A Resource List for the Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists:
Books

Anderson, William

The Face of Glory
1996 Bloomsbury

A spiritual autobiography, strikingly illustrated, that tackles creativity, consciousness and civilisation.

 

Austin, James

Zen and the Brain
1998 MIT Press

A neurologist 'interweaves the most recent brain research with the personal narrative of his Zen experiences'.

 

Bennet-Goleman Tara

Emotional Alchemy
2001 Rider, London

A synthesis of Western psychology and Buddhist mindfulness. Meditation as a means of liberation from patterns of harmful emotional reactions.

 

Bache, Christopher

Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind
2000 SUNY Press

Using in part Stan Grof’s technique for inducing altered states, this book ‘combines philosophical reflections with deep self-exploration to delve into the ancient mystery of death and rebirth, emphasising collective rather than individual transformation’.

 

Bhugra, Dinesh (ed)

Psychiatry and Religion
1996 Routledge

Essays exploring many aspects of the sometimes uneasy, often neglected, yet for many patients crucial relationship between faith and psychopathology.

 

Bohm, David

Wholeness and the Implicate Order
1980 Routledge

A quantum physicist links science and philosophy in his vision of the universe as an implicate order within which all is enfolded and which manifests explicitly as matter and consciousness.

 

Broom, Brian

Somatic Illness and the patient's other story
1997 Free Association Books

An unusual integration of internal medicine and psychotherapy.

 

Chopra, Deepak

Quantum Healing
1989 Bantam

Brings together research in Western medicine, neuroscience, physics and Ayurveda to show that the human body is controlled by a network of intelligence grounded in 'quantum reality'.

 

Clarke, Isabel (ed)

Psychosis and Spirituality
2001 Whurr

A collection of essays centred round the hypothesis, supported by a reading of cognitive behavioural therapy and aspects of neurophysiology, that the ‘highest realms of human consciousness [are closely linked] with the depths of madness’.

 

Cook, C.C.H; Powell, A; Sims, A (eds)

Spirituality and Psychiatry
2009 RCPsych Publications

This book explores the nature of spirituality, its relationship to religion, and the reasons for its importance in clinical practice.

 

Dossey, Larry

Healing Words
1993 HarperCollins

A cardiac physician describes the power of prayer, and delineates three 'eras' in medicine.

 

Douglas-Klotz, Neil

The Hidden Gospel
1999 Quest

Jesus’ familiar words newly translated from the Aramaic, the language he spoke. ‘What emerges is a hopeful, nurturing, and very contemporary spiritual message.’

 

Epstein, Mark

Thoughts without a Thinker
1996 Duckworth

'A lucid and expert account of the wedding of psychotherapy and meditation.'

 

Fenwick, Peter & Elizabeth

The Truth in the Light
1995 Headline

An exploration by a neuropsychiatrist of over 300 near-death experiences, with thoughtful commentary and intriguing speculations concerning their origin and significance.

 

Fowler, James

Stages of Faith - the Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning
1995 Harper

Classic text, drawing on Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg and Fowler’s own researches. Describes faith development through six stages, common to all cultural/religious backgrounds. Informative and very readable.

 

Goleman, Daniel

Emotional Intelligence
1996 Bloomsbury

'Our emotions play a far greater role in thought, decision making and individual success than is commonly acknowledged.’

 

Grof, Stanislav

Beyond the Brain
1985 SUNY Press

A psychiatrist's account of a therapeutic regression procedure, which suggests we are each on a spiritual journey, that began before we were born into our present life.

 

Grof, Stanislav

The Holotropic Mind
1993 HarperCollins

Wide-ranging investigation of non-ordinary states of consciousness; a good introduction to the transpersonal paradigm with numerous clinical examples.

 

Grof, Stanislav

The Cosmic Game
1998 Newleaf

Summaries his extensive work in transpersonal psychology.

 

Hardy, Jean

A Psychology with a Soul
1996 Penguin Arkana

A good introduction to Psychosynthesis, which postulates a 'higher self' and which it is an aim of therapy to encounter.

 

Harvey, Andrew

The Direct Path
2001 Rider

A frank personal account by a seeker disillusioned by false prophets and failed gurus.

 

Jung, C.G

Modern Man in Search of a Soul
1933 Routledge and Kegan Paul

A synthesis of Jung’s researches on the soul. Essays include ‘Problems of modern psychotherapy’, ’The stages of Life’, ’The spiritual problem of modern man’ and ’ Psychotherapists or the clergy?’

 

Kabat-Zinn Jon

Wherever You Go, There You Are
1994 Wisdom Books

A path for cultivating mindfulness in one’s life and awakening to the beauty of each unfolding moment. By the author of the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction programme (see SIG Newsletter No.6).

 

Kearney, Michael

Mortally Wounded: a place of healing
1996 Marino Books Dublin

A Consultant in Palliative Care proposes a new model for healing suffering, drawing on Asklepian Healing and the scientific medical model.

 

Kornfield Jack

A Path with Heart
1995 Rider

A delightful book about the process of inner transformation. An inspiring, expert but instantly accessible guide to spiritual life.

 

Kowalski Reinhard

The Only Way Out Is In
2001 Jon Carpenter Publishing

Guidebook for spiritual seekers, bridging Western psychology, yogic spirituality and ayurvedic psychology. Explores meditation, breathing techniques, mantras and devotion as psychological tools.

 

Lorimer, David (ed.)

Thinking Beyond the Brain
2001 Floris

Selected contributions to the first four Beyond the Brain conferences. Packed with insights and data that point to the need for a radical rethink of the theories and methods we use to investigate the human mind.

