Arthur Guirdham (1905–1992) was an English physician, psychiatrist, novelist, and writer on the

Cathar Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...

sect, alternative medicine,

ESP ESP most commonly refers to: * Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability ESP may also refer to: Arts, entertainment Music * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, ...

and

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is ...

Biography

He was born in

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

, Cumberland, into a working-class family of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

descent – his father was a steel worker – yet he unusually gained a scholarship from technical school in Workington to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. He graduated from both Oxford University and Charing Cross. While pursuing a career in psychiatry, Guirdham was also a tireless writer, supported by the nearly full-time secretarial and editing assistance of his wife Mary. His book ''Disease and the Social System'' (1942) was a groundbreaking meditation on the connections between biological

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

and industrialized food and the

social stress Social stress is stress that stems from one's relationships with others and from the social environment in general. Based on the appraisal theory of emotion, stress arises when a person evaluates a situation as personally relevant and perceives t ...

es of modernity. His book ''The Theory of Disease'' (1957), mentioned in Brian Inglis' ''History of Medicine'', offered an early alternative perspective on mental illness and personality, including some ideas later taken up by the

anti-psychiatry Anti-psychiatry is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionabl ...

movement. Guirdham continue to write indefatigably in a variety of genres, including poetry. After writing a couple of wartime thrillers he became increasingly interested in

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

history and reincarnation. His books ''The Lake and the Castle'' (1976) and ''The Great Heresy: The History and Beliefs of the Cathars'' (1977) describe the

faith. He also wrote on

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

and C. G. Jung. Most successful, however, were his books on reincarnation, notably ''The Cathars and Reincarnation'', which were translated into several languages and won him a loyal audience of enthusiasts and a significant role within British studies of the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

and alternative perspectives on mental illness. Novelist and occult writer

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

was a friend of Guirdham and stayed at his house on a number of occasions. He wrote approvingly of Guirdham's reincarnation claims. Wilson interviewed Guirdham for his book ''Strange Powers'' (1973).

Reception

Guirdham's unorthodox ideas about

psychosomatic medicine Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field exploring the relationships among social, psychological, behavioral factors on bodily processes and quality of life in humans and animals. The academic forebear of the modern field of ...

were criticized by the medical community. Professor D. V. Hubble in the '' British Medical Journal'' noted that:

"Dr. Guirdham takes the Freudian theories of repression and the unconscious and extends them to the conclusion that the three types of disease-neurosis, functional (autonomic) disorders, and organic stress diseases-result from a repression of emotion into three strata, differing in depth, of the unconscious mind. The theory appears to be supported by little enough evidence; indeed, throughout the book the factual basis for Dr. Guirdham's theories is not considerable."

Brian Inglis who was supportive of some of Guirdham's ideas wrote that a negative aspect of his writing was that he tended "to make sweeping assertions unsupported by evidence". Psychologist Robert A. Baker listed Guirdham and Carl Wickland as early psychiatrists who preferred to "ignore the science and embrace the supernatural". Historical researcher Ian Wilson has criticized the reincarnation claims of Guirdham noting "serious errors and inconsistencies" in his book ''The Cathars and Reincarnation''. Wilson wrote that "Guirdham's claims lacking any means of independent verification, must be regarded as unacceptable." Wilson, Ian. (1981). ''Mind Out of Time?: Reincarnation Claims Investigated''. Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp. 42-46.

Publications

''Disease and the Social System''
(1942) *''The Lights Were Going Out'' (1944) *''These Paid'' (1946) *''I-A Stranger'' (1949) *''A Theory of Disease'' (1957) *''Christ and Freud: A Study of Religious Experience and Observance'' (1959) *''Man: Divine or Social'' (1960) *''The Nature of Healing'' (1964) *''The Cathars and Reincarnation'' (1970) *''The Gibbet and the Cross'' (1970) *''Obsession: Psychic Forces and Evil in the Causation of Disease'' (1972) *''A Foot in Both World's: A Doctor's Autobiography of Psychic Experience'' (1973) *''We Are One Another'' (1974) *''Lake and the Castle'' (1976) *''The Great Heresy: The History and Beliefs of the Cathars'' (1977) *''The Psyche in Medicine'' (1978) *''Paradise Found: Reflections on Psychic Survival'' (1980) *''The Island'' (1980) *''The Psychic Dimensions of Mental Health'' (1982)

Notes

References

External links