A Comparative Study of Exceptional Experiences of Clients Seeking Advice and of Subjects in an Ordinary Population

Fach, Wolfgang; Atmanspacher, Harald; Landolt, Karin; Wyss, Thomas; Rössler, Wulf

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00065

Cited by 47 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…As such, the topic has gained increased interest within the context of early identification and treatment of persons at risk for psychosis. However, the data showed that only a minority of persons develops a diagnosable psychotic disorder (Fusar-Poli et al 2012). However, the data showed that only a minority of persons develops a diagnosable psychotic disorder (Fusar-Poli et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Subclinical psychosis syndromes in the general population: results from a large-scale epidemiological survey among residents of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Rössler

Ajdacic-Gross

Haker

et al. 2013

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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Aims. Prevalence and covariates of subclinical psychosis have gained increased interest in the context of early identification and treatment of persons at risk for psychosis. Methods. We analysed 9829 adults representative of the general population within the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Two psychosis syndromes, derived from the SCL-90-R, were applied: 'schizotypal signs' and 'schizophrenia nuclear symptoms'. Results. Only a few subjects (13.2%) reported no schizotypal signs. While 33.2% of subjects indicated mild signs, only a small proportion (3.7%) reported severe signs. A very common outcome was no 'schizophrenia nuclear symptoms' (70.6%). Although 13.5% of the participants reported mild symptoms, severe nuclear symptoms were very rare (0.5%). Because these two syndromes were only moderately correlated (r = 0.43), we were able to establish sufficiently distinct symptom clusters. Schizotypal signs were more closely connected to distress than was schizophrenia nuclear symptoms, even though their distribution types were similar. Both syndromes were associated with several covariates, such as alcohol and tobacco use, being unmarried, low education level, psychopathological distress and low subjective well-being. Conclusions. Subclinical psychosis symptoms are quite frequent in the general population but, for the most part, are not very pronounced. In particular, our data support the notion of a continuous Wald distribution of psychotic symptoms in the general population. Our findings have enabled us to confirm the usefulness of these syndromes as previously assessed in other independent community samples. Both can appropriately be associated with well-known risk factors of schizophrenia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Subclinical psychosis syndromes in the general population: results from a large-scale epidemiological survey among residents of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Rössler

Ajdacic-Gross

Haker

et al. 2013

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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“…(29, 30)]. The PAGE, created by the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP), characterizes the phenomenology of EE according to the phenomenological classification indicated above.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help-Seeking in People with Exceptional Experiences: Results from a General Population Sample

Landolt

Wittwer

Wyss

et al. 2014

Front. Public Health

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Background: Exceptional experiences (EE) are experiences that deviate from ordinary experiences, for example precognition, supernatural appearances, or déjà vues. In spite of the high frequency of EE in the general population, little is known about their effect on mental health and about the way people cope with EE. This study aimed to assess the quality and quantity of EE in persons from the Swiss general population, to identify the predictors of their help-seeking, and to determine how many of them approach the mental health system.Methods: An on-line survey was used to evaluate a quota sample of 1580 persons representing the Swiss general population with respect to gender, age, and level of education. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to integrate help-seeking, self-reported mental disorder, and other variables in a statistical model designed to identify predictors of help-seeking in persons with EE.Results: Almost all participants (91%) experienced at least one EE. Generally, help-seeking was more frequent when the EE were of negative valence. Help-seeking because of EE was less frequent in persons without a self-reported mental disorder (8.6%) than in persons with a disorder (35.1%) (OR = 5.7). Even when frequency and attributes of EE were controlled for, people without a disorder sought four times less often help because of EE than expected. Persons with a self-reported diagnosis of mental disorder preferred seeing a mental health professional. Multinomial regression revealed a preference for healers in women with less education, who described themselves as believing and also having had more impressive EE.Conclusion: Persons with EE who do not indicate a mental disorder less often sought help because of EE than persons who indicated a mental disorder. We attribute this imbalance to a high inhibition threshold to seek professional help. Moreover, especially less educated women did not approach the mental health care system as often as other persons with EE, but preferred seeing a healer.

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“…It turned out that coincidence and dissociation phenomena represent key patterns in the documented material from IGPP clients. An additional study together with the Psychiatric University Clinic Zürich (‘Burghölzli’), based on subjects from ordinary population rather than advice‐seeking clients was recently published (Fach et al ). As should be expected, the intensity of the experiences reported by the general population is rated significantly lower than for IGPP clients.…”

Section: Exceptional Human Experiencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychophysical correlations, synchronicity and meaning

Atmanspacher¹

2014

J Analytical Psychology

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The dual-aspect framework which Jung developed with Wolfgang Pauli implies that psychophysical phenomena are neither reducible to physical processes nor to conscious mental activity. Rather, they constitute a radically novel kind of phenomena, deriving from correlations between the physical and the mental. In synchronistic events, a particular subclass of psychophysical phenomena, these correlations are explicated as experienced meaning.

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A Comparative Study of Exceptional Experiences of Clients Seeking Advice and of Subjects in an Ordinary Population

Cited by 47 publications

References 37 publications

Subclinical psychosis syndromes in the general population: results from a large-scale epidemiological survey among residents of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Subclinical psychosis syndromes in the general population: results from a large-scale epidemiological survey among residents of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Help-Seeking in People with Exceptional Experiences: Results from a General Population Sample

Psychophysical correlations, synchronicity and meaning

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