Blurb:

The epidemic of mental illness has become a global crisis. According to the WHO, some 450 million people around the world are currently suffering from mental illness, and 1 in 4 will at some point in their lifetime suffer from a mental health issue. In an era that prizes empirically verifiable evidence-based treatments, it is puzzling that much of what constitutes psychopathology and its psychogenesis or etiology remains a mystery. Psychosis remains elusive for modern science. This essay focuses on examining modernistic and traditional notions of psychosis or extreme states of mind as informed by the world’s religions in order to better understand this phenomenon.