(*) No figures available
National surveys by the Gallup Organization bolster Greeley's polls showing paranormal experiences in the United States are on the rise:
| Had an unusual spiritual experience | 43% | ('85) |
| Had a near-death experience | 15% | ('81) |
| Believe in life on other planets | 46% | ('81) |
| Believe in life after death | 71% | ('81) |
| Believe in reincarnation | 23% | ('81) |
| Believe in God or a Universal Spirit | 95% | ('81) |
| Believe Jesus is God | 70% | ('83) |
| Believe in angels | 67% of teenagers | ('86) |
| Believe in heaven** | 71% | ('80) |
| Believe in hell | 53% | ('80) |
| Expect the afterlife to be boring | 5% | ('81) |
**Of those who believe, 20% think their chances of going to heaven are excellent.
Spiritual Experiences and Psychological Disturbance
Can the above-mentioned spiritual experiences cause psychological disturbance or be symptomatic of preexisting pathology? The advent of these spiritual experiences often do stimulate a process of re-evaluation of values and convictions. New perceptual abilities and a greater sense of relatedness to spiritual forces may be disorienting at first. But, the spiritual experiences themselves, if they stimulate increased compassion, deeper relatedness and peace of mind, are not indicators of psychological disturbance. On the contrary, they are openings to higher states of well-being and more effective functioning in the world.
People who are becoming increasingly fearful, more isolated, less trusting, less energetic, and less interested in life, without remission, are psychologically disturbed. Some of these people may report hearing voices which tell them what to do or think, or feeling things in their body which do not belong to them, or seeing visions which impel them to destructive thinking or destructive behavior. An inner experience which robs a person of his or her free will, peace of mind or positive relatedness to others is indicative of psychological disturbance. People with these experiences should have a thorough physical examination checking for physical disease that can cause psychological imbalance as well as be attended to by someone skilled in psychiatric differential diagnosis. Mental health professionals need to recognize the varieties of spiritual experiences and learn to differentiate them from paranoid ideation, delusions, and hallucinations. People absorbed in integrating spiritual experiences are breaking through to higher levels of functioning. People absorbed in inner experiences which leave them chronically drained, fearful and isolated are breaking down and need skilled psychological intervention. The subtleties of differential diagnosis come to play when a person seems to be having both spiritual experiences and symptoms of mental disturbance. These issues are discussed in Chapter 3, Diagnosis.
Unfortunately, neither psychiatrists nor mental health professionals are given adequate training to prepare them to deal with issues arising in the realm of spiritual experiences or the subtleties of differentiating spiritual experiences from the symptoms of mental disturbance (Peck, 1993). Excerpts from the article in Appendix C by Drs. Lukoff, Lu and Turner (1992), relate: "Few psychiatrists are trained to understand religion, much less treat it sympathetically. Similarly, in a survey of members of the American Psychological Association, 83% reported that discussions of religion in training occurred rarely or never (Shafranske and Malony, 1990.) A study of training directors of the Association of Psychology Internship Centers found that 100% indicated they had received no education or training in religious or spiritual issues during their formal internship. Yet 72% reported that they had addressed those issues, at least occasionally, in clinical practice."
The people having spiritual experiences and needing counseling may well find themselves with clinicians who are not adequately trained to work effectively with this aspect of human experience. The conventional psychologist or psychiatrist is typically trained to interpret any experience of communication with invisible beings, perceptual distortions of time and space, and/or a sense of unity with larger forces as indicative of a radical debilitating psychological disturbance, a psychosis or mania. The aforementioned phenomena are perceived as indicators that the patient is "out of touch with reality." The administration of psychiatric drugs is the most often used therapeutic intervention for those perceived as manic or psychotic. This medical treatment may be the most compassionate intervention for someone who is psychologically disturbed, but may be debilitating for someone in the process of integrating spiritual experiences (Breggin, 1991).
The new diagnostic category in the DSM-1V for "spiritual or religious problem" is an important step in bringing the arena of spiritual experiences out of the shadows where it has been summarily confused with mental disease. Placed in the category of "other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention," these problems can now be viewed as natural changes that may demand psychological and social adjustments but are not in themselves necessarily indicative of illness. Health professionals will now have a codified alternative to assuming that all spiritual experiences are indicative of pathology.
The Difference Between Spiritual and Religious Problems
Is there a difference between spiritual and religious problems? Perhaps not, if we believe that all problems that emerge in relation to one's religious life are essentially spiritual in nature. However, there are specific problems which arise which have to do with one's relationship to the beliefs and practices of an organized religious institution, or conversion to a particular faith. For the purposes of this book, I will call these specific problems "religious. " Problems relating to spiritual experience and the transcultural experience of relationship with higher forces will be "spiritual" in nature. These problems include: shifting values, changes in relationship to one's self-concept when there are surges in physical energy, emotional reactions to spiritual experiences, as well as resistance to further spiritual experiences.
Spiritual Emergence
Spiritual emergence is the process of creating a meaningful context to integrate spiritual experiences as one matures. This process involves re-evaluating conceptual frameworks for what is real and what is meaningful in life. As such, it is an intellectual process regarding values. But, it also involves the emotions and the body as it calls us to a deeper experience of relatedness with ourselves and others. The spiritual emergence most often includes expanded perceptual abilities, increased energy, creative expression and the strong desire to take action in being of service in the world. Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, describes the process in the following way:
Spiritual emergence is a kind of birth pang in which you yourself
