The Spiritual Gift of Madness

July 1, 2012

Psychologist Farber (Unholy Madness: The Church's Surrender to Psychiatry) makes the intriguing claim that "madness," here defined as an altered state of consciousness, has spiritual value. He shares the stories of six so-called mad individuals to support his contention that psychopathological disorders are actually potentially regenerative. He describes the basis of the emerging mad pride movement as the sociobiological calling of mad individuals to act as catalysts of spiritual evolution. While other critics of psychiatric drug treatment such as Peter Roger Breggin (Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry") advocate therapy, Farber argues that the professionals who "sell poison" to make money should instead encourage patients to assume the messianic functions of Jesus Christ. VERDICT The strength of the book lies in Farber's discussions of psychotropic drugs and the damage done by their indiscriminate use. The perspectives of the interview subjects are thought-provoking, but the attempts to tie "madness" to Christlike consciousness may leave many readers unconvinced. The book will appeal to devotees of spirituality and/or metaphysics.--Linda F. Petty, Wimberley, TX

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