Paranormal or Spiritual Beliefs and Mental Illness

Paranormal or Spiritual Beliefs and Mental Illness

by Sharon Cornet
Ashford University
Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences – PSY 325
Dr. Tara LaCasta-Revell
August 14, 2009

Paranormal or Spiritual Beliefs and Mental Illness

I. Thesis

The purpose of this paper is to explore the similarities and differences in peoples’ spiritual and paranormal beliefs, and relate them to levels of mental illness in each group. It is hypothesized that a stronger correlation will exist between spiritual and paranormal beliefs, than there is between spiritual/paranormal beliefs and mental illness. The null hypothesis would be that there is no difference between the spiritual and paranormal groups as either of them relate to mental illness. This author thinks that despite any differences between groups as they pertain to beliefs, levels of mental illness are not existent any more for one group than the other.

II. Introduction

A. Belief systems

B. Deviancy

C. Mental illness

III. Statement of Problem

A. Definitions

1. Beliefs

2. Deviance

B. Relevance

1. Belief differences and similarities

2. Deviant beliefs and mental illness

IV. Literature Review

A. Archaic beliefs among groups

B. Metaphysical chauvinism

C. Big five personality factors

D. Religiosity and mental health

V. Findings

A. Sociocultural bias

B. Cognitive errors

VI. Discussion

A. Paper on mental illness and paranormal beliefs

1. Straw man lack of information

2. Evidence beyond the scope of the paper

B. Paper on clergy and mental health

1. Christian clergy counsel 37% of medically caused mental illness

C. Paper on ADHD, depression, and dissociation belief tendencies

1. Limitations on regression analysis

2. Alleged alien abductees and additional variables

VII. Conclusion

Abstract

It was hypothesized that a stronger correlation would exist between spiritual and paranormal beliefs, than there is between spiritual/paranormal beliefs and mental illness. Based on the information covered, there was a definite bias between the Paranormal and conventional Christian beliefs; however, empirical evidence was lacking, which was the basis for metaphysical chauvinism. The majority of the research articles covered suggested no stronger a correlation between paranormal believers and mental illness, than the general public to mental illness. Since Christianity is a part of the general population statistical measures could be extrapolated, but no certain conclusions could be drawn.

Paranormal or Spiritual Beliefs and Mental Illness

Thesis

Introduction

There is controversy in belief systems between Christianity and the Paranormal that have to do with archaic spiritual beliefs of the supernatural. Even though both deal with supernaturally claimed events and experiences, neither camp typically will accept, fully, the other group’s beliefs. In fact, according to Mencken, Bader, and Kim (2009), Christian churches tend to moderate their members belief systems of the existence of a God, and of Heaven and Hell, against the Paranormal beliefs of ghost hauntings, communicating with the dead, astrology, UFO’s, and Bigfoot. This author would like to say from experience (as a minister’s daughter), additionally, that many Paranormal believers are not only considered deviant by conservative Christian groups, but also possibly confused due to demonic forces, and likely mentally unstable, if not completely mentally ill. But do the statistics regarding supernatural beliefs in either group of the Paranormal or Christianity have any correlation with mental illness? If Christians believe in a place that is called Hell that exists inside the middle of the earth, do the Paranormal groups consider them gullible, or mentally unstable, or even outright mentally ill? Furthermore, would either group be correct in that assumption? This paper is an attempt to study that possibility and determine a conclusion on whether one belief system is associated with mental illness more than the other.

Statement of the Problem

Conservative Christianity and the beliefs of the Paranormal differ in many respects, especially regarding similar supernatural experiences. God is considered, by many conventional Christians, to be a triune God, with the Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit/Ghost, and that upon death those who believe in Christ Jesus will go to Heaven (with disbelievers going to Hell) along with the other spirits of the dead. Paranormal beliefs include such ghosts/spirits to be among the living, on earth, haunting buildings or grounds; these belief systems also accept that an excorcism – of sorts – can occur, where the spirit can be sent away to where it should go. So even though both groups believe in spiritual life after death, the realm of where those spirits go upon leaving the body is relative to the group. This is an example of similarity between group beliefs, but many, such as Bigfoot or UFO’s or astrology are more extreme in their differences. Where Paranormal beliefs are not necessarily exclusive of Christian beliefs, most conservative Christian groups deny Paranormal beliefs, and even condemn them.

