The Janus face of schizotypy: Enhanced spiritual connection or existential despair?

Abstract

Unterrainer, H-F andThis is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.www.elsevier.com/locate/psychres Research articleThe Janus face of Schizotypy: enhanced spiritual connection or existential despair?Human Second a more global negative relationship between feelings of spiritual isolation and despair was found for all aspects of schizotypy. These findings challenge the previous literature based on one-dimensional subjective well being measures which have found only a negative relationship. However, the positive association between connectedness and cognitiveperceptual aspects of schizotypy raises import questions about the possible benefit of certain types of schizotypal experience.

Addiction as an Attachment Disorder: White Matter Impairment Is Linked to Increased Negative Affective States in Poly-Drug Use

“…However, in line with classic literature in this field, for instance Martin Heidegger's “Time and Being” Heidegger (1963) or Viktor Frankl's “Man's Search for Meaning “Frankl (1963), we argue that, besides the fear of death and dying, several more facets, such as hope (or despair), forgiveness (or anger and hatred), sense of meaning and connectedness (or fear, alienation) also count as emotions of existential/spiritual relevance. Correspondingly, a lack of spiritual well-being was found to be linked to feelings of alienation and despair in previous research (McClain et al, 2003; Unterrainer and Lewis, 2014). Within the framework of affective neuroscience, spirituality has been named by Davis and Panksepp (2011) as one of the highest human emotions within the pantheon of basic emotions and, moreover, as an important factor for the treatment of addictive diseases.…”

Spirituality, dimensional autism, and schizotypal traits: The search for meaning

“…First, as predicted under the hypothesis that autism and positive schizotypy represent opposite psychological dimensions, Total Spirituality score was significantly negatively correlated with Total Autism Quotient score, and significantly positively correlated with Positive Schizotypal traits (the Schizotypal Personality Cognitive-Perceptual subscale). For autism, this overall negative association was mediated predominantly by effects from the Social Skills, Communication, and Imagination subscales, as might be expected if spirituality and religiosity involve, in part, imaginative social connectedness (e. g., [19,43]). By contrast, for Positive Schizotypal traits, the effects of variation in Magical Thinking predominated.…”

“…Schizotypy represents a latent multidimensional construct associated with putative liability to schizophrenia [9,10]; it exists along a continuum of expression from low to high, and can be quantified by assessing levels of schizotypal traits [11–13]. Levels of schizotypal traits, especially positive schizotypal traits that include magical thinking, unusual perceptions, and ideas of reference (exaggerated belief that innocuous events refer significantly to oneself, especially in the context of paranoia), have indeed been demonstrated to be positively associated with measures and aspects of religiosity and paranormal thinking, including for example belief in God and powerful supernatural beings [6,14–19]. These associations have been attributed to a variety of psychological factors linked with positive schizotypal traits, including a highly-developed sense of agency, over-developed mentalistic thought and mental state projection, a less-analytical cognitive style, unusual perceptions grading into hallucinations, and ideas and delusions of reference, whereby external events are over-interpreted and misinterpreted in terms of direct personal significance (e. g., [20]).…”

Modern health worries – the dark side of spirituality?

“…MHWs are not necessarily pathological phenomena, however, extreme rumination about the harmful effects of modern technologies might overlap with increased health anxiety (Freyler et al ., ; Köteles & Simor, ), and exacerbate cognitive distortions characteristic of schizotypal ideation (Corcoran, Devan, Durrant & Liddle, ). The relevance of spirituality in mental health complaints, especially in conditions of disorganized thought processes (schizotypy and borderline personality disorder) was established in recent studies (Bennett, Shepherd & Janca, ), and a positive association between spiritual connectedness and the cognitive/perceptual features of schizotypy was also reported (Unterrainer & Lewis, ). Moreover, perceived electromagnetic hypersensitivity (i.e., the propensity to experience symptoms during or following exposure to electromagnetic fields) was also connected to spirituality (Bergdahl, Stenberg, Eriksson, Lindén & Widman, ).…”