Unusual but sound minds: Mental health indicators in spiritual individuals
Abstract
Previous research has linked certain types of modern spirituality, including New Age and Pagan, with either benign schizotypy or insecure attachment. While the first view emphasizes a positive aspect of spiritual believers’ mental health (benign schizotypy), the second view emphasizes a negative aspect, namely the unhealthy emotional compensation associated with an insecure attachment style. This study addresses these two conflicting views by comparing a sample of modern spiritual individuals ( N = 114) with a contrast group of traditional religious believers ( N = 86). Measures of schizotypy and attachment style were combined with mental health scales of anxiety and depression. We further assessed death anxiety to determine whether modern spiritual beliefs fulfilled a similar function as traditional religious beliefs in the reduction of existential threat. Our results support a psychological contiguity between traditional and modern spiritual believers and reinforce the need to de‐stigmatize spiritual ideas and experiences. Using hierarchical regression, we showed that unusual experiences and ideas are the major predictor of engagement in modern spiritual practices. Anxiety, depression variables, and insecure attachment were not significant predictors of spirituality or correlated with them; on the other hand, the results show that spiritual believers report high social support satisfaction and this variable predicts involvement in modern spirituality. Further, spiritual practices were negatively correlated with and negatively predicted by death anxiety scores. Overall, the results strengthen the association between modern spirituality, good mental health, and general well‐being.
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The literature on schizotypal traits and psychosis suggests that experiences usually categorized as anomalous can be offered positive appraisals, in which case they will not become distressing and harmful.
“the literature on schizotypal traits and psychosis suggests that experiences which are usually categorized as anomalous can be offered positive appraisals, in which case they will not become distressing and harmful (117, 118).”
From Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation‐based therapies: a systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as [118]
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Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation‐based therapies: a systematic review
Farias, M., Maraldi, E., Wallenkampf, K. C., & Lucchetti, G. (2020) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/acps.13225 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
“For example, the literature on schizotypal traits and psychosis suggests that experiences which are usually categorized as anomalous can be offered positive appraisals, in which case they will not become distressing and harmful (117, 118).”
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- Authors
- Farias, M., Underwood, R., & Claridge, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Farias, Miguel
- Underwood, Raphael
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-08-17
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 364-381
- ISSN
- 0007-1269 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8295
- OpenAlex
- W1483864140
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 2.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- British Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Keywords
- contemporary spirituality, New Age, paganism, insecure attachment, mental health, anxiety, depression, fear of death, social support, well-being
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Attitude to Death, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Psychology, Severity of Illness Index, Social Support, Spiritualism, Case-Control Studies, Young Adult
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