Many Christian churches also see beliefs in the Paranormal as deviant, and in some cases, evil or Satanic. The Paranormal is often demonized as a path to Hell, and even a contributor to problems in life, including mental illness. It is common knowledge that conservative Christian groups have believed in the past that people with warts, moles, or other bodily marks were considered witches, or that even up into modern times people with schizophrenia were actually demon-possesed. This connection of the belief in evil spirits (demonic activity) and mental illness may explain why Paranormal beliefs are considered deviant by Christians even today.

Many Paranormal believers, for this reason, are hesitant to openly discuss their beliefs for fear of retribution. William MacDonald (1995) tested sociocultural forces of religiosity to whether Paranormal experiences of telepathy or clairvoyance would be openly announced, and it was found that indeed, such sociocultural factors of religiosity do diminish the reporting of such events. Labelling of Paranormal beliefs as not only deviant, but included as an influence of evil spirits, or as a sickness/mental illness seem to follow naturally in Christian circles.

Literature Review

The archaic spiritual beliefs of people were studied to see if there were differences between people with these kinds of different beliefs. Kuzendorf, Tassone, Gauthier, Monroe, McArdle, Watson, and Papoutsakis (2007) did multiple regressions on 163 people (89 females, 71 males, 3 missing data) to find if they had the archaic belief that non-human individuals can meet them in their dreams, specifically the Paranormal group of “seeing ghosts,” the fundamentalist religious group of “meeting the Lord,” and the science fiction group of “encountering extraterrestrials.” Where this particular study separated out the Paranormal beliefs of UFO’s into a “science fiction” group that believes in extraterrestrials (ETs) with no Paranormal connection, we can still glean some relevant information from it. The results showed that over half of the subjects believed that non-humans can literally meet them in their dreams. Of these, two-thirds of the ghost believers claim to have seen a ghost. Also, two-thirds of the Lord believers have experienced the Lord. Lastly, one-tenth of the extraterrestrial believers said they have met ET’s.

This study shows that two-thirds of both Christian beliefs (meeting the Lord) and two-thirds of Paranormal beliefs (seeing a ghost) are equally valid, statistically, in regards to meeting them in their dreams. Since there is no clarification on whether the one-tenth of “science fiction” group of ET believers are of the Paranormal stock, or the Christian stock, or both, or neither (there was a variety of “religious” backgrounds, including Hindu, Atheist, Unitarian, Pagan, Buddhist, New Age, etc., and 90 of them were Catholic – 124 “Christian” total), this small ET experiences group can be averaged out, or ignored for the purposes of keeping to what we do know as some researchers do with outliers (Aron, et. al., 2008). For the sake of simplicity, even though the majority of the study group was “Christian,” we will compare the two-thirds-each beliefs of “meeting the Lord” Christian (belief), and “seeing a ghost” Paranormal (belief).

These dream-experiences also affected their waking behavior, but that these “beings” can actually visit them in their dreams is where the differences show up. Of the “ghost” (Paranormal) group, 44% said that they believed they were visited in their dream, whether imagined or real. Of the “Lord” (Christian) group, 49% said they believed God visited them in their dreams. For the sake of comparison, only 21% said that they believe ET can visit them in their dreams. Realizing that some of these Paranormal visits, and ET visits have a high probability (76%) of being Catholics/Christians, it skews the data toward some of these otherwise “Paranormal” experiences overlapping into the Christian realm. This fact would put a damper in the trend of many conventional Christians thinking that ET or seeing ghosts were strictly a Paranormal belief as it would assume that they were either losing their minds (mental instability or illness) or that they did not hold hold (any longer) such beliefs, but how common is this?

Regardless of how beliefs may overlap, there is still a tendency for the concepts of what is paranormal and what is supernatural to be considered as opposites, even though they both (somewhat) deal with spiritual things. Beck and Miller (2001) show that metaphysical chauvinism is prevalent in how people define their beliefs, whether it be supernatural or paranormal, and that it is common to have inverse results regarding negative affects between the two. The 94 undergraduate psychology class students at a private University in the United States lived up to the hypothesis that “negative affects would attenuate these beliefs.” The study showed that supernatural beliefs weakened when there was a negative affect in Paranormal believers, and that diminishing paranormal beliefs were associated with a negative affect by [Christian] believers in the supernatural. The Paranormal beliefs included ESP (extra-sensory perception), clairovoyance, telekinesis, precognition, and communication with spirits of dead people. Supernatural beliefs included supernatural agents such as demons or angels, prayer that produces outcomes, and the occurrence of miracles. The Supernatural beliefs accepted without empirical evidence, while considering Paranormal beliefs to be discriminated against was considered, in this study, to be metaphysical chauvinism, because it was hypocritical in its basis. It appears that sociocultural pressures affect the opinions of those who hold the beliefs, at least, that is, until the person experiences something themselves that does not fit the norms of the subculture they are part of.

