Mystical psychosis

Last updated

Mystical psychosis is a term coined by Arthur J. Deikman in the early 1970s to characterize first-person accounts of psychotic experiences [1] that are strikingly similar to reports of mystical experiences. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Background

According to Deikman, and authors from a number of disciplines, psychotic experience need not be considered pathological, especially if consideration is given to the values and beliefs of the individual concerned. [6] [7]

Causes of deautomatization

Deikman thought the mystical experience was brought about through a "deautomatization" or undoing of habitual psychological structures that organize, limit, select, and interpret perceptual stimuli. [8]

There may be several causes of deautomatization—exposure to severe stress, substance abuse [9] [10] or withdrawal, and mood disorders. [11]

Mystical experiences

A closely related category is mystical experience with psychotic features, proposed by David Lukoff in 1985. [12]

A first episode of mystical psychosis is often very frightening, confusing and distressing, particularly because it is an unfamiliar experience. For example, researchers have found that people experiencing paranormal and mystical phenomena report many of the symptoms of panic attacks. [13]

On the basis of comparison of mystical experience and psychotic experience, Deikman came to a conclusion that mystical experience can be caused by "deautomatization" or transformation of habitual psychological structures which organize, limit, select and interpret perceptional incentives that is interfaced to heavy stresses and emotional shocks. [14] He described usual symptoms of mystical psychosis which consist in strengthening of a receptive mode and weakening of a mode of action.

People susceptible to mystical psychosis become much more impressible. They feel a unification with society, with the world, God, and also feel washing out the perceptive and conceptual borders. Similarity of mystical psychosis to mystical experience is expressed in sudden, distinct and very strong transition to a receptive mode. It is characterized with easing the subject—object distinction, sensitivity increase and nonverbal, lateral, intuitive thought processes. [15]

Deikman's opinion that experience of mystical experience in itself can't be a sign to psychopathology, even in case of this experience at the persons susceptible to neurophysiological and psychiatric frustration, in many respects defined the relation to mystical experiences in modern psychology and psychiatry.

Deikman considered that all-encompassing unity opened in mysticism can be all-encompassing unity of reality. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kundalini</span> Form of divine energy in Hindu mysticism

In Hinduism, kundalini is a form of divine feminine energy believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the muladhara. It is an important concept in Śhaiva Tantra, where it is believed to be a force or power associated with the divine feminine or the formless aspect of the Goddess. This energy in the body, when cultivated and awakened through tantric practice, is believed to lead to spiritual liberation. Kuṇḍalinī is associated with the goddess Parvati or Adi Parashakti, the supreme being in Shaktism, and with the goddesses Bhairavi and Kubjika. The term, along with practices associated with it, was adopted into Hatha Yoga in the 9th century. It has since then been adopted into other forms of Hinduism as well as modern spirituality and New Age thought.

Psychosis is a condition of the mind or psyche that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are disorganized thinking and incoherent speech and behavior that is inappropriate for a given situation. There may also be sleep problems, social withdrawal, lack of motivation, and difficulties carrying out daily activities. Psychosis can have serious adverse outcomes.

Philosophy of psychology is concerned with the history and foundations of psychology. It deals with both epistemological and ontological issues and shares interests with other fields, including philosophy of mind and theoretical psychology. Philosophical and theoretical psychology are intimately tied and are therefore sometimes used interchangeably or used together. However, philosophy of psychology relies more on debates general to philosophy and on philosophical methods, whereas theoretical psychology draws on multiple areas.

Richard Bentall is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychedelic experience</span> Altered state of consciousness brought upon by the consumption of psychoactive substances

A psychedelic experience is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance. For example, an acid trip is a psychedelic experience brought on by the use of LSD, while a mushroom trip is a psychedelic experience brought on by the use of psilocybin. Psychedelic experiences feature alterations in normal perception such as visual distortions and a subjective loss of self-identity, sometimes interpreted as mystical experiences. Psychedelic experiences lack predictability, as they can range from being highly pleasurable to frightening. The outcome of a psychedelic experience is heavily influenced by the person's mood, personality, expectations, and environment.

