The area of theology and mental health is one of the under-researched fields within practical theology. Despite the fact that mental health problems are prevalent and on the rise, there remains relatively little theological reflection on what this might mean for the theology and practice of religious communities. In this book Emma Pierce brings us a thoughtful and insightful reflection on the nature of mental illness and what it might mean to live in and with such experiences. The book is a complicated, beautiful and often mystical piece of work which seems to locate itself within the contemplative tradition, challenging us to return to mythos and imagination as vital ways of understanding and responding to mental health issues. Love works alongside of medication, to produce the goals of peace, well-being and ultimately being in love with God. The book will challenge you and, if you let it, broaden your horizons in interesting and sometimes difficult ways.
About the Author: Dr. Emma Pierce has written extensively on mental health issues, starting with the autobiography "Ordinary Insanity": her own journey through mental illness. She was diagnosed bi-polar in 1965, remaining under professional care for more than 7 years. Like most other patients, Dr. Pierce accepted the prognosis that her illness was incurable. She endured psycho-therapy, shock-therapy, drug-therapy and group-therapy, all in the futile hope that if nothing could heal, perhaps it could make her feel better. It did not! When she finally found the road to recovery, she wanted to share that road with a world sadly in need of direction in mental health care. Dr. Pierce worked with self-help groups, sharing what she had learned for almost 20 years. She went on to write more than 12 books on mental health issues and has had several articles published in academic journals. Her desire to understand the reality of mental illness prompted her to much research and study. What she discovered many will find surprising. Dr. Pierce now has a Graduate Certificate in counselling as well as a Ph.D. in Theology. It is to a partnership between theology and psychology that Dr. Pierce looks to a way forward; an authentic healing for the epidemic that mental illness has become. This book: "Suicide or Adoration" is an invitation to the two primary disciplines - Theology and Psychology - to engage in dialogue toward establishing such a partnership. The book is based on Dr. Pierce's doctoral dissertation. While it is a very different and some would say radical look at mental health care ... it looks beyond mental illness to what it means to be human. Perhaps it is this wider perception that gives Dr. Pierce's understanding of mental illness/mental health so much credibility.