So far, based on what we’ve seen here, is that there are not a lot of differences between supernatural and paranormal beliefs, or the believers, in way of what is believed compared to how they are defined, based on religiously enculturated values. However, are there personality factors involved, or are Paranormal groups more fantasy-prone than the general public (including conventional Christianity)? Hough and Rogers (2008) compared the big five personality factors with self-measured beliefs of 26 controls, and 26 alleged alien abductee experiencers (AEErs) in the areas of emotional intelligence and proneness to fantasy. Sub-scales in fantasies and EI were also measured. Except in the area of conscientiousness for the AEErs, which may have been placed at higher scores for reasons of believability, the measures showed no significant differences between groups.

The statistics are in favor of there being no real differences between the control group [which included Christians, among others] and Paranormal groups, but what about mental illness of Paranormal believers? On the topic of UFO’s and alleged alien abductions, Hough and Rogers (2008) said:

… sceptics have proposed, among other things, hallucination, delusion, hypnopompic and/or hypnogogic imagery, false memories, schizotypal thinking, dissociation, (hypnotic) suggestibility, temporal lobe dysfunction, and sleep paralysis as potential explanations for the alien abduction phenomenon … But evidence for these skeptical accounts is mixed . . . reviews generally concluded that alleged abductees are no more symptomatic of psychopathology as “ordinary” members of the public.

Does religiosity affect mental health? According to Maselko, and Buka (2008), in a data study of 718 participants from Rhode Island, lifetime religious participation for women and men with psychiatric disorders show different results for lifetime religious attendance compared to occasional attendance. Higher religious activity rates resulted in less problems with alcoholism and generalized anxiety in women, although men were more stable overall. Those who never attended religious activities did not differ in results to those who only occasionally attended. This author could not find any relevant material on the attendance of paranormal or PSI (Paranormal Science Investigations – typically related to metaphysical occurrences) or alleged abductee support groups by Paranormal believers; however, she can verify through decades of research, co-facilitation of such public meetings and private groups, and personal experiences, that when Paranormal believers attend these meetings (often “religiously”) there is most often a sense of “fellowship” among the people, and much talk of spiritual things, and a sense of belonging that heals the soul, especially when they can share, without fear of retribution, their personal experiences and find emotional support. If these meetings for the Paranormal believers could be considered a form of religiosity (formal meeting attendance with like-minded believers), then it is likely not a far stretch to say that mental health would likely show more stability overall as well.

Findings

The main findings in this paper were that there are some differences between Paranormal beliefs and Christian beliefs, but only in the way they are socioculturally valued and biased, based on enculturation of religious sub-cultures more than empirical evidence. Additionally, there are mixed results on correlations between Paranormal beliefs and mental illness, since Sharps, Matthews, and Asten found people with mental illness showing increased beliefs in the paranormal, but associated these beliefs with “cognitive errors” rather than actual sightings or experiences (2006, p. 579), even though they did not deny the rare possibility of atypical occurrences concerning all things paranormal.

Discussion

There are some mixed results concerning the aspect of mental health and correlations with Paranormal beliefs. Where the majority of the articles researched showed no particular correlation, one study did claim to. It is a straw man conclusion, but other errors by the Sharps, et. al., findings were discovered by this author in that some biased and overgeneralized statements were made within the research study article such as, “Space aliens in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) reportedly appear regularly on deserted country roads. Why?” (p. 580). The fact is that UFOs often “result from erroneous interpretation of known phenomena” (this author has debunked many alleged sightings due to this same reason) but that when they are truly anomalous, they are most often seen in or around populated areas, roadways, highways, and in many different types of locations all over the world, on a regular basis, and also cut across witnesses’ socioeconomic status, age, gender, ethnicity, and other areas. There is also empirically documented evidence of why certain people in a group will see a UFO, while others, standing right beside them, cannot see it. The implications go beyond the scope of this paper, but the point is that there are factors that fall into a higher level of technology that even shed light to physicists, because of the nature of some of the data collected from these sightings. Mental health of Paranormal believers, in this author’s opinion, would need to be heavily weighed against other variables before any significant conclusions could be made. More studies would also have to be done regarding the empirical evidence behind many of the spiritual Christian beliefs and experiences as well, in regards to mental health, before any further conclusions could be drawn to compare these two groups effectively.

