Brain Disease or Emotional Distress? Modern Psychology, Ancient Asceticism, and the Hermenutics of DSM-5

Abstract

In this article, we address expressions of sadness, grief and social alienation from two different perspectives and on an interdisciplinary level. The various forms of perceiving these experiences and the method for classifying emotions (particularly emotional distress) in modern psychiatry represent the starting point for comparison. Special attention will be paid to the current method of classification in psychiatry―the DSM 5. This framework will be juxtaposed with a historical methodology, which will be applied to examine late antique narrative descriptions of sickness and alienating behaviour in a religious context. Combining modern psychological and historical approaches will shed light on how different cultural and historical discourses have shaped the perception and interpretation of sadness and grief down through the ages, and lead to these emotions being characterized in various ways ranging from depression to a clear sign of sanctity. Additionally, working on the intersection of religion and medicine, this article will, on the one hand, further psychologists’ understanding of how religious ideas shaped individual behaviour and vice versa in past societies, and, on the other hand, inform historians more about modern classification methods in psychiatry and how these might have influenced the way of looking at certain behaviour.