MINISTERING TO MADNESS - THE NARRATIVES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE LEFT RELIGIOUS ORDERS TO WORK IN THE CARING PROFESSIONS

This paper examines the life stories of 14 men and women who spent tim e in religious communities and who subsequently took up work in the ca ring professions. Their accounts reflect the alignment between the eth ics of care and those of religious life, the centrality of contemplati on and self-examination to both Christianity and psychotherapy. There are further correspondences between their narratives and recent academ ic interest in the spiritual aspects of health care. They also describ e profound changes and moments of uncertainty which parallel other tra nsitional experiences like grieving or unemployment. For many responde nts also, caring for others is part of caring for oneself. Disappointm ent with the religious life and isolation on leaving it appear to have brought the respondents into a close relationship with those who suff er mental illness. It is almost as if they seek to heal the distress i n their own lives by proxy.