Trials of the Visionary Mind: Spiritual Emergency and the Renewal Process

Quite simply this and Judi Chamberlin's "On Our Own" are the two most important books I know in understanding "extreme states" or what is often called psychosis. I was a psychiatric social worker for over 35 years and can bear witness to the reality of folks recovering from "major mental illness". I give thanks and praise to Carol, Mark, Bill and many others who taught me so much about the wide variety of human experience and the rich God given ability for us all to heal. Please read both books, please open to a future of more humane approach to our "mental health system".

This is a great introductory work to some of Perry's main ideas on the renewal process. This is the second book from him that I am reading, and it certainly has enlightened me and helped me develop a more nuanced understanding of my own experiences. I really appreciate thinkers like him, who can creatively weave knowledge and insights from disciplines outside of the ones that they are trained in. They are able to provide a more complex and creative understanding of human conditions, and go beyond dogmatic and simplistic understanding of problems.

I found this book by John Weir Perry to have insight and comfort for those who experience existential crises and syndromes that challenge the status quo of societal expectations. Understanding the diversity of human experiences, including psychological and spiritual, is a weakness of our current systems. I subtracted one star from my review of what would other be almost a 5 star review because of the reflections of Perry on practice experiences and modalities; I would have preferred a more succinct, more timeless presentation of theory and practice.

It is not only a visionary work but a book full of deep compassion and hope. More, it is a book which has a large amount of good practice in the domain of applied experience in psychotherapy meant for psychotic conditions. John Perry's voice is not a theoretical abstraction, it is a living truth giving hope and respect for human beings in a splitted world in which the word soul is denied and lost for science, and the meaning of individual life is no more taken into consideration even in sciences like medicine, psychology, etc.

This is how it happens. His teams have taken the appropriate supportive, humble, and open-minded/-hearted stance.