B World View |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Various writers have considered madness to be a religious experience. On the basis of the literature in the area and conversations with psychiatric patients, it is argued that madness as a religious experience can be viewed as a four-stage developmental process. The four stages are: 1) The hurt-and-be-hurt state of being, 2) The self-induced psychedelic experience, 3) The confusion-and-dread reaction, and 4) The reconstruction-with-insight world view. To clarify how these four stages make up a religious experience, the poet Allen Ginsberg's so-called psychotic episode is organized around each of the stages. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6571 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/BF02276778 |