Thought broadcasting is a type of delusional condition in which the affected person believes that others can hear their inner thoughts, despite a clear lack of evidence. The person may believe that either those nearby can perceive their thoughts or that they are being transmitted via mediums such as television, radio or the internet. Different people can experience thought broadcasting in different ways. Thought broadcasting is most commonly found among people who have a psychotic disorder, specifically schizophrenia.

Transliminality was a concept introduced by the parapsychologist Michael Thalbourne, an Australian psychologist who was based at the University of Adelaide. It is defined as a hypersensitivity to psychological material originating in (a) the unconscious, and/or (b) the external environment. High degrees of this trait have been shown by Thalbourne to be associated with increased tendency to mystical experience, greater creativity, and greater belief in the paranormal, but Thalbourne has also found evidence that transliminality may be positively correlated with psychoticism. He has published articles on transliminality in journals on parapsychology and psychology.

Scholarly approaches to mysticism include typologies of mysticism and the explanation of mystical states. Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. It is closely related to mysticism but lays sole emphasis on the experiential aspect, be it spontaneous or induced by human behavior, whereas mysticism encompasses a broad range of practices aiming at a transformation of the person, not just inducing mystical experiences.

Thought insertion is defined by the ICD-10 as the delusion that one's thoughts are not one's own, but rather belong to someone else and have been inserted into one's mind. The person experiencing the thought insertion delusion will not necessarily know where the thought is coming from, but makes a distinction between their own thoughts and those inserted into their minds. However, patients do not experience all thoughts as inserted; only certain ones, normally following a similar content or pattern. A person with this delusional belief is convinced of the veracity of their beliefs and is unwilling to accept such diagnosis.

<i>The Wrong Way Home</i> 1990 book by Arthur J. Deikman

The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, is a book on cult culture within the United States, written by Arthur J. Deikman, M.D. The book was originally published in hardcover format in December 1990 by Beacon Press, and reprinted in paperback form September 1994. Dr. Deikman was a professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.

Arthur J. Deikman was an American physician who was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and Human Givens. He was also a contributor to The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

Michael Anthony Thalbourne was an Australian psychologist who worked in the field of parapsychology. He was educated at the University of Adelaide and the University of Edinburgh. His books include: A glossary of terms used in parapsychology (2003), The common thread between ESP and PK (2004), and Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on the future of Psychical Research (2005).

Brief psychotic disorder—according to the classifications of mental disorders DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5—is a psychotic condition involving the sudden onset of at least one psychotic symptom lasting 1 day to 1 month, often accompanied by emotional turmoil. Remission of all symptoms is complete with patients returning to the previous level of functioning. It may follow a period of extreme stress including the loss of a loved one. Most patients with this condition under DSM-5 would be classified as having acute and transient psychotic disorders under ICD-10. Prior to DSM-IV, this condition was called "brief reactive psychosis." This condition may or may not be recurrent, and it should not be caused by another condition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postpartum psychosis</span> Rare psychiatric emergency beginning suddenly in the first two weeks after childbirth

Postpartum psychosis (PPP), also known as puerperal psychosis or peripartum psychosis, involves the abrupt onset of psychotic symptoms shortly following childbirth, typically within two weeks of delivery but less than 4 weeks postpartum. PPP is a condition currently represented under "Brief Psychotic Disorder" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Volume V (DSM-V). Symptoms may include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or abnormal motor behavior. Other symptoms frequently associated with PPP include confusion, disorganized thought, severe difficulty sleeping, variations of mood disorders, as well as cognitive features such as consciousness that comes and goes or disorientation.

<i>Wisdom of the Idiots</i> 1969 book by Idries Shah

Wisdom of the Idiots is a book of Sufi teaching stories by the writer Idries Shah first published by the Octagon Press in 1969. A paperback edition was published in 1991. ISF Publishing, sponsored by The Idries Shah Foundation, published a paperback edition on 2015, followed by the ebook version and audiobook.

