Hearing Spiritual Voices: Medieval Mystics, Meaning and Psychiatry

This open access book explores unusual perceptual, or perception—like, experiences. These are often meaningful to those who have them and may be sympathetically or unsympathetically interpreted by others. One interpretation, especially when voices are associated with unusual behaviour, is that they are evidence of mental disorder. Ostensibly such interpretations are sympathetic (showing concern for someone who is ill) but in practice they are used to deny the meaning and value of the experi...