The old story about psychosis and spirituality says that they are opposites. Psychosis is suffered as an illness; spirituality, in the sense of mystical type experience, is something about exalted states that only the chosen few attain to. The new story takes on board reports of experience – irrespective of whether the experiencer has been hospitalised with a diagnosis, or lays claim to spiritual heights. When viewed without prejudice, reports from both sources can sound remarkably similar. Both can tell of profound oneness and joy; both can warn of danger and fear. According to the new story, we are dealing here with an important area of human experience – accessible to all, but more easily accessed by some than others. This new perspective gives prominence to the accounts by "experiencers" of what I choose to call "the transliminal" (i.e. "beyond the boundaries") – as this word frees us from metaphors of up and down (as in "higher states" or "subconscious") which prejudge the status of the experience.
This website collects together such experiences – and ways of making sense of them without judgement. It values and draws out the strengths of such experiences. It seeks to help people through the dangers and distress that they can entail – and to develop ways of helping those who do become seriously engulfed (and so receive the diagnosis of psychosis) to adaptation in ordinary life. At the same time, it does not overvalue the transliminal, but rather stresses the necessary balance between the transliminal and everyday experience.
The contributors are an equal coalition of experiencers, professionals (whether in the mental health field – like myself - or the spiritual field), people who are both, and interested others. They came together through two conferences on Psychosis and Spirituality, organised by the University of Southampton Professional Education and Training Unit, in 2000 and 2001. The dialogue created at these conferences led to an e-mail list, which has led to wider contacts with people with contributions to make. The conferences came about through my editing of a book on this subject; "Psychosis and Spirituality; exploring the new frontier". Published by London:Whurr in 2001, edited by Isabel Clarke.