Nancy Kehoe is a nun in the Society of the Sacred Heart and a distinguished clinician well known for her pioneering work with the mentally ill. She is a clinical instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Cambridge Health Alliance, affiliated with Harvard Medical School. She can be contacted through her website www.expandingconnections.com.
For many years, Kehoe has led spiritual groups in a psychiatric day treatment program. She was surprised to discover that, contrary to widespread myths about the inappropriateness of religion in treatment programs, no patient became delusional, no one in the group set out to convert others to his or her faith perspective, and no client complained about working with a therapist of a different belief system.
This book reveals what she learned from those with mental illnesses who were willing to share their stories. These include a tormented woman whose inner struggle consisted of a battle between her belief in God's goodness and her sense of evil; three clients who challenged Kehoe to rethink the power of the arts to engage the spirit; a depressed man who fought the good fight of faith by trying not to give in to anger and bitterness; and patients who taught her about the importance of ritual and making sense of voices of one's inner experience.
The author makes a good case for exploring the place of faith, religion, and spirituality in the treatment of mental illness.