clergy members equal mental health specialists in the number of individuals who have sought their care and have diagnoses of major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and antisocial personality” (p. 437). Among the 98 clergy members studied, 37% of those they counseled had medical causes behind their mental health issues. It is important to note that ALL of the clergy members surveyed were of some form of Christian religion (Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, charismatic, Greek Orthodox, etc.), and excluded all other non-Christian religions. In light of the fact that mental health levels among the Paranormal and the Christian groups appear about equal in some ways, and that emotional and/or medical support is equally available to both groups, the stability and care of any mental health problems is likely comparable between them. That is said only because there is a limitation on the available data for non-Christian groups, and how many Paranormal believers are also Christians, compared to how many Christian believers also accept paranormal experiences into their belief system. This author’s experience and personal knowledge, is that many paranormal experiencers/believers have a Christian background, although many tend to become more syncretic with age.

Sharps, et. al., (2006) did regression analysis on people with ADHD, depression, and dissociation. Tendencies in beliefs of cryptids, ghosts, UFO’s, ESP, and astrology were prevalent. Their conclusion was that mental disorders may predispose witnesses to see things that may not be real. However, starting with populations that are already diagnosed with mental illness of one sort or another, and not ruling out suggestibility, fantasy-proneness, the big five personality factors, etc., does not a Paranormal believer make, especially when viewed from the studies mentioned above, which show no significant differences between mental illness (whether diagnosed or not) of Paranormal believers or the general population [Christian believers]. Additionally, gender and socioeconomic (e.g., poverty) factors might need to be added in, as well as genetic heritability and background (race, since this author’s personal experience and research with alleged alien abductees have a high prevalence (45%) for a Celtic-European/Native American (Indian) mix, supported from a sample of 1,000 surveys administered by Saber Enterprises out of Houston, Texas – which constitutes a particular mix that is less than 1-2% of the U.S. population according to the 2000 Census), family background of mental illnesses, and perhaps other factors not discussed in this research paper.

Conclusion

It was hypothesized that a stronger correlation would exist between spiritual and paranormal beliefs, than there is between spiritual/paranormal beliefs and mental illness. The null hypothesis would be that there is no difference between the spiritual and paranormal groups as either of them relate to mental illness. This author proposed that despite any differences between groups as they pertain to beliefs, even if interpreted as opposites between groups (but not via research studies done on them), levels of mental illness are not typically existent any more for one group than the other.

Based on the information covered, there was a definite bias between the Paranormal and conventional Christian beliefs regarding what value was put on the paranormal and supernatural; however, it was determined that empirical evidence was lacking in the Christian belief system in supernatural events/experiences as much as the Paranormal beliefs in events/experiences, which was the basis for metaphysical chauvinism. No real discernable spiritual/paranormal differences were found other than sociocultural deviancy-related opinions, supporting the hypothesis that the relationshp between belief levels in non-empirical, supernatural phenomena would follow a normal curve.

There was no easy way to determine any relationship between mental illness among Paranormal group and the Christian group, except to say that the results were mixed, and identifiably contradictive. The majority of the research articles covered suggested no stronger a correlation between paranormal believers and mental illness, than the general public to mental illness. Since Christianity is a part of the general population statistical measures could be extrapolated, but until more research is done, with more variables in place, no certain conclusions can be made.

References

Aron, Arthur, Aron, Elaine N., Coups, Elliot J. (2008). Statistics for the Behavioral and Social
Sciences: A Brief Course, 4th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Beck, Richard, & Miller, Jonathan P. (2001). Erosion of belief and disbelief: Effects of religiosity and negative affect on beliefs in the paranormal and supernatural. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141(2), 277-287. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 72716744).

Farrell, Jennifer, Goebert, Deborah. (2008, April). Collaboration Between Psychiatrists and
Clergy in Recognizing and Treating Serious Mental Illness. Psychiatric Services, 59(4),
437-40. Retrieved August 3, 2009 from Research Library (Document ID 1456648981).

Hough, Peter, & Rogers, Paul. (2008). Individuals Who Report Being Abducted by Aliens: Investigating the Differences in Fantasy Proneness, Emotional Intelligence and the Big Five Personality Factors. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 27(2), 139-161. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1451061361).

Kunzendorf, Robert G., Tassone, Sarah, Gauthier, Allyson, Monroe, Linda, McArdle, Erin, Watson, Gloria, & Papoutsakis, Elena. (2007). The Archaic Belief in Dream Visitations as it Relates to "Seeing Ghosts," "Meeting the Lord," As Well as "Encountering Extraterrestrials". Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 27(1), 71-85. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1429589861).

MacDonald, William L., (1995, September). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 34(3), 366. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 7701449).

