Glossolalia: A test of the "trance" and psychopathology hypotheses.

Abstract

Three hypotheses concerning glossolalia were tested; that glossolalia (a) results from a "hyperaroused trance," (b) is associated with high levels of hypnotic susceptibility, and (c) is symptomatic of psychopathology. Contrary to the "trance" hypothesis, experienced glossolalics performed glossolalia with eyes open and without accompanying kinetic activity (e.g., trembling, shaking) or residual disorientation. Moreover, memory deficits following glossolalic speech occurred to the same degree following nontrance control activity. Glossolalics and nonglossolalic control subjects matched for age, sex, and level of education did not differ from one another on hypnotic susceptibility, absorption, or measures of psychopathology. Our findings are consistent with nontrance formulations that conceptualize the acquisition and maintenance of glossolalia in terms of social-learning variables.Glossolalic discourse ("speaking in tongues") is a human utterance devoid of semantic meaning or syntax. However, it contains a phonological structure that makes it sound languagelike in intonation, melody, and phoneme composition (Goodman, 1969a;Samarin, 1968; Wolfram, Note 1). Glossolalia has been recorded in non-Christian as well as Christian religious contexts and, occasionally, occurs in completely nonreligious settings (May, 1956; Samarin, 1972b). Within the Christian tradition, it has usually been interpreted as a manifestation of the Holy Spirit's presence within the speaker as well as a vehicle of communication with God in the forms of prophecy and prayer (Kelsey, 1964;Knox, 1950).' Scientific investigators have tended to conceptualize glossolalia from one of two perspectives. Some have argued that it is the product of an altered, dissociated, or "trance" state of consciousness (Goodman, 1972b; This research was supported in part by Carleton University Grant GR6-486B. We thank J. M. Brown, H. L. Radtke-Bodorik, and H. J. Stam for critically reading earlier drafts of this paper.Requests for reprints should be sent to N.

Fiery Tongues and Mystical Motivations: Glossolalia in a Forensic Population is Associated with Mania and Sexual/Religious Delusions

“…Hine concluded that available evidence required that an explanation of glossolalia as pathological must be discarded (6). Spanos and Hewitt (10) reported no reliable empirical support for the psychopathology hypothesis concerning glossolalia. They compared glossolalics and non-glossolalics matched for age, sex, and level of education on measures of selfesteem, psychosomatic complaints, depression, neuroticism, and dogmatism.…”

Judeo-Christian Religious Experience and Psychopathology: The Legacy of William James

“…Kildahl's hypothesis was tested by Spanos and Hewitt (1979). They examined the trait of absorption in imaginative experiences and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility for directly assessing hypnotic susceptibility.…”

“…Goodman (1972) analysed 29 case histories of tonguespeakers and concluded that speaking in tongues always involves a change of mental state similar to trance (with linguistic and cultural influences). Kildahl's hypothesis was tested by Spanos and Hewitt (1979). They examined the trait of absorption in imaginative experiences and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility for directly assessing hypnotic susceptibility.…”

Attribution of Mental States in Glossolalia: A Direct Comparison With Schizophrenia

“…For example, it has been shown that schizophasia (grossly disorganized and incoherent speech in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders) is linguistically distinguishable from glossolalia (Samarin, 1973). Also, glossolalists seem to display lower rates of depression (Spanos and Hewitt, 1979), less neuroticism, and higher emotional stability as compared to non-glossolalists with a similar cultural and religious background (Francis and Robbins, 2003), which is against the psychopathology hypothesis.…”