Spiritual crisis is a form of identity crisis where an individual experiences drastic changes to their meaning system typically because of a spontaneous spiritual experience. A spiritual crisis may cause significant disruption in psychological, social, and occupational functioning. Among the spiritual experiences thought to lead to episodes of spiritual crisis or spiritual emergency are psychiatric complications related to existential crisis, mystical experience, near-death experiences, Kundalini syndrome, paranormal experiences, religious ecstasy, or other spiritual practices.

John Charles Cutting is a British psychiatrist specialising in schizophrenia research. He has written a number of books, and articles and reviews in professional journals, on the subjects of psychiatry, clinical psychology, schizophrenia and the functioning of the right cerebral hemisphere of the brain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph W. Hood</span>

Ralph Wilbur Hood Jr. is an American psychologist. He serves as Leroy A. Martin Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he specializes in the psychology of religion.

Self-transcendence is a personality trait that involves the expansion or evaporation of personal boundaries. This may potentially include spiritual experiences such as considering oneself an integral part of the universe. Several psychologists, including Viktor Frankl, Abraham Maslow, and Pamela G. Reed have made contributions to the theory of self-transcendence.

A self-disorder, also called ipseity disturbance, is a psychological phenomenon of disruption or diminishing of a person's minimal self – the fundamental sense that one's experiences are truly one's own. People with self-disorder feel that their internal experiences are actually external; for example, they may experience their own thoughts as coming from outside themselves, whether in the form of true auditory hallucinations or merely as a vague sense that their thoughts do not belong to them.

References

  1. ↑ Whitney, E. (1998). "Personal accounts: Mania as spiritual emergency" Psychiatric Services49: 1547–1548
  2. ↑ Jackson, M., & Fulford, K.W.M., K. W. M.; Jackson, Mike (1997). "Spiritual experience and psychopathology". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 4: 41–66. doi:10.1353/ppp.1997.0002. S2CID   28927599.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Brett, C. (2003). "Psychotic and mystical states of being: Connections and distinctions". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 9 (4): 321–341. doi:10.1353/ppp.2003.0053. S2CID   145696666.
  4. ↑ Sandra Stahlman(1992)"The Relationship Between Schizophrenia & Mysticism: A Bibliographic Essay Archived 2009-05-05 at the Wayback Machine "
  5. ↑ Tomás Agosin(1989)"Mysticism and Psychosis"
  6. ↑ Jackson, M., & Fulford, K.W.M. (2003). "Psychosis good and bad: Values-based practice and the distinction between pathological and nonpathological forms of psychotic experience". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 9 (4): 387–394. doi:10.1353/ppp.2003.0059. S2CID   142858156.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Richard House(2001)"'Psychopathology', 'Psychosis' and the Kundalini: 'postmodern' perspectives on unusual subjective experience"
  8. ↑ Thalbourne, M.A. & Maltby, J., M; Maltby, J (2008). "Transliminality, thin boundaries, Unusual Experiences, and temporal lobe lability". Personality and Individual Differences. 44 (7): 1617–1623. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.01.022.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ "Hallucinogens and Schizophrenia"
  10. ↑ Nelson, B. & Sass, L. A. (2008). "The Phenomenology of the Psychotic Break and Huxley's Trip: Substance Use and the Onset of Psychosis" Psychopathology41: 346–355
  11. ↑ Deikman, A J (1971). "Bimodal consciousness". Archives of General Psychiatry. 25 (6): 481–489. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1971.01750180001001. PMID   5141366.
  12. ↑ Lukoff, D (155–181). "The diagnosis of mystical experience with psychotic features". The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 17 / #2: 481–489.
  13. ↑ Thalbourne, M. A., & Fox, B. (1999). "Paranormal and mystical experience: The role of panic attacks and Kundalini". Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. 93: 99–115.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Deikman, A. J. (1971). Bimodal Consciousness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 25, 481–489.
  15. ↑ Falk, Avner, A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews. Associated University Presses, 1996. 850pp. Hardcover. ISBN   978-0-8386-3660-2. p. 417.
  16. ↑ Hood, Ralph W.; Peter C. Hill & Bernard Spilka (2009). The psychology of religion : An empirical approach (4th ed.). New York: Guilford. ISBN   978-1-60623-303-0. p. 372.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.