Shirking Abraham: Spiritual Materialism as Self-Realization

Reviews the book, Of God and madness: A historical novel by T. Byram Karasu (see record 2006-12564-000). This book advocates the need to go beyond the body and mind in treating an unquiet person. In understanding the human person from the perspective of body, mind, and soul, it argues, efforts to heal need to go beyond medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. The author seems to suggest that psychology needs to find some means of communicating with a person's soul. Although every psychiatrist or psychotherapist may not be able to become a guru in order to help a person discover his or her authentic self in the manner that Sophos helps Adam find himself, it seems like a good idea to explore the dimension of spirituality in helping individuals discover their true selves. Divorced from all religions, spirituality as Adam defines it makes him look like yet another New Age guru. In a world dominated by religions, it is hard to find unalloyed spirituality because ideas borrowed from the world's great religions form the backbone of every newly proposed spirituality. Even if we reject Adam's brand of spirituality, we cannot dismiss the need to focus on the spirit in understanding and healing the human psyche or the primacy of a therapeutic relationship with another to facilitate this process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)