Maselko, J., & Buka, S. (2008). Religious activity and lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorder. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43(1), 18-24. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1412777471).

Mencken, F. Carson., Bader, Christopher D., Kim, Ye Jung. (2009, Spring). Round Trip to Hell in a Flying Saucer: The Relationship between Conventional

Christian and Paranormal Beliefs in the United States*. Sociology of Religion. 70(1), 65-0_6. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document

ID: 1719059021).

Sharps, Matthew J, Matthews, Justin, & Asten, Janet. (2006). Cognition and Belief in Paranormal Phenomena: Gestalt/Feature-Intensive Processing Theory and Tendencies Toward ADHD, Depression, and Dissociation. The Journal of Psychology, 140(6), 579-90. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1167561101).

Annotated Bibliography

Beck and Miller (2001) show that metaphysical chauvanism is prevalent in how people define their beliefs, whether it be supernatural or paranormal, and that it is common to have inverse results regarding negative affects between the two. The 94 undergraduate psychology class students at a private University in the United States lived up to the hypothesis that “negative affects would attenuate these beliefs.”

Clergy and mental health issues were studied by Jennifer Farrell and Deborah Goebert (2008) and up to 40% of the general population suffer from mental health problems, many of them seeking aid from clergy rather than a psychologist, psychiatrist, or other doctor, which truly highlights the need for more collaborative efforts between clergy and the mental health community professionals. Additionally, Farrell and Goebert say that: “An interesting fact is that clergy members equal mental health specialists in the number of individuals who have sought their care and have diagnoses of major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and antisocial personality” (p. 437). Among the 98 clergy members studied, 37% of those they counseled had medical causes behind their mental health issues.

Hough and Rogers (2008) compared the big five personality factors with self-measured beliefs of 26 controls, and 26 alleged alien abductee experiencers (AEErs) in the areas of emotional intelligence and proneness to fantasy. Sub-scales in fantasies and EI were also measured. Except in the area of conscientiousness for the AEErs, which may have been placed at higher scores for reasons of believability, the measures showed no significant differences between groups.

Kuzendorf, Tassone, Gauthier, Monroe, McArdle, Watson, and Papoutsakis (2007) did multiple regressions on 163 people to find if they had the archaic belief that non-human individuals can meet them in their dreams, specifically the paranormal group of “seeing ghosts,” the fundamentalist religious group of “meeting the Lord,” and the science fiction group of “encountering extraterrestrials.” The results showed that over half of the subjects believed that non-humans can literally meet them in their dreams. Of these, two-thirds of the ghost believers claim to have seen a ghost. Also, two-thirds of the Lord believers have experienced the Lord. Lastly, one-tenth of the extraterrestrial believers said they have met ET’s.

MacDonald, William L., (1995, September). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 34(3), 366. Retrieved August 3, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 7701449).

William MacDonald tested sociocultural forces of religiosity to whether Paranormal experiences of telepathy or clairvoyance would be reported, and it was found that indeed, such sociocultural factors of religiosity do diminish the reporting of such experiences.

According to Maselko, and Buka (2008), in a data study of 718 participants from Rhode Island, lifetime religious participation for women and men with psychiatric disorders show different results for lifetime religious attendance compared to occasional attendance. Higher religious activity rates resulted in less problems with alcholism and generalized anxiety in women, although men were more stable overall. Those who never attended religious activities did not differ in results to those who only occasionally attended.

Mencken, F. Carson., Bader, Christopher D., Kim, Ye Jung. (2009, Spring). Round Trip to Hell
           in a Flying Saucer: The Relationship between Conventional Christian and Paranormal
           Beliefs in the United States*. Sociology of Religion. 70(1), 65-0_6. Retrieved August 3,
           2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1719059021).

A Paranormal and orthodox Christian belief relationship are studied. The beliefs associated with conventional Christianity include whether God exists, Heaven, and Hell. Beliefs associated with the Paranormal include ghost hauntings, communicating with the dead, astrology, UFO’s, and Bigfoot. Three hypotheses are tested in deviance and any relationship between these two groups’ beliefs. Data was retrieved from the Baylor Religion Survey from 2005, and two basic beliefs were found in the groups mentioned, with a relationship (net positive) between them. However, church traditions have a conforming effect on Christian beliefs against Paranormal beliefs.

Sharps, Matthews, and Asten (2006) did regression analysis on people with ADHD, depression, and dissociation. Tendencies in beliefs of cryptids, ghosts, UFO’s, ESP, and astrology were prevalent. Mental disorders may predispose witnesses to see things that may not be real.

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