Transes, crises e diagnósticos

The creation of two diagnostic categories in the 1994 DSM—'religious or spiritual problem' and 'dissociative trance disorder'—reflects ongoing debates among psychiatrists and psychologists about whether religious and spiritual experiences should be considered normal or pathological. Proponents of these categories draw on psychological and anthropological concepts, particularly from transpersonal psychology and studies on dissociation, to frame phenomena like religious trance, spiritual possession, and transcendental experience. Analysis of scientific articles, academic works, and interviews reveals how these professionals produce distinct psychological understandings that can either normalize or pathologize such experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The object of this research is the recent debates carried out by psychiatrists and psychologists around the theme of religion and spirituality. The empirical focus is the creation, of two diagnostic categories in the main guide to psychiatric diagnoses in the United States, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), in 1994: "religious or spiritual problem" and "dissociative trance disorder". The analysis focuses on how the proponents of these two diagnoses articulate a series of psychological and anthropological concepts, conceptualizing religious and spiritual experiences as normal phenomena or as psychopathologies. It is also of interest the relation of their productions in the field of transpersonal psychology and in studies on psychological dissociation. From the reading of scientific articles, academic works, and interviews, we seek to understand how new and distinct psychological understandings about phenomena such as religious trance, spiritual possession, and transcendental experience are produced.