Articles & Thesis

HISTORY OF "SPIRITIST MADNESS" IN BRAZIL

Alexander Moreira de Almeida, MD, PhD *

Angélica A. Silva de Almeida, PhD *

Francisco Lotufo Neto, MD, PhD *

Spiritism is widely accepted in Brazil and influences psychiatric practice, especially through religious-oriented hospitals. However, during the first half of the twentieth century it was considered an important cause of mental illness.
This paper first reviews opinions on ‘Spiritist madness’, written by the most eminent psychiatrists of the time, and then discusses the epistemological factors that have contributed to the conflict between medicine and Spiritism. We critically examine the appropriateness of the methods used in the debates, and how this has led to inferences about associations and causal relationships.

Keywords

Dissociation; history; mediumship; mental hygiene; possession; prejudice; spiritism; spiritualism; trance.

Introduction
Throughout the last century, the psychiatric community has had a range of different attitudes to so-called mediumistic experiences. Although such experiences are ancient and exist in every culture, well-controlled studies of the subject are scarce. Nowadays, psychiatry considers that spiritualist experiences are culturally related, and are non-pathological in most cases, even contributing to psychological development and well-being (Cardeña, Lyinn and Krippmer, 2000; Grof and Grof, 1989; Lukoff, Lu and Tuner, 1992). However, the standpoint assumed by most of the international psychiatric community in the first half of the twentieth century was quite different. Mediumistic practices were taken as serious threats to the population’s mental health and were to be opposed, if necessary by using arrests and hospitalizations.
The historical study of the ‘Spiritist madness’ in Brazil is a special opportunity to analyse the relation between psychiatry and spiritualism, because it fuses two essential elements of the conflict: a flourishing psychiatric society under strong European influence, and dissemination of religions based on mediumistic practices (Spiritism and Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda and Candomblé).
This study describes and analyses Brazilian psychiatry with regard to Spiritism in the first half of the twentieth century, at the time when debates on the subject were most intense.

Due to extension of the text «History of "Spiritist madness" in Brazil» the dear colleague will be able to consult the entire article into Hoje - Jean Evangelist Hospital Brazil or here.