The Corruption Of Reality A unified Theory Of Religion Hypnosis And Psychopathology

John F. Schumaker9780879759353, 0-87975-935-6

This book challenges many of the ideas in the three disciplines of religion, hypnosis, and psychopathology and paves the way for an exciting, far-reaching and unified theory of conscious and unconscious behavior. Schumaker includes a historical and cross-cultural analysis which shows how reality reconstruction takes place and outlines the shortcomings of current psychotherapeutic approaches.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 6
Preface……Page 7
1. The Problem of Reality……Page 11
what is reality?……Page 12
primary reality……Page 15
personal reality……Page 17
cultural reality……Page 20
reality and normality……Page 22
consciousness and order……Page 31
the faculty of dissociation……Page 33
a brief history of dissociation……Page 38
neodissociation theory and beyond……Page 44
trance logic……Page 52
suggestion, dissociation, and reality distortion……Page 55
3. Hypnosis in Global Perspective……Page 60
hypnotic induction……Page 64
varieties of dissociative trance induction……Page 68
sensory deprivation techniques……Page 69
sensory bombardment techniques……Page 72
the limitations of western hypnosis……Page 75
4. Religion: The Cultural Mask of Sanity……Page 79
the hypnosis of religion: experimental evidence……Page 80
cross-cultural perspectives……Page 82
religion and dissociative trance……Page 85
religious induction techniques……Page 90
music, monotony, and religious trance……Page 91
physical movement and religious dissociation……Page 98
religious trance, language, and emotion……Page 102
religion, drugs, and dissociation……Page 105
religious suggestion and its preparation……Page 112
the nature and function of religious suggestion……Page 116
religious symptoms of psychopathology……Page 122
religious delusion……Page 124
the delusion-ritual complex……Page 136
ritualistic symptoms of religion……Page 137
the nature of ritual……Page 139
obsessive-compulsive behavior: religious type……Page 142
5. Psychopathology: New Perspectives……Page 150
paranormal psychopathology……Page 151
dissociation and pathological drug usage……Page 166
musical addictions……Page 169
psychopathological dissociations……Page 172
research on dissociation and psychopathology……Page 174
bulimia nervosa……Page 178
multiple personality disorder……Page 179
factors triggering dissociative reactions……Page 180
factors triggering multiple personality disorder and its relation to religious dissociation……Page 183
possible causative factors behind eating disorders……Page 186
the cognitive workings of psychopathology……Page 187
psychopathology and reality transformation……Page 188
autodissociation via monoideistic cognition……Page 195
additional dissociative disorders……Page 197
psychopathological symptoms and culture……Page 204
religion as a cultural distortive mechanism……Page 211
6. Treating The Individual And Society……Page 215
toward the spiritualization of psychotherapy……Page 217
some feminist approaches……Page 218
ritualistic healing ceremonies……Page 221
the reluctant resurgence of hypnotic therapies……Page 225
salish spirit dancing……Page 228
charisma as a therapeutic tool……Page 230
healing a sick society……Page 232
some prescriptions for the future……Page 239
Endnotes……Page 250
Bibliography……Page 266
Index……Page 278