Spiritual Experiences vs Psychosis - 4 Key Differences According to Research
May 01, 2024Episode 40
Tatiana Da Silva
In this episode we explore the key features that can be used to differentiate between a spiritual awakening or spiritual experience, and a process of psychosis.
These features are drawn from the incredible research conducted at the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia.
Intro and Outro music: Inspiring Morning by Playsound
Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.
In this episode we explore the key features that can be used to differentiate between a spiritual awakening or spiritual experience, and a process of psychosis.
These features are drawn from the incredible research conducted at the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia.
Intro and Outro music: Inspiring Morning by Playsound
Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.
Tatiana:
Welcome to the Integrated Wisdom Podcast. I am your host, Tatyana Da Silva. Join me as we discuss what it means to live an integrated life and explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater meaning, peace, and connection by integrating the wisdom of spirituality, psychology, Neuroscience, Epigenetics and Energy Psychology are hoped to empower you to create deeper and more loving connections with yourself and others, whilst also paving the way for humanity at large to be reimagined and inspired to become the very best version of itself. Hello and welcome to the integrated with them podcast. Thank you so much for joining me for yet. Another episode. I apologize for missing last week. I don't know what's going on with me at the moment. It. Thinking lots of bugs. It feels like almost every other week. But. It w it wasn't, I wasn't in a good space to, to be able to record. But here we are. So I appreciate your, your understanding. For those of you who, who don't know. I'm currently running, uh, a course it's a pilot course. Aimed at therapists. called'The Conscious Therapist' where we're speaking about spirituality and the integration into therapeutic practice. And it's been a really awesome experience. I'm loving every second of it. And there are some beautiful therapists in the room who are really eager to learn. And really. Illustrating to me that. There are so many people out there who really do want to understand that spiritual nature of life. Who see the value that. Having conversations around this or integrating this understanding. Uh, into People's overall. Approach to wellbeing to. To wellness is important. And. And I think it's, it's also been highlighting how, as health professionals, as therapists, psychologists, So much is to be gained by integrating a spiritual understanding of life into the therapeutic work that we do. And we're halfway through the course at the moment, which, you know, it's, it's really exciting and I'm always sad that it's already at the halfway point because it means. We're getting closer to the end. Uh, but it's been really wonderful. And this week in particular, It was an integration week. So the first half of the course. We've been focusing on crafting our own spiritual practice. Uh, really clarifying our own values and, and beliefs around spirituality and really learning to hone in our intuition and access that higher wisdom that's available to us at all times. Before we move into part two, which starts next week. Where the focus is really on the research available around spiritual concepts. How we want to integrate it into our therapeutic practice and how to do so in the, in a really ethical and evidence guided way. And so this integration week, Was an opportunity to consolidate what we've been learning up until now. But also. Preparing us for this next focus of integration into therapeutic practice. And one of the topics that came up for discussion, which I think is it's not only relevant for therapists. But I think it's relevant to people at large, who are curious about spirituality who have maybe even had spiritual experiences. And may not know. What to make of it or how to, how to make meaning of those experiences. And that is how we differentiate between having a spiritual awakening or a spiritual experience. Versus, uh, an experience of psychosis. I think for a lot of people when they first have spiritual experiences, or even for those who have. Ima have mediumship abilities that. Uh, more open and, or have emerging mediumship. Initially, there can be so much fear. Around one's sanity. Right. Am I going crazy? Like, am I just hallucinating these things? And indeed I think it can be really helpful for people to know. That there are some very clear markers that identify and differentiate between a true spiritual experience. And that of a psychotic experience. And so I wanted to speak to that today. It's going to be just, Really. High-level some core identifying features. That you can all start to think about and down the track, if need be, we can talk about, I can do another episode. That goes into a little bit more detail. But I think, you know, in the conversation, it was so clear that us, you know, we're all very highly trained professionals and we all have so many questions about this and I'm sure the wider community also has many questions about this. So it felt pertinent to do a quick short episode. On this topic this week. And I'm basing these core features on some incredible research. That's come out of the university of Virginia. You'll notice from previous episodes, I quote their research a lot. Because they do have a dedicated departments there. Uh, the department of perceptual studies. Out of the faculty of medicine, where they do so many different research projects on spiritual phenomena, they study mediumship, they study near-death experiences. They study reincarnational memories of children. And they've also produced some very Very robust and in clear studies around differentiating. Uh, spiritual phenomenon and what we would expect to see when someone's in, uh, a psychotic. State. Or having a psychotic experience. So I think if we start with. The very first identifying factor. That is the context of the experience. Right. So when we look at the context of these experiences, when they arise, They start to paint a very clear picture about whether we're dealing with something