Healing the Split: Integrating Spirit Into Our Understanding of the Mentally Ill, Revised Edition

by John E. Nelson

Book Overview

The links between madness, creative genius, and spiritual experiences have tantalized philosophers and scientists for centuries. In Healing the Split, John Nelson brings the lofty ideas of transpersonal psychology down to earth so they can be applied in a practical way to explain the bizarre effects of insanity on the human mind. Drawing on a vast knowledge of Eastern philosophy and mainstream neuropsychiatry, he heals the split between orthodox and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 079141986X
• ISBN13: 9780791419861
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 472 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

a must read for healers

From the point of view of an energy healer, this book is a must read. Dr. Nelson brings clear understanding to the confusion that often surrounds the types and causes of altered states of consciousness. For anyone who is at all interested in the nature of the human mind, this book is facinating, educational, and useful.

Healing the Split

This is a wonderful book by an experienced psychiatrist who knows what to ask when a patient says God is telling him what to do. According to Dr. Nelson, sometimes anti-psychotic medications are needed, other times more transpersonal approaches work better. In his Foreword, Ken Wilber calls the book "enormously impressive and profound" and laments that it isn't required reading for psychiatry residents. The book is divided in four parts, dealing in turn with madness and consciousness, the brain, the spirit, and ending with the part on healing. The book is beautifully written with many insights into the non-rational world. My favorite is the explanation of the futility of trying to invalidate a paranoid delusion-logic's razor's edge is no match for the granite of necessity. The book is full of insights into all forms of altered states of consciousness, creativity, and genius, and how they compare to madness. It should forever debunk the myth that creativity and insanity inevitably go hand in hand.

Excellent synthesis of Eastern philosophy and Western scien

At last, an enlightened psychiatrist describes a way to distinguish mystical experience and creative inspiration from regressive psychosis. Nelson integrates Eastern Philosophy and Western neuroscience into a unique and practically helpful synthesis that appeals to educated people who see consciousness as more than brain chemistry, but who also discern the flaws in R.D. Laing's and Thomas Szasz's now outdated views on psychotic experience. Highly recommended!

Best of Kundalini

I feel that this book and Kundalini, Evolution and Enlightenment edited by John White are two of the best, well-rounded books on Kundalini. This is due to their holistic input of theories, personal accounts and scientific research. Both books show the individual/social aspects. In addition, this author does a wonderful job of making the distinction between regressive illness and progressive transformation - a much needed view! These two books should always be available as invaluable resources for professionals and/or those with a serious interest in the topic.