Wrestling with Our Inner Angels – Faith, Mental Illness and the Journey to Wholeness
Wrestling with Our Inner Angels Faith Mental Illness and the Journey to Wholeness
Wrestling with Our Inner Angels is Nancy Kehoe’s compelling, intimate, and moving story of how she brought her background as a psychologist and a nun in the Religious of the Sacred Heart to bear in the groups she formed to explore the role of faith and spirituality in their treatment – and in their lives. Through fascinating stories of her own spiritual journey, she gives readers of all backgrounds and interests new insights into the inner lives of the mentally ill and new ways of thinking about the role of spirituality and faith in all our lives.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Compelling, compassionate reading
For both professional and personal reasons it was a valuable experience to read Nancy Kehoe's book. I am recommending it to many people. There are so many layers of learning and revelation contained in her honest and rich sharing of her own life and that of her clients. It models a life of reflection, seeking one's way, learning from others, especially from the least likely in usual human terms. The mutual give and take, support and compassion between Dr. Kehoe and the members of her Spiritual Issues group was so heart warming. This is true solidarity, being fully human, fully alive!
5 Stars Challenging Stereotypes about the Mentally Ill
Nancy Kehoe challenges stereotypes about the religion and spirituality of the mentally ill in a coherent, articulate, compelling and compassionate narrative that illiuminates the reader's own personal beliefs. By also relating her own personal journey as a nun and psychologist, Nancy adds further authenticity and genuiness to her account.
5 Stars Wrestling with our inner angels
Nancy Kehoe brought out the painful struggles of people with mental illness. She showed them as friends with whom she shares the journey of life. She shares her own inner growth not only with those in her groups, but with the readers. The book "connects" because I find echoes of the vicissitudes of my own times of depression and joys in the stories Nancy recounts.
5 Stars A Wise and Prophetic Book !
Nancy Kehoe offers an engaging, hopeful and enlightened treatment of an important subject which has often been neglected. Her mixture of clinical expertise, personal experiences and the ability to write in an accessible manner offers something for everyone. She provides new insights with pastoral and psychological awareness that are both wise and prophetic.
5 Stars And the Angels Win!
In some traditions, angels are messengers from God. They are often strangers who come into our lives. Often they are unexpectedly transformative and sometimes mysterious. Is this book about wrestling angels, brought to us by an angel? As a mental health professional I found Dr. Kehoe's book, Wrestling with our Inner Angels, to be challenging and embarrassing, and to be hopeful and compelling. Further, I am grateful she had the courage to share her stories with us because the stories hold the potential to move us just a little be closer to the light of truth. I am challenged and embarrassed because I belong to a profession that can indeed show the kinds of fear and ignorance that Dr. Kehoe describes when staff members feared that a mental health therapy group devoted to discussing spiritual matters would somehow trigger psychotic breaks (which is does not, of course). And even more so, after reading the way that the mental health system patronized the clients in disallowing their mourning rituals, presumably for their own good, and against their wishes. Heartbreaking. At the same time, the book is a hopeful and compelling set of stories because within them she is able to allow the Spirit within each of her subjects (including herself) to shine through and touch the reader's heart. I recommend this book as a great read to anyone interested in the intersection of mental health and spiritual health. I also recommend it for college courses on mental illness and mental health treatment systems because of its humane candor and because of the author's humility and authenticity. In this book, we may have to wrestle with the angels, and in my experience, the angels win!
Related posts:
- Is Mental Illness Contageous?
- Keeping Faith – A Skeptics Journey
- Prison-Like Prayer Camps for Mental Health
- The Book of Angels – Dreams, Signs, Meditation – The Hidden Secrets
- The Encyclopedia of Angels
- Rome Sweet Home – Our Journey to Catholicism
- A Place for Skeptics – A Spiritual Journey for Those Who May Have Given Up on Church But Not on God
- Open the Door – A Journey to the True Self
- Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil – Why Church Fathers Suppressed the Book of Enoch and Its Startling Revelations
- Bread of Angels
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