Littlewood, R;
Dein, S;
(2013)
Did Christianity lead to schizophrenia? Psychosis, psychology and self reference.
Transcult Psychiatry
, 50
(3)
pp. 397-420.
10.1177/1363461513489681.
![[thumbnail of Transcultural_Psychiatry-2013-Littlewood-397-420.pdf]](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png) Preview |
PDF
Transcultural_Psychiatry-2013-Littlewood-397-420.pdf Download (224kB) |
Abstract
Both geographically and historically, schizophrenia may have emerged from a psychosis that was more florid, affective, labile, shorter lived and with a better prognosis. It is conjectured that this has occurred with a reflexive self-consciousness in Western and globalising societies, a development whose roots lie in Christianity. Every theology also presents a psychology. Six novel aspects of Christianity may be significant for the emergence of schizophrenia-an omniscient deity, a decontexualised self, ambiguous agency, a downplaying of immediate sensory data, and a scrutiny of the self and its reconstitution in conversion.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Did Christianity lead to schizophrenia? Psychosis, psychology and self reference. |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1363461513489681 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363461513489681 |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page(http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm). |
| Keywords: | Christianity conversion; indigenous psychology; proprioception; proto-schizophrenia; schizophrenia; self; |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1369142 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
