Wrestling with Our Inner Angels: Faith, Mental Illness, and the Journey to Wholeness - Hardcover

by Nancy Kehoe (Author)

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.

Front Jacket

WRESTLING with Our INNER Angels

"For building bridges across the chasm that exists between religion and psychology and for her dutiful service to suffering people both in her practice and in the prose of this rich book, Nancy Kehoe deserves all our gratitude and respect and attention."
--Joshua Shenk, author, Lincoln's Melancholy

Wrestling with Our Inner Angels offers Nancy Kehoe's compelling, intimate, and moving story of how she brought her background as a psychologist and a nun to bear in the groups of people with mental illness that explored the role of faith and spirituality in their treatment--and in their lives. Filled with fascinating stories of her own spiritual journey, this book offers new insights into the inner lives of people with men- tal illness and new ways of thinking about the role of spirituality and faith in all our lives.

Most clinicians who treat the mentally ill would rather not talk about their clients' religious and spiritual beliefs. They are fearful of what might be unleashed or what dangerous tendencies or delusions might be reinforced. In return, clients don't reveal the details of their inner lives because they believe their therapists would see them as sicker, and suspect that their beliefs might be held against them. But as distinguished clinician and Sacred Heart nun Nancy Kehoe found out, respecting spiritual and religious beliefs of those who suffer from mental illness actually opens the way to greater meaning, support, and even healing.

Back Jacket

WRESTLING with Our INNER Angels

"For building bridges across the chasm that exists between religion and psychology and for her dutiful service to suffering people both in her practice and in the prose of this rich book, Nancy Kehoe deserves all our gratitude and respect and attention." --Joshua Shenk, author, Lincoln's Melancholy

Wrestling with Our Inner Angels offers Nancy Kehoe's compelling, intimate, and moving story of how she brought her background as a psychologist and a nun to bear in the groups of people with mental illness that explored the role of faith and spirituality in their treatment--and in their lives. Filled with fascinating stories of her own spiritual journey, this book offers new insights into the inner lives of people with mental illness and new ways of thinking about the role of spirituality and faith in all our lives.

Most clinicians who treat the mentally ill would rather not talk about their clients' religious and spiritual beliefs. They are fearful of what might be unleashed or what dangerous tendencies or delusions might be reinforced. In return, clients don't reveal the details of their inner lives because they believe their therapists would see them as sicker, and suspect that their beliefs might be held against them. But as distinguished clinician and Sacred Heart nun Nancy Kehoe found out, respecting spiritual and religious beliefs of those who suffer from mental illness actually opens the way to greater meaning, support, and even healing.

Author Biography

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.