Section I: Introduction Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in Domremy, France. She grew up in a home with devout religious parents and at a young age became very committed to the service of God. According to Pettinger (2007), at the age of 12, she began to have visions and hear the voices of saints and God. She said the visions seemed very real to her and during many of the visions, she felt the presence of saints and bright lights that would appear (Pettinger, 2007). During the early 1400s there was a great conflict in France and the crown of France was in dispute. In 1428, Joan was driven by the voices of the saints telling her to join forces with the dauphin Charles of France, to fight for the crown of France. Barstow (1986) found that she went to Vaucouleurs to ask permission to join the Dauphin to help him drive the English out of France (Barstow, AL, 1986). Joan believed she was on a mission from God, and her belief inspired others to join her efforts to drive out the English forces. After seeing Joan of Arc's great passion and tenacity, the Dauphin provided several soldiers to help Joan in the battle against the Burgundians and the English (The Biography Channel, n.d.). During her travels, Giovanna dressed as a man to disguise herself and avoid being caught by the enemy. According to Williamson (n.d.), if a woman's identity were to be discovered, she would risk being raped. Joan also wore these clothes for her safety and since she was surrounded by male soldiers, Joan felt she should wear them for modesty reasons. she promised the saints who spoke to her that she would maintain her virginity and called herself “La Pucelle,” the maiden or virgin (Williamson, n.d.). ... middle of paper ... religions were a normal part of his religion. All factors must be taken into consideration before making a diagnosis. When possible diagnoses were examined, several were considered, but were subsequently excluded. These include: schizophrenia, schizophreniform, delusional disorder, delirium, peduncular hallucinosis, brain tumors, and epilepsy with temporal lobe focus. Treatments for these diagnoses include implementing medications to treat the positive symptoms Joan of Arc experienced. Therapy to focus on social and learning skills would also be considered. However, for treatments to be effective, an underlying disorder or problem must be present and after examining Joan of Arc's life it appears that her behavior was not distressing, dysfunctional or deviant from her culture and therefore cannot be diagnosed with a mental disorder..