that's more spiritual. Versus something that's potentially. Psychological or, uh, a psychiatric symptom. And in the context of a spiritual experience. It's very often the case that these experiences will happen in a situation of stress or in a life-threatening situation. Eh, I think in a previous episode, I spoke about. A documentary. I watched all of the nine 11 attacks for example. And there was a case of a woman who. Of a man actually. Th there were actually quite a few cases where people reported Experiences of being led to safety by what, in hindsight, they felt was spiritual entities, but there was a, the case of a man. Who was strapped in, in one of the floors. And he heard a voice guiding him. Towards the right, the right direction. And there was nobody there when you, when you made it to the other side. Of course, you know, we can speculate as to whether there was somebody in that person left. But there seems to be. I don't remember the specific details, but the, they seem to be. alluding to the fact that he probably was a spiritual guide that was leading that person to safety. And certainly in situations of danger, often people will have experiences like this. There'll be guided by a guide or sometimes it's, it's a loved one. And. And these studies are documenting reports like that. And so that can be a very distinguishing feature. In spiritual situations or spiritual expense. These tend to be short and And they don't happen very frequently. They're, they're more rare as opposed to when we're talking about. People with psychotic features. We tend to see that a lot more particularly in. In the mental health. A sphere when we encounter it seems to be more, we can see it more regularly. Where the features are not necessarily spiritual. They tend to happen. Spiritual experiences tend to happen in the absence of other mental health symptoms. Though, I will say to this sometimes when people were particularly when there's emerging. Mediumship. The. The feeling of connecting with a spiritual energy sometimes can, because it goes through our nervous system. Sometimes it can feel like anxiety. But that is not the, but that's a very separate type of anxiety experience to what we would have when someone experiences an anxiety disorder. Where there's often, you know, thoughts associated with that or. Uh, and, and mores and, you know, Worried about the future and what if questions and that sort of thing. And normally there's generally normal functioning before that spiritual experience till place. So the person for the most part is functioning really well. And then they might have this one experience that. That starts to open them up to do spiritual content or interactions. As opposed to someone who probably had is having a psychotic experience where they generally have had other instances of dysfunction or other areas of dysfunction in their life. By the time they're had their reporting, those sorts of symptoms. So that's the first, the first. Kind of key differentiating feature, right? The context. So important to start there. The second one is the actual content of the experience. There's some really clear clues in the content of the experience itself. That will help people. Differentiate between whether someone's having a spiritual experience or whether it's, it's a psychotic experience. Generally with spiritual experiences. The, the content is things to be tends to be intact, to very, very specific, very detailed. It's structured. Even though like on a logical basis, some of the things that they might be talking about. Seem bizarre and illogical because we're coming at it from the lens of, you know, only material. Experiences a real. But there is still a cohesion or cohesiveness. To the, to the narrative that the person is describing. It's not, it's not chaotic. It's not bizarre. And it's in these experiences tend to be very consistent across. Different cultures. Sometimes the meaning-making. We'll have a flavor of the culture that the person comes from, but some key features are very much. Prevalent in individuals across. Yeah, across cultures and. And their own individual. Personality traits. They tend to be. Compatible with. Uh, religious or spiritual traditions. And often these experiences are unrelated to their physical environment. Oh, sorry. So it's not, they're not drawing necessarily on things that are around them. Whereas I think for, for people sometimes in a psychotic state, Uh, things within. Their environment or people in their environment can be brought into an integrated. Into that hallucinatory experience, right. Or that delusion. Whereas with a psych with a spiritual experience. These entities or these spiritual Symbols. They, they are very distinct from the environment that the person is experiencing them in. So yeah, there's so much in the content that we can. Can find to just start to pull apart. There's different things. Another feature that also. Really helps to delineate whether it's a spiritual experience or a psychotic experience. Is the person's ability to recollect the experience after. So often when people have had a spiritual experience. They're recollection. They'll describe the experience as being super real, like hyper real There. They have a really lasting, persisting memory of the event. It's on fragmented. It's intact. And it tends to not fade over time. They have. Like they continue to have very vivid memories. All of those experiences as though it happened. You know, in you. I see real life. Cause it did happen in real life, but they, they have these memories of retained. Oh, in the exact same way as things that they've lived through. And again, they did. These memories will retain to their detail over time. So that's a very key identifying feature. Often when individuals have had, uh, a psychotic episode. Uh, one, there's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of fear that will come with that. But over time, they will start describing it more like dream life. Those memories start to feel dreamlike. This. As they start to gain insight, they start to understand that that wasn't real. They will start to become memories will start to become a little bit. Fuzzy until they completely disappear. So that in itself can be a really key. Delineating factor between one and the other. You know, In