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.

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.

The shadow of Freud and his view of religion as illusion still looms over psychotherapy, making it problematic for therapists to engage their clients about a subject that can be of great importance and potential benefit. Because she is both a nun and a clinician, author Kehoe can draw on both her psychological and religious training to approach with insight and sensitivity the role of belief and motivation in the lives of people troubled by mental illness. Neither illusion nor panacea, religious belief helps people organize their lives and make decisions. Kehoe has listened for years to people with illness, and she shares their compelling stories. She also discloses her own wrestling with inner religious promptings and their influence in her own choices. This book will be most helpful to other professionals in the field, but its honesty and humility also make it useful for anyone interested in faith and mental illness, particularly anyone with an emotional stake in the difficulties of mental illness. (June) (Publishers Weekly, May 11, 2009)

"Wrestling With Our Inner Angels is an important book...All concerned with faith, mental health and the journey to wholeness -- whether from a spiritual-religious or a psychological perspective -- will not only enjoy reading this book but be encouraged to reflect more deeply on the author's thesis." (America magazine October 26, 2009)

Foreword.
Acknowledgments.
Prologue.
1 Exploring New Terrain.
2 Beverly’s Quest.
3 Creative Spirits.
4 Buddy, an Unlikely Prophet.
5 The Role of Ritual.
6 The Dilemma of Voices.
7 Wrestling with God.
Epilogue.
Appendix Religious History Questionnaire.
Notes.
The Author.
Index.