Skip to main content

Integrating Spiritual Experiences into Psychology

The majority of people in western cultures indicate they have had at least one "spiritual experience" in their lifetime.  These can manifest themselves in a variety of ways, from near death-like experiences, or out-of-body experiences where the person feels their consciousness as separate from their body.  This may be achieved through meditation, use of narcotics or a variety of other ways.

“One of the issues people often face is integrating the experience into their life”, says Dr Karen Frewin, a registered psychologist and senior lecturer in counselling and guidance at Massey’s Institute of Education in New Zealand. “Because of the unusual nature of spiritual experiences, some people may find them difficult to differentiate from some mental illnesses, which leaves them wondering whether they are ‘crazy’ after having such an unusual experience.”

Dr Frewin states despite the difficulty some people have with understanding the experience, the beneficial changes that can occur for many indicate they could serve a positive psychological function, and have implications for psychotherapy and understandings of anomalous phenomena.

Even with the long reported positive effect spiritual experiences may have on lives, many health practioners and psycologists lack the competence and training to respond to clients reporting concerns of a spiritual nature.  This is expected to be a focus of researchers in the field of Positive Psychology, as they seek to capitalize on the positive results spiritual experiences appear to promote.

https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=6BD8004E-A9DF-D429-E050-AD0E7B19C4CF

Popular posts from this blog

Even Small Moments of Intimacy Can Add Meaning to Life

In surveys, we list our close relationships as our most important sources of meaning. Research shows that people who are lonely and isolated feel their lives are less meaningful. In 1985, when the General Social Survey asked Americans how many people they’d discussed important matters with over the past six months, the most common response was three. When the survey was repeated again in 2004, the most common response was zero.  Despite increased social media permeating our lives, many surveys (including those mentioned in the article below) point to a disturbing trend of people not having significant social connection in their lives.  Psychologists have also discovered the value of small moments of intimacy.  These positive, short-term interactions between two people can be when a couple holds hands on a walk or when two strangers have an empathetic conversation on a plane.  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jan/15/friend-zone-why-we-all...

How to reprogram our subconscious

A podcast featuring  author  Bruce Lipton who says sometimes the reason it’s difficult to make lasting change in your life is because the thing you are trying to change contradicts the subconscious programming that you received very early on. His discoveries have shown that a person’s  perception , not genetic programming, is what spurs all action in the body: It’s actually our  beliefs  that select our genes, that then select our behavior. Our conscience is dictating our genetic makeup! https://thriveglobal.com/stories/podcast-habit-change-rewiring-your-subconscious-mind/

Action Has to Come Before Motivation

We need to take small and effective actions to be the fuel of the motivation train!  Action leads to Motivation. People wait for motivation to strike, before they take action. The feedback loop starts with Action, which motivates you, which leads to more action, which means you're more motivated to take action... :) https://www.getflashnotes.com/podcast/meaningful-show/action-%e2%86%92-motivation/