Conflictive psi experiences: A comparison between two samples - Abstract

ABSTRACT: The authors designed a self-administered questionnaire of extrasensory experiences that contains 46 questions to a population of people interested in paranormal topics (N = 432). The sample included both female (60%) and male (40%) participants whose ages ranged from 17 to 83 years (M = 43.16, SD = 14.96). The experiences ranged from psi experiences such as ESP and psychokinesis, including recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis and healing through paranormal means, to psi-related experiences such as out-of-body experiences (OBEs), near-death experiences, past-lives recall, and contact with the dead or with extraterrestrial entities. The following information was obtained: type and frequency of the experiences, if they resulted somehow to be conflictive or traumatic and in what degree, if the participants consulted about their experiences and who were the consultants, if they initiated a treatment or looked for advice, and if the treatment was effective. Over two thirds of participants reported to be re ceptors of telepathic information, ESP in dreams, OBEs, psi healing, and spiritual contact. Almost two thirds of the participants indicated that at least one of their experiences had been conflictive. Although the two thirds indicated never to have consulted, those who did, however, pointed out that relatives and friends were the people most consulted, and half manifested that this help had been effective. The results were compared with a similar-sized sample of university students (N = 392) to whom the authors administered the same survey introducing an ordinal scale of Spirituality. The student sample included both sexes (male = 12.5%, female = 87.5%), and their ages ranged from 18 to 66 years (M = 25.53, SD = 7.89). The t-test results indicated significantly greater experiences in the present sample than the student sample (M = 6.12 vs. 3.19, [p.sub.dif] < .0001). To determine if spirituality has an influence on the report of the experiences, the authors compared the degree of spirituality between the grou ps. The present sample felt more spiritual than the student sample (of Mann-Whimey U, p <.0001, one-tailed), but that does not influence the experiences in the present sample. The students' spirituality correlates positively and significantly with the report of experiences such as perception of lights/energies, OBEs, and mediumnity/channeling (p < .0001). A discussion on the results are presented. Although conflict refers to a confrontation between emotions and thoughts and trauma refers to the impact produced in the psyche by an internal or external fact, the authors understand that a situation highly conflictive or stressing can be as difficult to process psychologically as a traumatic event. Clinical psychologists and social psychologists should pay attention to the reports of parapsychological experiences, because these reveal the impact that they seem to have over the general population. Future studies should put emphasis in the psychodynamics of psi and in the emotional conflictivity, which, in greater or lesser degree, this seems to generate.

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