Are You Getting Enlightened or Losing Your Mind?: A Spiritual Program for Mental Fitness

A practicing psychiatrist for nearly 20 years, Gersten, in his first book, examines the subtle differences between spiritual states of consciousness and schizophrenic, manic or borderline personality disorders, stating that ""we should... not treat the mystic with Thorazine. And we should not treat the schizophrenic with a strong dose of yoga and meditation."" Gersten delineates the differences between mental illness and spiritual experiences, discussing near-death and out-of-body experiences, spontaneous healings, visions, angels, ghosts, auras and ESP, and providing ""Mental Fitness Techniques""--imagery exercises for self-examination and clarification of such states as depression, anxiety and neurosis. For Gersten, ""spiritual emergencies"" do not signal mental illness but, rather, opportunities for spiritual growth and transformation. From the altered state of consciousness that athletes call being ""in the zone"" to visits from the Virgin Mary, Gersten sheds new light on sometimes murky inner states. Author tour. (June)