Abstract:
Contemporary research suggests that a path is now open for critical dialogue between mysticism
and mental health. Data are accumulating regarding the frequency with which mystical experience
occurs in the general population. Social science researchers are undertaking studies to determine
whether people can knowledgably differentiate between the presence of a mystical experience
and other types of experience that occur in their lives. Psychologists are developing clinical
criteria by which the mystical and psychotic experience can be differentiated. Neuropsychiatric
researchers are exploring the effect of the mystical experience by way of enhanced brain imagery.
Theologians are opening up the received wisdom of the mystical tradition and applying it to the
present historical context. This paper drew these diverse disciplines together to demonstrate an
emerging consensus with respect to the efficacy of mysticism in the field of mental healt