 

Lorimer, David et al. (eds)

Wider Horizons: Explorations in Science and Human Experience
1999 Scientific and Medical Network

Essays on science, health and philosophy in transition. Available from SMN at www.scimednet.org/

 

Merton, Thomas, ed. Cunningham, Lawrence

Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master - the Essential Writings
1992 Paulist Press

A spiritual giant of the last century.

 

Modi, Shakuntala

Remarkable Healings
1997 Hampton Roads

Compelling account by an American psychiatrist of her work with past life regressions and spirit release therapy, with a comprehensive account of associated symptomatology.

 

Nhat Hanh, Thich

Transformation and Healing
1993 Rider

A study of transformation and healing by a renowned Buddhist monk, peace activist and meditation master.

 

Needleman, Jacob

The Way of the Physician
1985 Arkana

Written for practitioners and patients, urges physicians to become 'wise healers working on the heart rather than mechanics who fix bodies'.

 

Nelson, John

Healing the Split: Integrating Spirit into Our Understanding of the Mentally Ill
1994 SUNY Press

Impressive overview of psychiatry, from genetics to the chakras, from the orthodox to the marginal, that bids to heal the split between orthodox and alternative views with a comprehensive approach that goes beyond both.

 

Newton, Michael

Journey of Souls
1998 Llewellyn Publications

A hypnotherapist’s astonishing accounts of his patients’ reports of existences outside the human life cycle. Goes on from where near-death experiences leave off.

 

Ornish, Dean

Love and Survival
2001 Vermilion

The author, renowned for his work on the holistic treatment of cardiovascular pathology, extends his researches to the scientific basis for the healing power of intimacy and its psychophysiology as a multi-system response.

 

Pert, Candace

Molecules of Emotion
1997 Simon & Schuster

Links the discovery of mediating neuropeptides with the central role of the emotions in the unity that is the 'bodymind'.

 

Rinpoche, Sogyal

Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
1992 Rider

'How to understand the true meaning of life, how to accept death, and how to help the dying and the dead.' Has been described as a spiritual classic.

 

Ross, Hugh McGregor

Jesus Untouched by the Church
1998 Ebor Press

The Gospel of Thomas rearranged and carefully interpreted to reveal a coherent and controversial teaching.

 

Scott Peck, M

The Road Less Travelled and Beyond
1997 Rider

A psychiatrist writes about how to deal with life's conflicts, problems and paradoxes so as to find the true simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity.

 

Swinton, John

Spirituality and Mental Health Care
2001 Jessica Kingsley

A lecturer in Theology, formally a psychiatric nurse, presents research and informed discussion that indicates our harmful neglect of spiritual factors in mental health care, and suggests ways to remedy this.

 

Tart, Charles

Living the Mindful Life
1994 Shambhala

A workbook for 'waking up', based on an integration of science and ancient wisdom, and related to the author's extensive experience in transpersonal psychology.

 

Titmuss, Christopher

Power of Meditation
1999 Apple Press

Illustrated self-help manual (plus CD) - exercises to overcome stress, illness and emotional disturbances.

 

Varela, F J, Thompson, E & Rosch, E

The Embodied Mind
1991 MIT Press

Makes common ground between cognitive science and Buddhist meditative psychology, and relates phenomenology and evolutionary theory to the problem presented to conventional science by subjectivity.

 

Velmans, Max

Understanding Consciousness
2000 Routledge

'An exceptionally lucid and balanced account of the different approaches to and aspects of the problem [of consciousness].'

 

Wallace, B Alan

The Taboo of Subjectivity
2000 OUP

Reliable and comprehensive science must incorporate the subjective.

 

Walsch, Neale Donald

Conversations with God, Books 1 – 3
1995 & later Hodder& Stoughton

Walsch wrote a letter to God, and God replied! Whatever you make of this, these three books are full of surprising and moving insights.

 

Walsh, Roger

Essential Spirituality
1999 John Wiley & Sons

An unencumbered distillation of spiritual practice. Foreword by the Dalai Lama.

 

Whiteside, Patrick

Happiness: the 30-day guide
2001 Rider

A psychiatrist uses a scheme of common emotions to suggest ways of achieving personal growth, joy and contentment. See also www.happinesssite.com

 

Wilber, Ken

Grace and Grit
1991 Gill & Macmillan

A moving account of his wife's death from cancer, diagnosed on their honeymoon. The carer's perspective has seldom been more honestly expressed, nor has suffering been more eloquently linked with a spiritual philosophy.

 

Wilber, Ken

The Marriage of Sense and Soul
1998 Newleaf

Science and Religion reconciled.

 

Wilber, Ken

Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy
2000 Shambhala

An 'all level, all quadrant' approach to psychology.

 

Woolger, Roger

Other Lives, Other Selves
1994 Aquarian: HarperCollins

A Jungian analyst's clinical reports of the therapy of ‘past life regression’, its therapeutic indications and possible explanations for the phenomenon. A classic in its field, deeply thought provoking and easy to read.

 

Zohar, Danah & Marshall, Ian

SQ: Spiritual Intelligence, the Ultimate Intelligence
2000 Bloomsbury

Links brain and quantum activity to spiritual intelligence, a faculty claimed to be more fundamental than cognitive and emotional intelligence, and which can be measured and enhanced.

 

Zukav, Gary

The Seat of the Soul
1991 Rider

Using his scientist’s eye and philosopher’s heart, Zukav journeys beyond the senses to the soul, showing how the values of reverence, trust and compassion, are transforming everyday lives.

© 2009 Royal College of Psychiatrists