The setting and the subjects -- Backgrounds of the healers in the therapist-spiritist training project -- Callings : healers' initiatory experiences -- Healers' work -- The distaff side : pitfalls and problems of being a healer -- Psychiatric illness, emotional disorder, and women's experience -- Dysphoric mood and depression -- Madness and schizophrenia -- Nerves and anxiety disorders -- Somatic styles, bodily ills, and somatoform disorders -- Approaching the self through illness and healing.