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Psychological Health, Trauma, Dissociation, Absorption, and Fantasy Proneness Among Danish Spiritual Practitioners

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Author

  • Etzel Cardeña
  • Sophie Reijman
  • Cathrine Lawaetz Wimmelmann
  • Christian Gaden Jensen

Summary, in English

Groups of spiritual practitioners (P) (n = 38), long-term residents in a center offering spiritual courses (R) (n = 8), and matched control groups from a general, population sample for P (CP) (n = 45) and for R (CR) (n = 14) were compared. P had high levels of education and tended to be in a committed relationship and belong to the Danish National Church, whereas R had a lower level of education and were unlikely to be in a committed relationship or belong to the Church, suggesting social marginality. All groups completed the Brief Symptom Inventory-53 (BSI-53), a measure of psychological distress. P did not differ from the control groups in the Global Severity scale (GSI) or the other subscales of the BSI-53 except for scoring lower on the phobic anxiety subscale. In contrast, R scored higher in the GSI and most BSI-53 subscales than P and the control groups, and published norms for Danish and US populations. P and R did not differ in the subscales of somatization or interpersonal sensitivity. These two groups also filled out measures of dissociation, general and severe trauma, absorption, and fantasy proneness. R scored higher than P in dissociation, severe trauma, and absorption. The GSI correlated with dissociation, a history of serious trauma and (weakly) with absorption, but not with general trauma or fantasy-proneness. Overall, the results do not support the view that most spiritual practitioners have higher psychological distress or are socially marginal, although there is a subset of more troubled individuals.

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Pages

170-184

Publication/Series

Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice

Volume

2

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Psychological Association (APA)

Topic

  • Psychology

Keywords

  • spiritual practitioners
  • psychopathology
  • dissociation
  • absorption
  • anomalous experience

Status

Published

Research group

  • CERCAP (Center for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2326-5523