SPI spiritual experiences. After the fact they will lead to, uh, almost a reader. Redefining of a person's meaning or sense of meaning in their life. It can be true. These experiences can be transformative because it opens up. People's awareness. And perception of what matters in life. It can lead to significant transformation. That's positive. And these more. In psychotic experiences generally don't have that effect. You know, once the person's back in. In their normal state and. It tends not to have any lasting impact one way or another. If anything, it might lead to more anxiety. It might lead to a decrease in a sense of joy and meaning in their life. It might lead to feeling separate from other people. Spiritual expenses tend to be very focused on connecting us with others and. Really enhancing our capacity for compassion and that sense of connection with the O you know, that we're all, we're all connected. Whereas people query through psychotic experiences generally become very self-absorbed and tracked within themselves. Uh, it can be obviously a very horrifying experience for them. It's very, it's very, very frightening. Uh, and, and that can lead to isolation and. Withdrawal from social social support structures. So, again, these are all really key identifying features that help to differentiate between one and the other. And lastly, uh, we look at the after effects of the experience. So, like I said, spiritual experiences generally tend to lead the individual to have a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their life. There's very rarely distressed. When it comes to having these experiences in. In hindsight, uh, I think at first. When people experienced this, sometimes it can be scary. And you know, obviously people can start to question their, their sanity and all sorts of things. But once they've had time to integrate the experience that makes make meaning of it. Generally there's very little negative emotion associated to it. There's generally a really positive feeling. And they, they feel positive about the experience itself. They want to share those details with other people they're able to still retain those experiences. Very clearly. Like I said, there's an absence of symptoms of mental illness, of any type. Uh, they have a very integrated and stable sense of self. They know, they're still able to function without any, any issues. They, they might have that fleeting experience, but it doesn't interact in impact on their ability to function in a lasting way. And they might, after the fact, some people will describe having a greater sensitivity. Too. To to energy, you know, sometimes that's, like I said, it's the beginning of a medium ship process. So that emerging medium ship. It start with one very. clear core interaction. And after the fact that person's channels of communication and perception are more widely open. And so they'll start to be aware of those other inputs moving forward. Uh, but overall there is just a lasting, positive effect over time. There, they have a greater sense of meaning, as I said, Greater sense of joy. Generally less fear selling less fear about dying. They. Feel more connected to others, more compassionate. Uh, and definitely more altruistic, so less self-absorbed more focused on, on connecting with others or being a service to others. And I guess another key distinguishing feature is if, if sometimes these people end up in the mental system or in the medical system. Sadly. And, you know, They might be medicated. As in contrast to individuals who are having a true psychotic experience, once they're medicated, those symptoms will disappear. Someone who's having a spiritual experience will be completely unaffected by an anti-psychotic medication. So they will still be able to retain all of those experiences. All of those memories. Regardless of the medication. So that can also in itself be a very key distinguishing feature. So, so that's, that's the essence of it. So just to recap, Some of the four core ways to identify. Or differentiate between a spiritual experience in a psychotic experience is to look at the context in which it happens. The content of that experience. How people are able to retain the recollections after the fact. And what the lasting after effects of the experience tend to be. Overall, the person's intact sense of self will be intact when it's a spiritual experience. They tend to be when they happen, they tend to happen very in short bursts, but also in the absence of other mental health symptoms. They don't affect a person's ability to function. Oh, there was no indication of disfunction. Before the fact. The content tends to be detailed. Uh, it's structured. It's cohesive. It's compatible with other known. Uh, Spiritual or religious or cultural, uh, Beliefs or philosophies. And. They are able to retain those memories with very clear. Vivid details. These memories tend to last over time. Individuals would report them as being very real. And lifelike. And. The detail, if it remains vivid and clear, no matter how much time has passed. And lastly, the author effects tend to be very, very positive. You can transform people in really tangibly, tangible, positive ways. By expanding their sense of self, helping them be. Feel more connected to others to that oneness feeling more compassionate. Being of. We're desiring to be of greatest service to others or the whole. They have. It doesn't it. Doesn't. Disrupt their ability to function in their lives in a meaningful way. And. It can. Major really positive feelings of purpose and a greater sense of meaning, a less fear in life in general, but also less fear. About death itself. And these spiritual experiences will not be responsive to, to medical or pharmaceutical intervention. So, uh, I hope that gives you something to consider, to think about. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. If there's more that you'd like me to explain or explore. Uh, please do reach out to me. You obviously can find me, uh, On Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. So that's integrated on this call wisdom on Instagram. Or you can also email me@helloatintegratedwisdom.com that a you that's hello@integratedwisdom.com, but a year. I'd love to hear your thoughts. 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