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Research Project

This blog is presently being used to conduct research on certain aspects of Religion and Health. These aspects will hopefully be better defined as the research proceeds further. It has been suggested that we gather as much materials as possible on Psychosis and Mysticism, preferably by experts in the field, not people who write stuff based on their beliefs, on religious beliefs (which are often not founded or proved) or on their subjective experience. It has also been suggested that we also take into account psychiatric, sociological, philosophical as well as psychological elements in this research. We would like to write a paper following international professional guidelines and take all precautions in referencing etc.

Looking forward to finding an interesting evolution of posts and comments on our blog in way of this proposed research.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

 "Questionnaires and scales can yield a wealth of information if administered in a precise manner. Hood and Morris (1981) created the Mystical Experience Questionnaire. It was a culmination of “the major component criteria common in empirical studies of mysticism” (p.77). The questionnaire items were derived from the “research of Brown, Spilka, and Cassidy (1978), Greeley (1974), and Hood (1975)” (p.77). Examining these sources, I found that they all were in turn, based upon the research of Stace. In 1960, Stace created categories to distinguish the “core” mystical experience. First Stace differentiates between “introvertive” and “extrovertive” mystical experience, the extrovertive being “on a lower level than the introvertive type…a partly realized tendency to unity which the introvertive kind completely realizes” (Stace,1960,p.132). Next, examining the reports of mystics, he generates two lists of common “core” characteristics, one for each type – introvertive or extrovertive. Characteristics include: unity, noesis, disregard of logic, bliss, sacredness, paradox, and ineffability. The Hood and Morris 1981 questionnaire is based largely upon Stace’s conceptualizations.

Michael Siglag administered the Hood and Morris questionnaire to seventy-five schizophrenic adult inpatients. He describes the research in “Schizophrenic and Mystical Experiences: Similarities and Differences” (Siglag, 1987). Participants were chosen from a cross-section of socioeconomic status, ethnic groups and religious orientations (p.2). Among their initial hypothesis was a prediction that one-third of the questioned schizophrenics would respond positively to having had a mystical experience; in addition, those who respond positively will score equal to or greater than “schizophrenic subjects who do not claim mystical experience, on the questionnaire’s factors measure experience of unity, affect, time/space distortion, and noesis."


https://runningfather.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/the-relationship-between-schizophrenia-mysticism-a-bibliographic-essay-by-sandra-stahlman/

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