Affecting Healing through Exorcism: Cases from Contemporary Japan
Andrea De Antoni explores experiences of spirit possession and healing through exorcism, by focusing on situated affects and interactions.
God Help Us? Religion in Nineteenth-Century British Asylums
Historian Ute Oswald explores the role of religion in nineteenth-century asylums and questions the therapeutic benefits of engaging in similar practices today. Can religion make us feel better? Are religious people less likely to
‘A Philosophy of Madness’ Book Forum: Part One
Jeremy Spandler reviews A Philosophy of Madness: The Experience of Psychotic Thinking (The MIT Press, 2020) by Wouter Kusters (translated by Nancy Forest-Flier). This is Part One of a Book Forum on A Philosophy
Doctors’ Orders: The Role of the Medic in a Twelfth-Century Saints’ ‘Life’
Barbara Hargreaves reflects on saintly suffering and medical failures in twelfth-century religious works about saints. Mabel of Stotsfield, a nun at the priory at Chicksands in the twelfth century, was, one day, sent on
Disability, religion, and accessibility as response-ability: review of Claire Cunningham’s Guide Gods
Daria Hartmann reviews the German premiere of Claire Cunningham’s Guide Gods at Tanzhaus Düsseldorf, November 2018. In Guide Gods, the Scottish dance choreographer and disability activist Claire Cunningham uses a potent mix of dance, storytelling,
Meaning-making Methods for Coping with Serious Illness (Review)
In this post, Joe Wood reviews Meaning-making Methods for Coping with Serious Illness (Abingdon: Routledge, 2018) by Fereshteh Ahmadi and Nader Ahmadi. In Meaning-making Methods for Coping with Serious Illness, Fereshteh Ahmadi and Nader
Tori Amos and Religious Trauma Syndrome
Songwriting is a frequent medium for the therapeutic expression of inner psychological struggles. Singer/songwriter Tori Amos has been one of the most open musical artists about her therapeutic grappling with past traumatic experiences in
‘The Children Act’ reviewed by Vivek Santayana
‘The Children Act’ by Ian McEwan (Vintage, 2014) A number of Ian McEwan’s previous novels have touched upon issues surrounding medicine and medical ethics, such as euthanasia in Amsterdam (1998) or the life of