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Journal of Religion and Health
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 4/2010

01-12-2010 | Original Paper

Inner Night and Inner Light: A Quaker Model of Pastoral Care for the Mentally Ill

Author: Janelle Stanley

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 4/2010

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Abstract

The same theological principles that motivated Quakers in institutional reform work continue to influence uniquely Quaker approaches to pastoral care for the mentally ill today. This unity of psychological and spiritual care, inspired by George Fox, was first apparent in the work of the Religious Society of Friends asylum reforms in the nineteenth century. These principles matured during the early twentieth century as they entered into dialogue with Jung and Jungian psychology and continue to inspire Quaker pastoral care models today. This paper will examine how theological concepts affect the way Friends approach mental health care, historically and in contemporary times.
Footnotes
1
Cherry's book A Quiet Haven: Quakers, Moral Treatment, and Asylum Reform (London and Toronto: Associated Presses, 1989) offers a brief intellectual history of the eighteenth century, highlighting those factors that contributed to the shift in the care of the mentally ill. Similarly, while Tuke’s reforms were revolutionary, it is important to recognize that similar ideas of institutional reform were beginning to arise (at least experimentally) in at least one other place. Philippe Pinel, in Paris, France, also made attempts to limit the use of restraints and pharmaceuticals when treating insane women at Hôpital de la Salpetrière (Cherry 1989, 84–86).
 
2
Both the York Retreat and other mental hospitals opened under the guidance of Friends in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries began as wholly Quaker institutions. As Digby postulates in Madness, Morality, and Medicine, this was likely largely due to the fact that Quakers retained “peculiar forms of archaic dress and language” and believed that keeping the environment of mentally disturbed Friends wholly within religious norms was beneficial to their recovery (88–89). This is consistent with the ‘quietist’ movement within Friend communities at the time, as discussed later in this paper.
 
3
The principle of “that of God within everyone” certainly influenced the initial re-humanizing view Jepson and Tuke took toward their patients. The Quaker value of non-violence also influenced the development of Tuke’s moral treatment. Moral treatment itself, however, did not include any overt religious education or practice.
 
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Metadata
Title
Inner Night and Inner Light: A Quaker Model of Pastoral Care for the Mentally Ill
Author
Janelle Stanley
Publication date
01-12-2010
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 4/2010
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-009-9312-4

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