ASCETICISM - CREATIVE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OR PATHOLOGICAL PURSUIT

ASCETICISM in a religious context refers to a voluntary and sustained practice of self-denial in which immediate or sensual gratifications a re renounced in order to attain a higher spiritual state (Kaelber 1987 ). Virtually all of the major world religions have within them a way i n which the individual, through ascetic practices, can strive to achie ve a more thorough absorption in the sacred. Although many psychiatris ts might consider any ascetic or religious practice to be pathological , others take a more neutral view by emphasizing that religious or mys tical practice can also be adaptive and creative (Group for the Advanc ement of Psychiatry 1976).