ABSTRACT

Of demons and deities, we ponder. Using the 1982 Declaration of Principles, this chapter focuses on oppression and human rights violations caused by psychiatry with spirituality as the entrance to the exploration. ‘What we are yet to know’ realms exist, if we reach them, we can begin to explore places we never imagined. The chapter highlights how psychologists Bonnie Burstow and Paula J. Caplan lay out feminist anti-psychiatry frameworks offering blueprints of centuries-old designs and modern frauds. Yvonne Z. Smith evaluates issues of religion and spirituality revealed in the survivor research project, (de)VOICED, giving an alternate analysis, including ways slave breakers used religion as social control and the ways psychiatry acts as modern social control. Kathryn Cascio reacts to a report on survivor research focused on suicide that was conducted by David Webb and supports his calls to address spiritual crises for a complete reversal of how people in the fields of psychiatry and suicidology approach people who are contemplating suicide. Claiming no best methods, only an endless possibility of paths, the chapter offers encouragement for the development of research designs about spirituality through the lens of Mad Studies.