An opening: Trauma and transcendence

With reference to the intergenerational theorizing of trauma, this article considers the role of transcendence in the substance of our theoretical ideas about psychosis. Arguing against an emphasis on notions of developmental deficit, the author considers the recent work of Davoine and Gaudilliere as a means of questioning some of the paradigmatic assumptions of clinical psychology. It is suggested that the relationship between psychosis and spirituality has often been conceived in such a way as to depreciate both, and that a shift in mainstream theorizing requires that a more fundamental place be made for the question of transcendence in the theorizing of madness.